Jayne and Vicki were both very happy to join in with a brilliant virtual walk through charity shop history this week.

Shopping for a cause

The session was part of the brilliant Being Human festival  and was presented by Dr Georgina Brewis, Associate Professor in the History of Education at UCL, Dr George Gosling, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Wolverhampton and chaired by Lauren Bravo, journalist and author of How To Break Up With Fast Fashion.

We already knew about the ‘official’ first charity shop, run by Oxfam on Broad Street in Oxford, and that British Red Cross had actually had something similar prior to that during the war. But this session taught us that charity shopping – albeit a bit different to how we know it today – was actually happening as far back as the 1700s!

We were so enthralled by the session that we asked if we could share the recording with you here – and very kindly The British Academy who put it on said yes.

So – find a comfy seat, put on your best charity shop slippers, pour yourself a drink in your best charity shop mug and enjoy an hour of indulgence in the history of our wonderful sector….

Watch the video here