I stepped into the Barnardo’s shop on the High Street today and was greeted by the most bubbly and breezy lady behind the counter. The manager was smiling as she told me how wonderfully busy the shop had been this Sunday. Isn’t that lovely, she said. All helping the children. And it really was lovely to hear.
It made me pause for a moment and think about how this little building has quietly served Cranleigh in different ways over the years. Long before it became the Barnardo’s charity shop we know today, the premises was once a bakery. I can only imagine the early mornings when the ovens would have been warm and the smell of fresh bread drifting out onto the High Street as villagers came to collect their daily loaf.
Today the shop serves the village in another way.
I wandered slowly around, as I tend to do, picking up notebooks and little notecards. I do love a notebook. There is something about fresh pages waiting to be written in that always draws me in, and at such a small cost it really is worth a visit.
The shop was full of life. Children’s laughter carried through the aisles and the shelves were brim full of toys for them to explore. One in particular caught my eye, a little grow your own butterflies kit. I thought how wonderful that is for children, learning about nature and watching something small and delicate come to life.
As I wandered further, I noticed the familiar china pots and teacups sitting quietly on the shelves. They reminded me of pieces that once lived in the cupboards of loved ones now gone. For a moment the shop felt wonderfully nostalgic, as these little objects often do.
The bell above the door rang as I stepped back out onto the High Street, leaving with a smile and of course my little bundle of notelets.
A building that once fed the village with bread now helps feed something else entirely. Kindness.
Thank you Barnardo’s.
A Quiet Observer xx
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