Wellies get a new lease of life in exchange scheme

A project in a Shropshire town means that children's wellies get a new lease of life, instead of being thrown away.

The Wem Welly Exchange, based in Wem's NFU Mutual offices, allows families to take used wellies in and swap them for a bigger pair.

It was set up by Lorna Tommy about 18 months ago, after she noticed that her children and grandchildren's boots often went unused after they had grown out of them.

"They're not worn out by the time they're grown out of, you don’t know what to do with them," she said.

"A lot of people in their sheds, in their garages, have spider-filled wellies knocking around," she told BBC Radio Shropshire.

“I think we’ve probably supplied around 100 pairs of wellies or more since we started."

Parents bring in wellies that no longer fit their children, and swap them for a bigger size

More parents were in need of wellies at short notice, with the rise of outdoor lessons and forest schools, said Ms Tommy.

"Wem hasn't got much retail in the local town for wellies," she said.

"There’s no charge for the service at all, so its always good to be able to save people some money when we can, as well as the environmental side of it."

Due to the demand, the project is looking for more donations as there is a shortage of some sizes.

Rebeker Ford uses the service herself and said it was the "best form of recycling."

Rebeker Ford used the service herself, and said children were often expected to keep an extra pair of boots at school for things like forest school lessons.

"They grow, they are constantly needing new shoes and wellies, so whenever she grows out of her wellies we pop in here and bring the old pair."

"It’s the best form of recycling… they have more of a life, someone else is going to have fun in them.

"The wellies here aren’t perfect. You don’t need them to be perfect, because wellies are supposed to be dirty, a clean pair of wellies is quite sad really."