Category: British Heart Foundation

Sorting the ‘Junk Room’

So we have a room at work dubbed: “The Junk Room”. It was a room where all sorts of ‘odds and sods’ were dumped and was starting to become (No had become) a Health and Safety Hazard. You could not safely open the door, as everything would fall on top of you. So with a bit of help from Andy, we tackled it last week.

The 1st stage, was to empty the room. This was not as easy as it sounds, as the room was full to the brim and we had very little space to put things. We ended up using the back lobby and outside, while still allowing access, in case of evacuation. Next was sorting the stuff out. – What we needed to keep and what could be binned. I can tell you that 90% of the contents was to be destined for the wheelie bins!

The wooden shelves, (which we needed to keep) found a new home, behind the door of the room, while the larger stuff that needed keeping, got put in the Air Handling Plant Room next door. It wasn’t until we emptied the room, that we discovered DAMP! So I went and got the god old Damp Spray and gave the walls a good spraying. Hopefully, it will dry out soon. (Now it has been treated properly.)

Henry was needed to thoroughly vacuum the floor. (I thought that the missing hose for the other Henry would be hiding in this room, but no such luck! Once the floor was cleaned, we were able to put the stuff that was left, back in the room and move what was in the lobby into the tidied room, which now just known as the “Broom Cupboard”.  Of course, we managed to fill all the wheelie bins with the rubbish that we had removed.

At least we now have a tidy storage room. I just hope it stays that way!!!!

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Farewell Patricia – It Is The End Of An Earing!

Me and Pat at her farewell party

Can I embarrass this lovely lady one more time…  This is Patricia, she has been the staple of the British Heart Foundation Shop in Blackpool for years and years, from the days when we were on Abingdon Street to where we are now. Well, after years and years of loyal service, Pat is finally hanging up her lanyard; to go and retire from the shop and live in lovely Surrey countryside.

I, along with the other BHF Paid staff and Volunteers, will really miss Pat. She worked her socks off in the shop, serving customers, putting stock out and sorting through our Amazon Stock. She did this all with a smile and with care, providing a friendly face for our many regulars and those on holiday. No one can ever replace Pat, as she is probably one of the hardest working volunteers I have ever had the privilege to work with.

From us all at the BHF, we wish Pat all the best in her new life in Surrey and we are sending all our love to her. Please keep in touch Pat, the shop will not be the same without you!

Below are a few pictures from her send-off, where we had a meal and a few drinks, plus a right barrel of laughs!

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Something Exciting Is Coming

I can’t say too much at the moment, but something exciting is going on behind the scenes and I cannot wait. I will be posting more on this in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I wanted to share this pic of me working behind the till at the shop.

The Till has been doing my head in all day, as it keeps crashing. Good thing we are getting a new one in a couple of weeks. Apart from that, it has been a good day. I have been working with Lucy, Bathany, Andy and Pat all day, so it has been good fun and a lot of laughs.

Tommrow, I need to have a look at the Extractor Fan in the loo. It’s a job for the ladder and a screwdriver. I will make sure to isolate the fan first though. (It also needs a good clean as it’s full of dust!)

Sludgy Drains!

Today, i had to clean out a sludgy U Bend. Our kitchen sink was really smelly and using disinfectant didn’t seem to sort it. So, I decided to remove the U Bend and see what was going on. The sludge was quite thick, which proberbly means that the drain had not had a proper clean out in a while. This needed specialist equipment – a bottle brush and WD40. The WD40 helped to dissolve the grease and gunk and the bottle brush, helps to remove the gunk and grease from the sides of the U Bend. Once done I was able to re-attach the U Bend and check for leaks.

I almost missed my bus home, as I wanted to get the drain unclogged before I went home. Hopefully it won’t pong again! (Put it this way, the sludge looked like poo and was really stinky! (I can confirm it wasn’t poo though!!)

R.I.P Cathrine O’ Hara

Today, the sad news came through that Cahtine O’ Hara has died. She is best known as Kate Macalister in the 1990 Blockbuster Home Alone and also in the film Beetlejuice. This is very sad news and I loved her in the film, especially the scenes in the airport in Home Alone 2. “KEVIN!!!!!”

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Sorry For The Lack Of Posts

Sorry I have not been blogging for a while – this is caused by multiple things…. Work being busy as people are off on Annual Leave, (Maria and Pat) and I am covering the till. I have another bloody UTI and Radio stuff. However, I am still alive, (just) and will be back to full blogging mode soon.

However, I will quickly show off my new desk at work… It’s at the end of the Sort Table and allows me to do what I need to do, without having to hog the kitchen table. I am even getting a new chair soon, which is the chair in the office. (Once Bethan gets a new one sorted)

Of course, Splodge is doing my head in… She won’t leave the chains alone on the Cuckoo Clock, but you still have to love her. 🙂 Speaking of the Cuckoo Clock, I am going to email the clock repair man in Blackpool and book him to come and fix it.

