Maria Thornberg
31 Dec 2021
How it all started. The first months of ReDo Norfolk CIC
As with so many things in life, it all started with a few thoughts, lots of chats and then suddenly a "we should do this". We found an office, started to plan and hey presto - the application to form ReDo - Norfolk CIC was sent in. With the world still battling with covid recovery things took longer than normal and we must admit it was frustrating at times.
The application to become a CIC was finally accepted on September the 8th and the joy we felt can not be described in words. Getting a bank account took just as long, to our surprice, with most banks not even accepting new customers. Behind the scenes we were talking to local businesses, planning future events, finding an accountant and looking at bigger premises, already struggling with space in our one room office/photo studio. We had meetings discussing the ins and outs of ReDo, determinded to make everything as perfect as we could. We wanted to be as transparent as possible, allowing anyone to access what we do. This not just to show that there are no hidden agendas, but maybe more importantly just how big the problem we try to address really is.
In our first year we arranged one event and saved close to 250 kilos of buttons, fabrics, wool and other crafty things through that first ever ReDo - Destash. Off-cuts, started craft projects, button treasures from house clearances and fabric remnants from shops and so much more exchanged owners and by the feedback given it was not only appreciated but needed! One customer even sent us a thank you email afterwards, explaining how she loves crafting but simply can't afford the prices in craft shops.
We found a couple of venues we thought would work, but after a few letdowns, we started to look closer to home.