Jim Elliot used to run a recycling facility in Norwich. Thirty years ago and needing more space, he moved Mini Scrapbox to an industrial unit at Collers Way, Reepham, with the aim of saving waste and recycling as many items and as much material of all sorts as possible.
 
Some small amount of grant money was available but the main asset was the endless energy and goodwill of Jim, and his wife Audrey, and then some volunteers too, who variously collected, sorted, packed and priced items.
 
The system was to pay a small membership sum (I think it used to be £5) and then you could buy anything for a ridiculously small sum of money. Not everything was priced; there was no time to do it and we would call out to Jim, “how much is this?” and his answer was very often “twenty pence”. So our nickname for Scrapbox became “20p”, and although prices have inevitably risen, we still refer to Scrapbox as that.
 
Keen customers were, and are, those who ran schools, playgroups, craftspeople and makers of all sorts. Jim retired and Tula and Gina took over, updating and steering through the difficult Covid times, and now a new team is in place.
 
A second adjoining unit was taken over some time ago, and a joint celebration was held on Monday 20 October to mark the 30th anniversary of Scrapbox, and the knocking through, by the Bishop of Norwich no less, to make a doorway between the two units.
 
Revd. Andrew Whitehead was there as well as past and present organisers, helpers and users. There was cake and prosecco, and a definite aura of celebration in the air, and a vision of another 30 years of ambitious reuse and recycling.
 
All items are weighed when sold, showing massive proof of the saving from landfill. But there is more to it than that because the improvement in peoples’ wellbeing by making and creating is important too, as Bishop Graham pointed out.
 
On a personal level my family has reused countless items from Scrapbox, and we enjoyed talking to Jim during the event about the old days. I tiled our bathroom 20 years ago with tiles from Scrapbox, and we have plan chests, art folders, paints, brushes, drawing pens, an olive wood cheese board, carpet tiles (for the car), taut liner plastic sheeting, netting for the garden, buttons, thread, cotton, wool (I crocheted a jumper during lockdown from Scrapbox wool), flower pots, a guitar, an Appalachian dulcimer, a violin, leather, teddy bear fabric, curtain fabric, sheeting, bunting, Christmas decorations, mounting card, paper, envelopes, folders…
 
Tina Sutton
 
Contact: Scrapbox, Units 5 & 6, Collers Way, Reepham
Tel: 01603 873128
Email: info.scrapbox@gmail.com
https://scrapbox.org.uk