Charity shop in Bridge-of-Allan!

"I never thought I would live to see the day a charity shop opened in Bridge-of-Allan", said a little old lady ahead of me in the new Vintage shop this morning.

She is not alone. I hear on the grapevine similar rumblings of discontent from older members of the population that this is a portent sign of further changes to come.

Now to those of you unfamiliar with our wee Scottish town, which brands itself as a former Victorian spa town and yes Robert Louise Stevenson used to holiday here as a child, you might well ask what is so special about a new charity shop. After all every High St in the country is stuffed with them.

Not so in Bridge-of-Allan.
The town traditionally has had a reputation for being snooty, aloof. Even the arrival of Stirling University was the subject of objections.
"Students! .... in Bridge-of-Allan!".


Then came the footballers and their wives.
(Pass the smelling salts!)


Now we have a charity shop, albeit a very upmarket one. Even a cursory glance around revealed this was no ordinary charity shop. Some items are brand new with their original price tags on them.
My suggestion that they might have fallen "off the back of a lorry" met with a frigid response.


I could see they would be very fussy about their donations and I mentioned this to a volunteer for I have a bag of clothes ready to go.
"Don't worry," she says, " We have ten other shops."
Ah! so there is a social hierarchy amongst the charity shops depending on the socio-economic population of the area.


But I welcome the arrival of this Vintage shop and I am sure it will prove extremely popular. After all, it is for an excellent cause, Strathcarron hospice, a place many of us will one day end up in.