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Aberdeenshire woman launches No New Clothes challenge in memory of friend – who ‘loved’ to shop

Sarah Robinson (left) on her wedding day with Gill Leiper who died of pancreatic cancer. Image: Sarah Robinson
Sarah Robinson (left) on her wedding day with Gill Leiper who died of pancreatic cancer. Image: Sarah Robinson

Sarah Robinson knows all too well how precious time can be.

When close friend Gill Leiper was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she didn’t get long to spend with loved ones before she died.

She was only 52 when she passed away, just a few months after receiving the life changing diagnosis.

Sarah, of Insch, says her friend has often been in her thoughts and inspired her to launch an unusual fundraiser to mark the 10th anniversary of her death.

Pledging not to buy any new clothes for 12 months, she made do with the dresses, trousers and skirts hanging up in her wardrobe instead.

The Grassetstyle 365 project was launched to raise funds for cancer research while also showing how we can reduce waste taken to landfill sites.

No New Clothes challenge: How did it change her?

Sarah has always loved fashion and even studied for a diploma in professional styling.

But she started to realise just how much clothes people now buy which are often thrown in the bin when they need altered or repaired.

Sarah also sold second-hand clothes that had been donated to her as part of her fundraising. Image: Sarah Robinson

According to Oxfam, more than two tonnes of clothing is bought in the UK each minute, with around 11 million garments ending up in the landfill each week.

During the challenge there were events to dress up for, including a relative’s wedding, but she found she could get by wearing the clothes that she already had.

“You can go to a big event and not have to rush out and buy anything new and spend hundreds of pounds,” she says.

“Not buying clothes has actually been easier than I thought it would – it is quite liberating to work with what you have.”

It’s now changed her shopping habits.

Looking through clothes magazines is no longer a distraction and there’s now no need to go “mindless” shopping so it saves her time.

Sarah Robinson bought a second-hand dress for the Royal Garden Party instead of something new. Image: Sarah Robinson

“It’s made me think really hard now about everything I buy,” she says.

Sarah raised more than £20,000 by the end of last year through the No New Clothes challenge along with other fundraisers.

The former chair of Bennachie Community Council arranged discos, clothes swapping events and also sold more than a thousand jars of homemade marmalade.

‘Gill would think the fundraiser launched in her name was very funny’

The mum-of-three hopes the money will help Cancer Research UK find a cure to help other people in the future.

Her friend Gill, of Aberdeen, had been feeling unwell over nine months and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2010, four months before she died.

“Time is really precious,” Sarah says. “As we came to the 10 year anniversary, I realised that I’d been lucky to have outlived her.

“And it’s important to do something useful with your time that’s bigger than something you’re doing for yourself.

“She was great fun and she loved shopping.

Celebrating selling her 1000th jar of marmalade presented to local minister Dr Kay Gauld. Pictured with George Forsyth from Ardmore Distillery. Image: Sarah Robinson

“She was always a very kind and caring person, she was my son’s godmother and she really adored him.

“I think she was the type of person everyone went to to chat things over with you know,  sort of a mum and an auntie and a sister all rolled into one.”

Sarah chuckles as she thinks about what her friend would think of her fundraiser.

“I think she would think it’s very funny that I was trying to persuade people to buy less clothes in her name because she was such an avid shopper,” she says.

“If I was in town and needed to find her I always knew she would be in Marks & Spencer at lunchtime so I would try and track her down.

Sarah with Gill who loved shopping. Image: Sarah Robinson

“But she would be proud.

“No-one wants to die at an early age and I think she would have wanted someone else to avoid what she went through.”

Sarah hopes to develop an education resource to teach children how to be more eco-friendly.

Half of the money will fund a sustainability project at The Gordon Schools in Huntly.

She’s held talks at the school, and at other local events, throughout the No New Clothes challenge which ended in March 2021.

To find out more about Sarah’s eco-friendly project, or to make a donation to the ongoing fundraiser or chat about her giving a talk at an event, contact sarah@grassetstyle.co.uk.

You can also visit her website www.grassetstyle.co.uk

Pupils pinned ideas on how we could reduce clothes becoming landfill waste at a seminar she held at a local school. Image: Sarah Robinson

 

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