Occasionally I’ve heard complaints that there are too many charity shops in Spalding.
While not formerly sympathetic to these gripes, it’s been recently depressing to see the build up of discarded items donations outside of some such shops that no-one in them seems to care about.
A notable recent case is Oxfam, which seems to have piles of clothes outside it whenever I go by.
This seems sufficiently well known to attract dodgy looking characters loitering outside, picking at whatever is left and adding to the mess with their litter. Don’t such charities care about their donors or donations?
We are, of course, coming out of a period of closures for such shops. But charities are often big businesses these days with more staff paid more than they used to be.
So what have they been doing while items build up outside of shops? Have they been furloughed at taxpayers’ expense?
Surely if charities are to have prime sites in the town centre and rely on Spalding people’s generosity there should be a sense of reciprocal obligation not to disgrace the town with untidiness.
G Kent
Pinchbeck
