‘Red’ – Teresa and Dominique Hodgson-Holt, ‘In Certain Places’

Teresa here. How wet, chilly and miserable was Preston today. We had to crank up the music to lift our spirits and with the morning ironing and a bit of dancing we kept warm. We had a lovely lady help us today, Liz, a volunteer from the Harris Museum and we had a laugh outside the shop handing out leaflets. At one point we were descended upon by endless young people, too eager by far! I have to admit (Liz and Dom thought so to) that it was a lucky escape when they moved on, typical messy teenagers and it took us a while to tidy up after them. Thank you Liz for your efforts today. One lady who came into the shop around the same time, commented on how it smelt nice of soap powder – which is lovely to hear and means we’ve finally beaten the horrible, stale cafe smell of when we first moved in. I’m not surprised though as we’re constantly washing all the clothes which are worn, as we feel its only fair to people willing to get dressed up to have fresh clothes. Apparently, this adds to their confidence, or so I was told today by one of our young ladies who participated. Just as we were beginning to give up hope of getting any walkers Aimi Rushworth and Robyn Taylor, both 17, came in out of the blue and they were so enthusiastic about dressing up. They’re coming back with several friends on Tuesday of next week, hopefully. Tomorrow should bring the lovely family who bought children’s cloths especially for their two boys and we’re looking forward to seeing them all in the shop. Dom’s off to Sheffield University tomorrow and Sunday to begin a new course, so I have my lovely sister-in-law, Julie coming to the St John’s Centre to keep me company. Julie’s a teacher and has just finished for the summer – she was looking forward to a bit of peace and a lie in but its a ‘Red’ day for her instead and oh what a treat she’s in for!