Refurbiz commentary

Man: 
This is Refurbiz, we cover the whole of Wiltshire and Swindon and what we're doing here is we are taking goods that would otherwise be thrown away and we are refurbishing them. Well, we're dealing mostly in washing machines, in cookers, in fridges and we have people here who are given training opportunities, employment and volunteering opportunities to turn what would otherwise be waste into a resource for people that are, you know, very much in need around our area and supplying it to them. So it's a collection of refurbishment and delivery, all in the one package.

Man: 
For someone who hasn't got much cash, they can't go out and buy a £200 washing machine. We can supply a refurbished one at about a third of the price of new.

Man: 
It's helping the environment, which a lot of people think is a good idea in the first place.
So we get a lot of people coming in and saying, oh I heard about you, this is what you do, good idea. But we also help people who couldn't necessarily afford a new washing machine, or new cooker at full expense. So it's helping them, it's improving their lives at the same time.

Woman: 
I did desperately need a dryer, now the winter's coming on, I need a dryer you see. I'm not wealthy or anything like that, but, so it's a great boon to me. I didn't know it existed. Lovely big van, they don't charge me for petrol or nothing else and then these gentlemen here, they've shown me what to do so I should be on the old buttons, you know, I shall know exactly what to do, so that's fine, yes.

Man: 
We had one van that was rather an old van and if that went wrong, and it did on quite a few occasions, then that is a severe interruption to the service. The Big Lottery Fund very generously allowed us to buy a new van and that made a tremendous difference. We have two vans out on the road and if we have a mishap with one, particularly the older one, we can still maintain the service and that has made a very big difference to us.

Man: 
The main thing is having the second van plus another crew to actually man it. It just means we can reach more people, more of the time.

Man: 
It's only recently have I been in the voluntary sector and for me personally it is a way of paying back something and the satisfaction that I get is helping people. We enjoy that part of the service tremendously.

Man: 
It's a direct connection to people in need and it's incredibly satisfying thing to be able to finally deliver to them.

Man: 
The best bit of my job is actually seeing the customer that can't afford a new washing machine, can't even afford a second hand one, and to see their faces after it's there working is a nice thing.

Woman: 
Oh I'm so glad, I can't wait to use it you know. I've got some things out there on the line now that I probably need to finish them off in the dryer, that'll be nice won't it? There's some nice people about isn't there after all? Don't you think so?

End of programme