One fine evening and some willing counters were all we needed to complete our annual bra collection. Fortunately, after several days of rain, we picked the right evening to gather in Helen’s beautiful, riverside garden to celeBRAte the end of this year’s collection and to use our BRAins to sort our haul.
Our annual bra collection takes place during May and June. The main collection points were Five Rivers Leisure Centre and 60 Endless Street (Penny’s house), with other locations in Downton and Stratford-sub-Castle. Other people collected from friends and colleagues. Still others posted bras to us following coverage by BBC Wiltshire!
BRAndishing scissors, tape and plastic bags we BRAvely gathered to emBRAce the cereBRAl task. The scene was set: two tables on which to deposit bras and count piles of 10. The piles were then counted into black bags: 10 x piles of 10 making 100 bras per bag. The tops of the bags were tied and a label added declaring 100 bras!
The bags were lined up, as they were filled in rows of 5 each, so we could keep a count as we went along. Two thousand was easily reached with a huge number of sacks still to open. BRAvo!
No BRAkes on the counting as we BRAvely kept going. It was a viBRAnt collection, with many BRAnds of BRA, many showing more BRAvura than many of our undergarments! BRAced for success, even the BRAiniest couldn’t guess the total!
Barry, our courier, arrived promptly (even though the England Euro semi-final was about to begin!) and we loaded the bags on board. The following day he delivered them to Zabra in Twickenham, where they are stored before being flown to Africa.
Enormous thanks to everyone who collected, publicised and brought bras to our count and especially to all the efficient counters on the night! We counted and packed off 5750 and Eleanor (who sadly couldn’t be with us after she was involved in an accident on the day) had another 264 to contribute. So, the grand total for 2024 is 6014!! VIM in Roman numerals! I think we can BRAg about that!
Our President, Michele, gave a vote of thanks to Penny, who coordinated the whole project, and to Helen (a former member), for the use of her garden for the count. Helen was presented with a bouquet of flowers.
