Charity providing help for families in Hartlepool struggling to meet the cost of buying school uniform for their children

Hartlepool Borough Council’s Children’s Hub at the Civic Centre keeps a large stock of school uniform donated by families who no longer require it and this is available free throughout the year to other families in need.

The items – all of which have been laundered – range from skirts, dresses and trousers to polo shirts, blazers and sports kit and cover boys and girls, all ages from nursery right up to secondary and all the different schools.

As well as the stock at the Civic Centre, there’s also a selection of clothing at the Rossmere, Chatham and Hindpool Close Children’s Centres, as well as the Kilmarnock Road Children and Young People Family Resource Centre and the Belle Vue Community Sports and Youth Centre, and people are welcome to drop in and enquire during normal office hours.

The support available has received an additional boost thanks to Elizabeth Trowsdale Norman and her family. Elizabeth, who passed away last year aged 104, was born and lived in Hartlepool for half of her life before moving to North Yorkshire.

She was passionate about education, particularly access to education for girls. Elizabeth passed her 11+ exam, but was unable to attend grammar school because her family could not afford to support her.

Elizabeth’s family have created a fund to help provide school uniform and essential school supplies to those suffering financial hardship. Preference will be given to applicants from Hartlepool’s Victoria Ward, which is where Elizabeth was born and where she lived while she was at school.

Councillor Brenda Harrison, chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s Children’s Services Committee, said: “At a time when many families are finding it hard to make ends meet, the cost of school uniform can be a very significant additional burden.

“Thanks to the generosity of townspeople in donating items of school clothing which they no longer need, and thanks also to the kindness of Elizabeth Trowsdale Norman and her family, we are able to offer families in need a real helping hand.”

For more information or to donate items of school uniform which are no longer required, please call in to the Civic Centre or any of the other centres mentioned above or call 01429 284284.