SAMS (Scrap Art Material Store) Blackburn Lancs

[sparkysdad]

My O/h has just been to SAMS - apparently they are a community project to reduce waste and recycle stuff, and have all sorts of "stuff" from the wierd (bra straps!) to the mundane - plastic spray bottles, fabric roll ends, Hessian, Card, offcuts and so forth..

Sounds like the stock is more geared to community groups, schools and the like, but for anyone local may be worth a visit.. They charge an annual membership of £20, and each visit you can fill a trolley for £13.. or a basket (£7?)..

Maybe worth a look for anyone living fairly locally.. Or for anyone who works for a company that has reuseable "waste" that could be recycled for arts and crafts materials.. (still not sure there are many "other" uses for bra straps.. )

http://www.cbpartners.org/sams.html

[bodrighy]

http://www.cbpartners.org/sams.html[/url]

They make fairly good catapults if I remember correctly, at least they did in the fifties though come to think of it they were a bit more substantial then

Pete

[rainbowcentral]

sounds like a fantastic place but I already have enough 'rubbish' in my room - no where to keep anything else!!

[sparkysdad]

They make fairly good catapults if I remember correctly, at least they did in the fifties though come to think of it they were a bit more substantial then

Pete

Sounds like what we as kids called the OSBH style (Over shoulder Boulder holder)!!

[sparkysdad]

Oh.. O/h brought home a half metre length of a really nice fabric.. said it inspired him for Cushions..!

Apparently that means it inspired him to give it to me in the hope I would make it in to covers.. !

[bodrighy]

Sounds like what we as kids called the OSBH style (Over shoulder Boulder holder)!!

Pete

[Tip Top]

It's £5 for a basket

Went on Tuesday!!

[sparkysdad]

It's £5 for a basket

Went on Tuesday!!

Oh, even better value then.. Did you get lots of useful stuff?? the O/h was suitably vague about the range of stuff available!

[Tip Top]

You need to go there yourself to see - its a weird and very wonderful place!

Swirly goes a lot (I blame her for the bad influence!)

[Moonbeam Angel]

We have something similar in Clacton called "Tree" meaning Tendring re-use "something" enterprise.

It was set up by a lady a few years ago along the same lines as the one you mention but also to employ learning disabled adults. It was fantastic and had lots of things for crafting. It was £10 membership per year (for an individual) and you could go as many times as you liked and get what you wanted free, they weighed the amount you took and logged it against your membership!!!!!!

However, the lady left to have a baby and a man took over. He is more of a business man and has taken over the space with electrical white goods for sale (all secondhand) he also now has two shops in town, one for white goods and the other for furniture. The aim is supposed to be to sell good quality second hand items at reasonable prices so that the less fortunate in the area (on the increase due to the recession) could buy items

Sadly, the craft section has diminished considerable, the membership has increased significantly and so have the prices of the items for sale!

I recently went there to look for a fridge, ok nice fridge for £45 but then he wanted to charge a further £25 to deliver it (just over a mile) making it £70.

I went to Comet and got a brand new one for £99!

[sparkysdad]

We have something similar in Clacton called "Tree" meaning Tendring re-use "something" enterprise.

It was set up by a lady a few years ago along the same lines as the one you mention but also to employ learning disabled adults. It was fantastic and had lots of things for crafting. It was £10 membership per year (for an individual) and you could go as many times as you liked and get what you wanted free, they weighed the amount you took and logged it against your membership!!!!!!

However, the lady left to have a baby and a man took over. He is more of a business man and has taken over the space with electrical white goods for sale (all secondhand) he also now has two shops in town, one for white goods and the other for furniture. The aim is supposed to be to sell good quality second hand items at reasonable prices so that the less fortunate in the area (on the increase due to the recession) could buy items

Sadly, the craft section has diminished considerable, the membership has increased significantly and so have the prices of the items for sale!

I recently went there to look for a fridge, ok nice fridge for £45 but then he wanted to charge a further £25 to deliver it (just over a mile) making it £70.

I went to Comet and got a brand new one for £99!

We have a furniture recycling charity thats gone a bit that way.. they charge to collect "donations"! so you can't be bothered to be messed about and pay £40..

[twiggypeasticks]

Hi
There is a fab scrapstore in Leeds that I've visited a couple of times - I found them after reading about SAMS on Swirlys blog. Annual membership is £6 and I got a basket full of goodies for a fiver. Well worth a visit, I'd ring to check opening times if you're going to go though as the website isn't up to date. I haven't posted enough to add links, so got to a search engine and type in scrapstore!!

twiggy x