Northumberland children's clothing charity experiencing surge in demand from working families

A mum who set up a charity providing children's clothing to families in need says demand has soared in recent years.

Rosie Gilchrist set up Rosie's Corner five years ago to provide baby and children's clothing, shoes and equipment across West Northumberland. However, she has seen an increase in the number of people needing help in the past 18 months - many of whom are working families.

The Hexham-based charity is currently running a fundraising campaign to help with additional costs. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Miss Gilchrist said it was "upsetting" to see so many people in need.

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She said: "We have built an excellent reputation with families coming to us for support with clothing and equipment. Our mission to help provide items for free for families who are experiencing poverty.

"We're getting busier. The past 24 months has seen a 15% increase in demand and we have helped 600 families. We have gone from a set of shelves to three units full of stock. To me, the rise in demand is crazy, it's scary and it is upsetting.

"It shouldn't be left up to a single mam on a council estate to do something about it. The two child limit on child tax credits is pushing people beyond breaking point.

"We're seeing more and more working families. At the start, it was just single parents - but now working people are saying they can't do this anymore.

"We were recently granted a small grant from Karbon Homes, to which we have put towards running a more regular delivery service and pop-up events of our services across West Northumberland. Our pop-up events have been a success and we have helped 100 families - 18.6% of those had never used us before.

"We are asking for donations to help towards van hire so we can continue to help support families who struggle to get to our unit sessions venue hire for pop up events and also extra money to help support our running costs."

This week, the inaugural meeting of the Northumberland County Partnership took place. The new group, chaired by Lord Donald Curry, aims to "educe the gap in experiences our residents have across health, education, employment and social outcomes, by tackling inequalities".

Tackling inequalities is one of Northumberland County Council's three key priorities under the current Conservative administration. In 2022, the average household income in Northumberland's least deprived ward was £68,000 compared to £21,000 in the most deprived.

Life expectancy was 87 years compared to 75 years, while the unemployment rate was 0.7% compared to 10.9%.

The partnership's stated mission is to "ensure people have fair access to the building blocks for a good life such as a decent income, a good quality job, safe, affordable and warm housing as well as good quality education and training opportunities".

Speaking after the first meeting on Wednesday, Lord Curry said: "I'm delighted partners have come together through this forum to tackle inequalities in our county. I look forward to Chairing the Partnership and working with partners on this important initiative."

Partners include the county council, universities, charities, the NHS, housing associations and the police as well as the Port of Blyth and the North East Chamber of Commerce.

Dr Helen Paterson, Chief Executive at Northumberland County Council said: “Our new County Partnership will provide a dynamic forum to enable collective power to be released and achieve generational change.

“The concept was developed in a discussion at our inequalities event last July, and we have been working hard to get the right people around the table today. This is an exciting opportunity, with the county's biggest partners coming together to tackle long-term inequalities.

"We will be working at speed to make a real difference to the people of Northumberland."

Anyone wishing to donate to Rosie's Corner can do so by emailing rosiescornerkidsbank@gmail.com, calling 07593 599157, using the charity's Facebook page or donate via GoFundMe.