M&S ‘Kids Shwop Boutique’ for Oxfam

Abbey Clancy, Rochelle Humes and Peaches Geldof come together to support fashion boutique for charity

•     Shwop Boutique to sell the best childrenswear items donated to Shwopping campaign
•     A host of celebrities including Joanna Lumley, Abbey Clancy, Rochelle Humes, Peaches Geldof, Alex Gerrad, Zoe Ball and Mel Giedroyc from GBBO have donated items that will be sold
•     All money raised go to charity partner Oxfam as part of their Mother Appeal initiative
•     Over 1,000 shwopped childrenswear clothing will be on sale over three days

Shwop Boutique

Where:  Marks & Spencer, Marble Arch, 458 Oxford Street. London. W1C 1AP
When:  Thursday 6th - Saturday 8th March 2014 - 8am – 9pm
Entry:   Free with a shwopped item of clothing

Marks & Spencer (M&S) is set to open its first-ever childrenswear pop-up store when a three-day Kids Shwop Boutique opens to the public this March in aid of Oxfam’s Mother Appeal.

Open from Thursday 6th – Saturday 8th March at the retailer’s Marble Arch store, the one-off secondhand store will sell the best childrenswear items donated to M&S and Oxfam’s sustainable fashion initiative, Shwopping by the UK public and a host of celebrity donations.

All proceeds raised from the Kids Shwop Boutique will go towards Oxfam’s Mother Appeal campaign – which is being supported by M&S - that aims to raise £10 million for projects that help mothers around the world lift themselves and their families out of poverty for good.

Shwoppers will be able to pick up once loved childrenswear items from Britain’s top style icons and celebrity mums including Abbey Clancy, Peaches Geldof, Alex Gerrard, Zoe Ball, Rochelle Humes, Sarah Story, Mel Giedroyc and Shwopping ambassador Joanna Lumley. And, thanks to the UK government, every pound raised for the appeal will be doubled. *

Each celebrity-donated item will include personal words of wisdom stitched into the fabric of the item allowing advice to be passed onto the new owner.

Entry to the Kids Shwop Boutique is free, but visitors will have to shwop - hand over an unwanted item of kids clothing, using old or unused clothes as their ticket to the exclusive sale.

M&S has asked the public to donate childrenswear items to support the Oxfam campaign through its joint Love, Mum initiative. All other items of clothing donated will also go towards the appeal.

The public can show their support by Shwopping items in any M&S store add their words of wisdom on social media mentioning @shwopping and the hashtag #LoveMum.

M&S and Oxfam’s Shwopping collaboration urges shoppers to donate - or ‘shwop’ - an unwanted item of clothing that will go on to be re-sold, re-used or recycled by Oxfam, cutting waste while raising much-needed funds for the charity.

Since its launch in April 2012, Oxfam has received 6.9 million items of clothing thanks to Shwopping, worth £4.5 million for the charity. All money raised by Shwopping is used to support Oxfam’s projects around the world working to alleviate poverty.

For more information on Marks & Spencer and Oxfam’s Kids Shwop Boutique visit www.marksandspencer.com

For further information on Shwopping visit www.marksandspencer.com/shwopping

Having Fun Raising Money for Charity

tI've been quite a busy bee this weekend and helped raise money at two different charity events both of which were great fun. It's always much better to not only feel good about helping others but making yourself feel good at the same time.


The first event was the Kendal Oxfam "bit of a do" ceilidh on Saturday night to which I took my daughter. Around 12,000 people across the country took part in various fundraisers to raise money to help women:

About the Do

Can’t. Shouldn’t. Mustn’t. Incapable. Incompetent. Unable. Hopeless.

Too often the world tells women don’t.

We want to celebrate women who do.

Women who are achieving incredible things, against all odds.

At the ceilidh a range of people from 6 years to over 60 had a really good time Stripping the Willow and doing a few reels. Some of the teenagers had baked yummy pink cakes in honour of the occasion which were very popular.

Then on Sunday I joined about 100 other women in Ulverston for a Fabulous, Fit and Fun Fundraising Aerobathon in aid of Rosemere Cancer Foundation and the North West Air Ambulance. This was organised by my Rosemary Conley instructor Caytie and involved a total of 2.5 hours of exercises. We completed an aerobics class, a belly dancing session, one of kick boxing and rounded off with a salsa class.

We all had a good laugh, got very hot and sweaty and raised lots of money for the 2 charities. If anyone wants to add to what we raised then please pop along to NW Air Ambulance or Rosemere Cancer Foundation Just Giving pages that have been set-up for the event.


With Comic Relief coming up on Friday its the perfect time to mix fun and charity altogether so go on have a laugh and raise some dosh.