Resource centre for support workers opened by Reuse Littleborough

Date published: 01 June 2021

A special resource centre for support workers has opened on Newgate in Rochdale town centre.

The Rochdale Reuse Centre, operated by Reuse Littleborough, opened on Tuesday (25 May).

The centre provides vital resources for support workers absolutely free of charge, from cots, prams, baby and children’s clothes, nappies and toiletries, filled Moses baskets and nappy cakes for new mums, as well as larger items for furnishing a home.

Midwives, social and family workers – who work with first time mums, troubled families, asylum seekers, refugees and those on the breadline – can identify what a client needs and pick it up from the centre after liaising with the team.

Inside there are quality items for those in need, from Silver Cross branded prams and handmade knitwear to soft furnishings donated from Cleland McIver in Littleborough, and mattresses from Ventalux – plus paintings and small furnishings which really help make a home.

The project has the backing of Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd, who visited the new centre on Thursday (27 May), and pledged his support.

He said: “Places like Reuse wouldn’t exist without the kindness of people and its volunteers. It’s clear there are incredibly generous people.

“In my constituency, one in five children are in poverty, and in some wards, the rate is even higher than that. There is a need for resources like this and foodbanks because people have been hit by austerity and, over the last year, Covid.

“On behalf of the wider community, thank you for allowing human decency to have a professional focal point.”

The Rochdale Reuse Centre is the fruitful vision of Reuse Littleborough founder Michael Bamford.

Michael first created his plans for such a centre four years ago, before going on to found Reuse Littleborough after noticing a discrepancy between the waste we have in our country and those in need in poorer countries.

Founded in 2015 and now based in the centre of Littleborough, Reuse Littleborough started with an online post, asking for donations of unwanted baby items to send to the Forever Angels Baby Home in Tanzania.

It has now expanded to include its Second Time Around baby shop in Littleborough, the Rochdale Reuse Centre, and is part of Better Together, the former M&S building on Yorkshire Street.
 

Read more: Rochdale centre's former M&S to reopen as community hubPublished: 17 May 2021

Read more: Reuse Littleborough opens children's shop Second Time AroundPublished: 07 December 2020

Read more: Reuse Littleborough celebrates two years of operating from ‘hub that was a pub’Published: 03 August 2020