The Honesty Jar - Community ReUse - SwapShop & Workshops
♻️ Resources for Resilience ♻️
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*Keep an eye on the facebook page for updates*
□ Support Local, Shop & Save! □
Looking for great deals while supporting a fantastic cause? Visit our Vinted fundraising shop and help our volunteers keep sorting over 100 tonnes of donated items yearly! By shopping, you’re not just saving money—you’re also supporting an independent local community reuse project in Henstridge, Somerset. ♻️
Every purchase helps the project to stay open, making household and family essentials affordable and accessible for everyone, all while bringing our community closer. Let's make a difference together—one item at a time! □
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https://www.vinted.co.uk/member/86641863-thehonestyjar
We need local helpers for the SwapShop, please get in touch - volunteering can be for an occasional hour, or regular days, the rota is totally flexible.
More info on the volunteering page. 
In 2024 we hit our 100-tonne milestone!
Our hard-working volunteers process an average of 2 tonnes every week. 
Have a rummage, there's so much to see
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Contributions to The Honesty Jar DonatePayPal option...
Lots of fabulous treasures looking for a new home. No set prices... Pop a contribution in 'The Jar' to keep this community resource sustainable. 😊💚♻️
The Honesty Jar SwapShop is an independent community reuse project run by volunteers where you can find fabulous treasures and leave items that need a new home, all for a voluntary contribution. We use any profits to run family-friendly community live music, craft events, and training sessions for home carers and youth groups on topics such as autistic spectrum disorder, dementia awareness, mental health, and conflict management. Items are also gifted to those in need through organisations that support homelessness, rehabilitation, isolation, and hardship. The Honesty Jar project was initiated in 2019 by the local non-profit group BearCat Collective, which has been hosting these SwapShops on a pop-up basis as part of numerous community activities at various village halls, fetes, and shows in North Dorset and South Somerset since 2009. We are based at Grassroots Garden Centre on the main road in Henstridge, on the Dorset / Somerset border. Our opening hours are 10am to 4pm every day of the week except Wednesdays. We can accept card payments and also have online donation options for you to support the project. We accept reusable items; a little at a time is best 😊 except no pillows, duvets (covers & sheets are fine), and no larger items - IF IT CAN'T FIT on a rail or our shelves, it is too big. Please always drop off BEFORE 3pm to give volunteers essential tidy-up time at the end of the day 💚♻️ 
Are you looking for a speaker for meetings? We have run a community SwapShop for 15 years in Village Halls and events. Interesting and informative talks available on how the Honesty Jar came into existence and the huge impact that our team of volunteers make in your local community. ♻️
Thank you Henstridge Flyers WI for inviting us to talk about how the SwapShop came into existence, adventures at The Honesty Jar and the PopUp events we are involved with 😊💚♻️🎪 We are very happy to talk to other clubs and societies too
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We are a Grassroots Garden Centre
Stalbridge Road (A357), Henstridge BA8 0SA You can also visit our facebook page 
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Community workshop space & picnic garden is ever evolving .... watch this space :)
Please enjoy reading some news and have a peek at more pictures below.
We would love to hear about your favourite swaps
and up-cycling projects from SwapShop finds.
Making our own bags :)
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So lovely to find this note in our ‘help yourself’ basket outside the gates. We’ve had many visitors over the last few weeks - taking fabric, buttons, binding & elastic, we would love to see some of the creations you’ve made #UpCycleWarriors #LovetheNHS 😊💚♻️
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We are delighted provide Friends of Guys Marsh with fabric & supplies for their sewing project. Find items for sale in the polytunnel at
Grassroots Garden & Aquatics Centre in Henstridge |
In these unusual times of lockdown, some people’s regular means of support are no longer available. Thanks to ‘Help & Care’ we have been made aware of a local resident who has had a delivery from the food bank, but has no kitchen utensils.
So happy to be able to help with items donated to the SwapShop >😊♻️💚 
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You can use the community tab on our facebook page to invite your friends & help to spread the word about this community resource
... smashing it! ... now heading to 3,000 likes !!! 
