Images and Rationale part 1

Produce a set of 12 images in your own style that incorporate documentary values.  Base your images on an issue or subject that you find needs attention or which you already support.  The subject can be anything you like provided that the cause you choose can benefit from your work in some way.

Think about gesture, pose, setting and the inferred meaning or message that your work gives to the viewer (denotation and connotation).  Explain the values that each image has, why it is of value and to whom, and how it may be of benefit to either a group of individuals or perhaps an organization or charity.

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Background

The issue that I plan to address in this assignment is that people believe that ‘only little old ladies wearing pearls work in charity shops’.

There has long been a myth, drawn from many years ago, that only little old ladies work in charity shops.  This couldn’t be further from the truth as charity shops are thriving businesses, supporting their various charities in a most successful way.  Some charities have found there is more money in making certain shops to specialise in certain commodities rather than anything that is donated, ie, the Barnstaple Oxfam shop has a dedicated section for wedding dresses.  Many of Oxfam’s sites only sell books as this is felt to be more profitable.

I have focused on the Dorset based Weldmar Hospice which offers free medical and pastoral services to anyone who is in need of them.  Whilst the hospice received about one quarter of its funding from central government, the rest has to be provided by various other ways including sponsorship, fund raising events and their highly successful charity outlets.  I say outlets rather than shops as the Weldmar has recognised that there are various saleable items that are too big to be carried on local shops and they run depositories in central areas, such as Dorchester and Weymouth, for items such as furniture.

The Weldmar Hospice chain of charity shops consists of 19 shops and two furniture outlets.

As I am a volunteer in my local Weldmar hospice charity shop, I thought I would base my assignment around it as it is a good example of a well-run profitable outlet. 

The staff at the shop consists of two paid staff, the manager and deputy manager, with a bank of stand in managers who work when needed.  The rest of the staff is made up of unpaid volunteers who work in four-hour shifts from Monday to Saturday.  The hours for each shift are 9.00 am – 1.00 pm and 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm.  On Sundays the shop is covered by a separate deputy manager who opens from 10.00 am – 4.00 pm as regulated by Sunday trading laws.  The hospice shops are open every day except Christmas and Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday.  Most volunteers work one or two shifts per week depending on their other commitments in and around the town. 

The Lyme Regis hospice shop has on average one or two volunteers per shift making a total of generally 15 volunteers associated with this shop.  Their ages range from one 16-year old lad, one man in his 50s, approximately three or four women in their 40s and the rest women in their 50s/60s.  The age profile has changed over the past 18 months since the introduction of a computerized till system and a new manager who is in her mid 40s.  When the new till system was introduced several older women were unable to come to terms with a new and more complicated way of working and resigned.  New volunteers are always being encouraged to join by way of adverts in the shops themselves, appeals in local papers and now the use of the Lyme Regis Facebook page.

The duties of the volunteer can consist of some of the following:

·       Manning the till

·       Advising customers where to find articles

·       Hanging clothes and tidying the shop including sorting clothing on the racks, rearranging bric-a-brac into attractive displays,

·       Accepting donated goods, registering donors under the charity Gift Aid scheme and allocating their registered details to their donated goods

·       Sorting clothing for sale and recycling

·       Preparing items for sale by washing or steaming, pricing, etc.

·       Packing and receipting goods at the point of sale.

Order of day’s events

1.     Panorama of shop front

2.     Unlock shop

3.     Recycle man collection

4.     First customer

5.     Receiving goods at till point

6.     Sorting clothes 

7.     Steaming

           

8.     Computer

9.     Staff briefing

10.  Stock taking

11.  Shop Cleaning   

12.  Locking up