Following on from our article about Restart and Employability Orkney we are turning our attention toward The Blue Door.
Picture credit, The Blue Door FB page
The Blue Door is a shop premises on Victoria Street Kirkwall which has the unique status of having a different charity represented within its walls on a weekly basis, running from Monday to Saturday. It is a facility over two floors comprising of, knick knacks, books, household goods, dvds and electricals on the ground floor with clothes in two rooms upstairs. It also has a handy loo for trying on clothes which is a great asset in a charity shop as sizes do vary vastly according to brand.
This is a shop which I visit frequently as the turnover of goods is incredible and the prices are set deliberately low so as to tempt, without emptying your purse. I love it.
I have bought much from this shop including, a deep fat fryer, kettle, oil paintings and pictures these two being my particular favourites.
Then there’s things like jewellery, perfume, makeup, Jericho products (what a find), hair dye, dog beds, and clothes, we can’t forget the clothes.
When buying the great many clothes, which I do regularly, I always console myself with the fact that I am recycling, however as Ken points out recycling should work both ways, putting things in as well as taking things out. I blame the middle child syndrome, always getting my big sisters hand me downs so purchasing everything is still a novelty and it is obviously mine and parting with it is always extremely difficult. Whether it’s for everyday wear, evening wear or dressing up clothes, there is always something on offer, in fact recently when I was needing to be easily identified in amongst a great many people my outfit had to stand out, the theme was Scottish and with not much effort and a particular sense of humour here is what I wore, and it worked as folk from all over stopped me to say hello. 
I very seldom wear clothes now which are first hand and regularly can be found top to bottom in charity shop gear just like in the above photo. It is also great when watching the pennies as you can often find clothes with their labels intact enabling you to give as presents for Birthdays and Christmas.
A week past it was the Orkney Men’s Shed that had use of the shop and whilst they were there we took some photos,
In that one week the Orkney Men’s Shed took over £4000 which as you can imagine is a fantastic boost to their group. This kind of income generator allows clubs to continue and in the case of sports clubs it enables them to take part in tournaments and leagues, helping them travel off the Island which as you can imagine is a costly business.
In response to their superbly successful week Morgan Harcus of Orkney Men’s Shed posted on their facebook page saying: “A big THANK YOU to all at the Blue Door. The Orkney Men’s Shed had a fantastic week there LAST WEEK, raising over £4000 for our funds. A huge thanks must go to Lyn and all the volunteers who went the extra mile to help us. Must also mention our man, Alan Johnston who coordinated the whole week for us, good job young man.
Thankyou to all who gave so generously, goods for sale, raffles and home bakes and the public who came to buy. This is very much appreciated by all at the OMS”.
The Blue Door itself benefitted recently from a shed which was built by Orkney Men’s Shed which allows the shop to store outdoor things within instead of having to take everything in and out on a daily basis. The Orkney News went along to watch the shed being put into place, it was a well coordinated procedure which drew quite a crowd on the day. Here is our video of the shed being put into place.
As always it is a pleasure to peruse the Charity Shops in Orkney and I would most certainly recommend a visit to The Blue Door whenever you visit Kirkwall.
Until the next time……….
Reported on by Helen Armet
Categories: Uncategorized
It has to be said – The Bloor Door is the best, for all the reasons stated here by Helen. followed closely by Clan, for similar reasons, and, in Stromness – the ‘pussy-cat shop’.
I’ll draw a discrete veil over the charity shop now often referred to locally as ‘Harrods’!
On the subject of re-cycling-re-cycling – we have clear outs, and put things in the ‘charity bag’ – also when things only cost a couple of quid, if you’re not sure, you can buy them, get them home, think about it, and, if you decide against it – it goes back in the charity bag – everyone’s a winner.
I was the youngest of five children, four of whom were girls, so, hand me downs are a familiar thing to me – it left me with a tendency to buy second hand, and be appalled at the price of new things!
And, Helen – that kilt is a stunner! And you can carry it off, too!
Thank you Bernie ‘re Kilt comment, it was certainly a noticeable outfit, I love the Westie dog tights.