Oxfam and M&S have teamed up to launch shwopping, a new idea that makes it even easier to give your unwanted clothes a second life. It will also help us raise an extra £2m to fight poverty over the next year alone.

• Donate your unwanted M&S clothes in Salisbury Oxfam shops and receive £5 off a £35 spend on clothing, home and beauty products in M&S stores and online. Terms and conditions apply.
• Donate your unwanted clothes to Oxfam at M&S. Take an item of clothing you no longer wear (even if it’s not from M&S) with you next time you pop into M&S to buy something new. Simply place your clothes into one of the ‘shwop drops’ located in all M&S stores. You can earn shwop ‘points’ each time you shwop by registering on M&S’s Facebook page

Don’t forget!
Even if you’re not looking for anything new, you can still donate your unwanted clothes to Oxfam in any M&S or Oxfam shop. You’ll get a good feeling knowing you’re helping to fight poverty.

Oxfam and M&S
Shwopping is the latest development in Oxfam’s longstanding partnership with M&S. Together, we’ve already raised more than £8 million to fight poverty – with your help, we can do even more.

Oxfam and M&S are perfect partners. M&S knows Oxfam makes the most of every donation. And here at Oxfam, we know M&S is committed to reducing the number of clothes that end up in landfill – plus they’re big supporters of our work fighting poverty.

However you choose to shwop – whether it’s by bringing your unwanted M&S clothes to Oxfam or by dropping off your old clothes at M&S when you buy something new – it’s an extremely convenient way to donate to Oxfam.

We believe that shwopping could become the new shopping – and we’re delighted to be working with M&S to make it so. We’ve set ourselves the ultimate goal of recycling as many clothes as M&S sell – hundreds of millions of clothes each year!

This April, Oxfam is launching the ‘Big Bra Hunt’, appealing women to dig deep into their drawers and donate their forgotten, spare and unwanted bras to Oxfam shops across the country throughout the month of April.

Oxfam’s Bra Amnesty aims to collect at least one million bras in April with some being sold in Oxfam’s shops in the UK but many more will be sold by women in West Africa – where quality bras are hard to come by and the money raised will make a real difference in poor communities.

Miquita Oliver, who visited Frip Ethique with Oxfam last June, says: “I think many of us would confess to hanging onto bras we don’t want or need – from gifts that don’t fit to old favourites we just can’t bear to part with.  The beauty of Oxfam’s project is that they don’t need to go to waste, British bras are hugely fashionable and in high demand among women in Senegal.  I met women atFrip Ethique whose whole lives had been changed thanks to the income they were earning from bra sales. By simply hunting out old wears and supporting this campaign women across the country can make a huge difference not only to these women’s lives but also to that of their children and families.”

Step 1
Hunt out your forgotten bras – the gifts that don’t fit, the ones that looked better in the shop…
Better still, organise a collection and hunt out even more bras!

Step 2
Donate your bras to Salisbury Oxfam shops. We’re happy to collect them in either of the shops. If they’re M&S bras you’ll even get a £5 M&S voucher as part of the M&S clothing exchange…

Step 3
Pat yourself on the back – your bras will make a brilliant, life-changing difference.

Where your bras will go
Your bras will either be sold in our UK shops, or sent to Wastesaver, our recycling facility in Huddersfield… From Wastesaver, bras are sent to Senegal (along with things like summer clothes and baby clothes)… In Senegal, they are sorted and sold at Frip Ethique, our social enterprise. The money your bras raise goes towards our poverty-busting work in Senegal and around the globe.

Salisbury Oxfam is delighted to announce that Oxfam Collects at Work is coming to Salisbury, following its success elsewhere in the UK.

Oxfam Collects at Work makes it so easy for your employees to donate their unwanted things to Oxfam as part of their working week. Oxfam will then arrange to pick these up and bring them to our shops in Catherine Street.

We tell each of your employees how much money their donations raise and the difference that could make to the communities we work with.
Plus we will provide you with a corporate report which lets you know the total the whole company has raised.

This scheme has already been highly successful in other parts of the country. In July 2010, St. Albans City and District Council signed up to the scheme. Their employees efforts have since raised nearly £5000 for Oxfam and prevented 708kg from going to landfill (http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/press-room/items/2011/December-2011/Councilraisesnearly5KforOxfam.aspx).

You can find out more information on the Oxfam GB website and read about other businesses using the scheme. Then when you’re ready you can contact Salisbury Oxfam (email s...@salisburyoxfam.org.uk or phone 01722 337187 and ask for Michelle or Richard). Alternatively, you can request someone from Oxfam contacts your business.

Oxfam Gallery’s final exhibition ‘Future: Unknown’ celebrates the future

February sees the opening of the final ever exhibition at the Salisbury Oxfam Art Gallery; a celebration of the future of art in Salisbury by young artists from The Unit. The Unit is an independent, non-political social enterprise broadly aiming to use creative approaches to empower and nurture a sense of agency in young people.

This exhibition will be the last for the Oxfam Art Gallery as the venue will sadly be closing its doors in March 2012. The Oxfam Art Gallery was opened in 2008 as the first ever Oxfam gallery and has hosted exhibitions by various local artists. The gallery is staffed by a dedicated team of Oxfam volunteers.

This final exhibition, by promising young talent, is an eclectic range of emerging art ranging from giant origami sculpture to hand crafted brooches, photography and large scale paintings. The exhibition runs from 10th to 25th February at the Oxfam Art Gallery (above the Oxfam bookshop) in Catherine Street, Salisbury.

Contributing artists for ‘Future: Unknown’ became involved through the young people’s organisation, The Unit, based in Endless Street in Salisbury. Those taking part are all aged between thirteen and nineteen and had to pass through a rigorous selection panel before making it to the exhibition as competition for places was fierce. Two local graphic artists and friends of The Unit, Nich Angel and Stew Taylor, will be exhibiting their work alongside the young artists and shall be hosting the preview evening on Thursday 9th February 5 – 7pm. All are welcome to join us at the gallery on this very special evening.

Heather Minto, Project Manager at The Unit said: “ We are thrilled to have been asked to curate the last ever exhibition in the Oxfam Art Gallery. We work with some extremely talented young people and this will be an excellent platform for them to showcase their work. At the same time however, it is tinged with sadness that such a community spirited gallery is to close.”

On Thursday 9th February come and meet the artists and find out more about them, their art and The Unit anytime between 5pm and 7pm. Artwork will be on sale from this time. All are welcome to attend this informal gathering. The exhibition opens on Friday 10th February and continues until Saturday 25th February. The gallery is located at 10 – 14 Catherine Street Salisbury and is open Monday – Saturday 10am – 4pm. Entry is free.

Take a look at the exhibition poster here.

As Christmas approaches Salisbury Oxfam will be open a few extra hours to give you time to do a bit of extra present shopping!

2, 8, 13, 22 Late Night Shopping ’til 7pm

After that we’ll be closed a few days over the Christmas period itself…

23rd December: 9am – 5pm
Christmas Eve: 9am – 5pm
Christmas Day: Closed
Boxing Day: Closed
Bank Holiday (27th December): Closed
28th December: 9am – 5pm
29th December: 9am – 5pm
30th December: 9am – 5pm
New Year’s Eve: 9am – 5pm
New Year’s Day: Closed
2nd January 2012: 9am – 5pm

… then open as usual.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Salisbury Oxfam!