Halloween @ The British Heart Foundation

Today, we all dressed up for Halloween at work. I was Winifred Sanderson, Bethan was Mary Sanderson, Maria came as Binx, (The cat in Hocus Pocus) Lucy was Freddy Kruger and Pat came as a cat.

Me as Winifred Sanderson
Left to Right: Pat as a Cat, Lucy as Freddie Kruger, Maria as Thackery Binx, Bethan as Mary Sanderson

I have been on the shop floor most of the day and my feet kill from wearing heels all day. However, it was all in good spirits and our customers loved the banter. Especially how I really got into character as Whinny!

Team BHF

I just had to share this picture of us all at the shop. This is just a few of the brilliant people I work with! They are all as crackers as me, apart from Mary; who is probably one of the sanest at our shop!! 😂😂😂

Tomorrow is Halloween and we are all dressing up, so if your local, come in as I will be dressed as Whiney from Hocus Pocus. Bethan is also dressing up Sarah Sanderson, Maria is being a cat (Thackery Binx) and hopefully, Lucy is dressing up as Adele. (Hello it’s me)

Left to Right: Lucy ( Deputy Store Manager) Mary (Books and DVDs Coordinator) Bethan (Store Manager) Me & Maria

Massive Sort Out

Today, I had a huge sort out. We had a massive backlog of Bric, (Bric-a-brac) which really needed sorting. We had boxes and boxes of bric, which I sorted through. Anything that was unsalable, got thrown away. We had these really filthy mugs, which needed cleaning, so I used elbow grease and a bit of Cif Cream Cleaner and got them back to white. After lunch, I sorted our toolbox. Don’t ask me why we had 15 pairs of scissors in there…. They went into the sharps bin.

Next was the top of the kitchen cupboard. I moved the Britta Filters to the cupboard under the sink (also known as the Facilities Cupboard) and I chucked away a load of bags of crisips that had gone off. (2024!)  I also chucked the cheeseboard and knives, as they in a very bad state. As I had to cover the till, I didn’t manage to finish what I was doing. I want to fully damp dust the top of the cupboard, so it is clean. I did however, manage to get a framed newspaper clipping about our shop hung on the wall. It had been on my list of things to do, for a couple of weeks.

Trying to get out of work was a nightmare! I had customer after customer and wanted to get them all served, before I left. Then when I did leave, I got to the bus stop and realised I still had my radio in my pocket. I managed to nip back and take it in and still get the 15:10 bus. I was yaking to Kira all the way home, as she got on the same bus as me.

Fire Drill 🔥

Today, we did a Fire Dill at work, which was fun. Read this post, if you have no idea what a Fire Drill is. We managed to evacuate the building in under 2 minutes, which is really good. Our customers were very cooperative and evacuated when the alarm sounded. Maria missed all the fun, as she came in late. However myself, Lucy, Bethan, Nigel, Kira and Anne, were all involved in the drill.

Thankfully, the weather wasn’t too bad, so we didn’t have to go to the assembly point in the pouring rain. However, Fires do not care if it is wet and dry… When the alarm sounds, it means evacuate, even if it’s wet!

Brown, Squidgy and Smelly

This afternoon, I had to deal with something rather nasty on the shop floor. I am not going to say what it is, but put it this way, it was squidgy, it was brown and it it smelt nasty. A pair of gloves, a carrier bag was what was needed. followed by the mop and bucket to wash the floor afterwards. This got me really angry, because it was caused by a 4 legged friend and the owner could not be bothered to clean up after their furry friend. I then also ended up banging my head on the shelves. I am OK, it was only minor, but it got reported anyway.

BIFFA Strike Again!

BIFFA are back in my bad books again, after blocking the fire exit again. I have taken a picture and sent it to Bethan. It clearly states by the gate, that it a fire exit, so BIFFA have no excuse to block it. Thankfully, I was able to shift the bins, before we did the Fire Drill. Either the Bin Men are blind or ignorant! (Or Both!)

The bin men should know better than to obstruct a fire exit. I was furious to find the fire exit blocked by the bins! If the bin men better not block the fire exit again, or I will shove my pricing gun where the light doesn’t shine!!!!! 😡😡😡🤬🤬🤬

Blowing in the Wind….

Finally, the bad weather has damaged the building. The roof of the bin compound has had it’s felt blown off. MSL are aware of this and should be coming to fix it, later this week.

Entertaining Day

Today at work has been fun, as it was only myself and Lucy in. Of course, we found ways to keep ourselves entertained, bouncing off each other with rubbish jokes and plenty of laughs. I spent most of the day on the shop floor and even may have convinced Lucy to dress up as Adele for Halloween. I even got asked by a customer, to come down in my high heels that I am going to wear with my Halloween costume. Of course, I didn’t mind parading round the shop in them. (That and a bit of Kenneth came out – OH MATRON!)

Once again, I left late, as I had a backlog of jobs to do before I left. – Hoover upstairs, wash up, clean the toilets, put the bins out and generally tidy up. However, I did manage to get the 5.30 bus, so that wasn’t too bad.