Easter 2026 news

We have held back this newsletter so that we could include an update following Rosie’s meeting this week with three officers from the council.

The purpose of the meeting was to explore whether The Scrubbery might remain in the building on a similar basis to our current arrangement, while longer-term decisions about the site are being considered. We are very conscious of the importance of avoiding vacancy, particularly given our experience of vacating the Bank of England Sports Centre in a great hurry, which has remained unused for many years since.

Rosie did a colossal amount of due diligence research into the current lease, ground use, access and who to approach prior to inviting a meeting. She set out the case for The Scrubbery as an organisation that is already embedded in the building, able to remain immediately with no transition, and operating with a light footprint. We have a proven track record, deliver clear community benefit, and are able to be flexible and responsive to future plans that the council may wish to bring forward. The officers were fully engaged throughout the visit and open to the discussion and ideas that arose. It was a constructive and positive meeting at this stage, and we have agreed to remain in contact as we explore possible options for a future home for The Scrubbery.

Following the visit, we also received a very encouraging written response from the Council, expressing their keenness to “continue working closely with us to help secure a strong and sustainable future.” Conversations are ongoing and we will remain in contact over the coming weeks. Thank you to all the volunteers who turned out early for this discussion, we wanted to show rather than talk about the work. 

In parallel, Rosie is continuing to look at alternative building options, to ensure that we are prepared for all eventualities.

LETTERS OF SUPPORT

Please, please consider writing a short letter of support. It is really important that we make clear what The Scrubbery means to people from all perspectives, including people who have received items as well as those who have helped to make them. These letters are necessary to demonstrate to potential landlords our ability to continue with our work as well as providing references of good conduct and usefulness.

We need support from our community to validate who we are and what we do. 

Karen Nussbaum

It was with great sadness that we heard of the death of our volunteer Karen on 24th February. You will all remember Karen as our quilter. She first joined us at the Bank of England. Before the move from the Bank to the Oasis Academy, Rosie was making a push to use up all the odd small pieces of fabric. Rosie found Karen through the Linus project which makes quilts for children who are sick, disabled or disadvantaged. Karen was passionate in her support of the Linus Project, the Evelina children’s hospital, the making of quilts for wheelchair users, those coming out of care and for children in orphanages in Ukraine.

Karen owned a long arm quilting machine. The Scrubbery made the tops of the quilts. Karen quilted fleece to the tops which then came back to The Scrubbery for binding and shipping. Karen’s husband, Ian has taught himself to use the long arm quilter and is keen to continue her work if possible.

A quiet workshop, in her memory, was held at The Scrubbery to make some new tops. Thanks to a volunteer, we are adopting a simpler method of quilting, ‘Trip around the World’, which requires larger pieces of fabric but is quicker to produce. 

We will miss Karen, her enthusiasm for the craft, her expertise and her love of colour.

Our thoughts are with her family at this sad time. 

Upcycling

Rosie has designed and made the cutest woollen coats for children. Originally, she made a coat using material donated by the Curtain Tailor. Westminster Abbey have recently replaced the cloaks used by their choristers and given the old ones to Rosie. Using this donated material and her design, Rosie has been teaching volunteers how to make woollen pixie coats with bound button-holes. The coats will be sent to children in Ukraine. We think you will agree that they look fabulous. We had a lovely response from the Headteacher at the Choir School when we sent the images below saying “This has utterly made my day!’ and “These are so much better than anything I thought you would have been able to achieve. You should be so proud!”

Visit of Michael and Louise Foreman

Rosie welcomed the Foremans to the library. It had been a while since Michael’s last visit and Louise, his wife, had never been. We are immensely grateful to Michael who has been a generous contributor to the library. Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, it has developed considerably since it’s opening into a wonderful welcoming space. 

Deliveries

Oleksiy, (Alexei) of Oleskiy UK Cars UKR, a distributor of vehicles to Ukraine, has recently taken a shipment for us including:

Mobility aids, incontinence pads, sleeping bags and mats, inflatable mattresses, tents, blankets, towels and 3 snow camouflage nets. 

We also sent large black umbrellas. It has been discovered that sheltering under an umbrella, as long as the fabric does not touch human skin, obscures the heat-seeking device of drones. Soldiers simply disappear!

Fong and Colin kindly took one shipment to meet with an ambulance in a Kingston carpark in particular to get the snow camouflage nets out to Ukraine before the snow melts.

A very large shipment of trench candles, camouflage nets, a huge 2 room tent, clothing and other items was taken to Ascot for shipment with Dmitry to Ukraine, via Lynda, who kindly stores it until he can get the vehicles to collect. Thanks to Christo, in Rosie’s wee van, and to Gillian for driving the items to Lynda. We won’t tell you what she said when we arrived, but she had just had a massive delivery of 19 tea-chest-sized boxes of boots as well, and was pushed for space in her studio. In our defence we had pre-warned of our arrival but the other group unfortunately did not.