We have been thrilled with the response to our SmartWorks project, sending super-smart clothes, shoes, bags and accessories to to the Smart Works charity, a very worthwhile award-winning organisation that helps unemployed women succeed at job interviews. We collected together some of the quality business clothes so generously donated to the Honesty Jar. They still need more low-heeled shoes, stylish shoulder bags and business clothes, especially sizes 16+. If you would like to know more about sponsoring a box as an individual or organisation, please get in touch.
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We'd love to hear about ways that the Honesty Jar has made a difference to you, local families, projects and the community. Help make sure that we can continue and provide a space to share our joint resources and support each other. Send your story to us via messenger, or email, or anonymously via our website contact form.
messenger- m.me/thehonestyjar email- [email protected] web contact form- www.bearcatcollective.co.uk/contact-us.html 
What is ‘Magic Hat’?
...nothing is priced, visitors give voluntary contribution - what they can afford and what they would like to give... if there is enough in the ‘hat’ to keep the project sustainable, the doors stay open... community people-power in action 😊💚♻️ 
Lots of home-schooling and educational resources
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Since opening in November 2019
we have processed 100s of tonnes of contributions,
keeping stuff out of local landfill, helping local families on a budget
and helping to cut pollution through reduced need for manufacturing.
Find us at Grassroots Garden Centre,
Stalbridge Road (A357) Henstridge BA8 0SA
Regular Opening Hours are 10am-4pm Every Day Except Wednesdays
Like the The Honesty Jar facebook page to keep up to date &
find out about what treasure is coming into the swap:-
books, clothes, costume jewellery, hand tools, plants, produce,
plus craft workshops and special events
A home for the SwapShop
somewhere we can do what we do in marquees in a field...
all year round in the warm & dry, Yay!
A space to relax, meet people, make stuff, fix things, play music, learn skills, share coffee, find treasure...
We are super excited and need help, support, guidance, ideas and advice from all of you.
Profits from the SwapShop fund health and social care training for local family carers, community music events,
family craft workshop materials, transport, structures and insurances.
♻️ Keep up to date by liking the Facebook page - facebook.com/thehonestyjar ♻️
Volunteers : There is a Google calendar to coordinate who's available at what times at the bottom of this page below the pictures
we have processed 100s of tonnes of contributions,
keeping stuff out of local landfill, helping local families on a budget
and helping to cut pollution through reduced need for manufacturing.
Find us at Grassroots Garden Centre,
Stalbridge Road (A357) Henstridge BA8 0SA
Regular Opening Hours are 10am-4pm Every Day Except Wednesdays
Like the The Honesty Jar facebook page to keep up to date &
find out about what treasure is coming into the swap:-
books, clothes, costume jewellery, hand tools, plants, produce,
plus craft workshops and special events
A home for the SwapShop
somewhere we can do what we do in marquees in a field...
all year round in the warm & dry, Yay!
A space to relax, meet people, make stuff, fix things, play music, learn skills, share coffee, find treasure...
We are super excited and need help, support, guidance, ideas and advice from all of you.
Profits from the SwapShop fund health and social care training for local family carers, community music events,
family craft workshop materials, transport, structures and insurances.
♻️ Keep up to date by liking the Facebook page - facebook.com/thehonestyjar ♻️
Volunteers : There is a Google calendar to coordinate who's available at what times at the bottom of this page below the pictures
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Lovely words from one of our volunteers and musicians Kimberley Smith 😊💚♻️
"Since being a part of BearCat, I have often heard the same questions I had once asked; "how does this actually work? There seems to be no profit to be made, or anything, I find it hard to see how this works..." Well, the trick is: recycling, reusing, reducing, regifting, re-paring, and recovering. What comes in, and goes out, is the circulatory beauty of The Honesty Jar. It's power to the people, and it's being a part of those who have something to offer with zest and compassion, and thus breeds a new gift to be recycled into something else, be it a nice word, action, or an object. You never know what will happen at the end of the day, when a collective of people can put their minds together, only magic can be produced as part of such an activity. Please spread the word!" |
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THJ2 ... The Honesty Jar at Grassroots in Henstridge
Moving to THJ2 - March 2020
The Honesty Jar's First Home (2019-2020)
Decorating THJ1 - October 2019
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