Meet the volunteers behind Rutland's biggest pre-loved clothes sale
By Grace Kennington 15th Mar 2026
The For Rutland Good and New Sale has been raising funds for local causes since 1965, offering curated and high quality pre-loved clothing, accessories and shoes in the county's biggest second-hand clothes sale.
The Good and New Clothes Sale raised over £53,000 for 'For Rutland' last year, funding Citizen Advice Rutland's specialist advisors for Rutlanders living with long-term health conditions, such as dementia, cancer, MS and strokes.
Ahead of the 2026 sale on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 March, volunteers are hard at work checking, steaming, mending and labelling over 70 rails of clothes.
Virginia, who has been a volunteer with For Rutland for over 15 years, explained that the For Rutland team work hard for the two months run-up to the sale, working three days a week.
The team is made up of around 40 regular volunteers who take on a variety of roles ahead of the event.
All clothes and items at the sale are donated by local people and from there they are processed, checked, washed, steamed, mended, labelled, prices and organised ready to go on display.
'There's huge variety,' said Virginia. 'Clothes are sorted into high end or high-street with select designer pieces as well.'
She then went on to say that, for many volunteers, as much as it is good to raise money, working with For Rutland is a great chance to 'socialise, meet new people and give back to the community.'
Volunteers with For Rutland can come as much or as little as they want.
'We have lots of fun,' said Virginia.
Carolyn's job is sorting and labelling accessories, from ties to handbags, gloves to headscarves.
She's been volunteering with For Rutland for the last 8 years and was first invited to join in by a neighbour when she first moved to the area, saying: 'it blew my socks off the amount of money raised.'
It's important for the volunteers for everything to be priced competitively as they want no items left behind at the end of the sale while still raising as much money as they can.
On the second day of the sale, Saturday 28 March, all items will be 50% off to give local people the chance to get the best possible price, all while supporting an important cause.
When items are donated, they are initially sorted by a team of volunteers to decide what is usable and what can be donated else where. None of the items donated are thrown away, instead they are donated to other local charities to sell or for scrap material for recycling.
This means anything that can not be used by For Rutland is sent on to someone who can use it, so nothing goes to waste.
Once items are sorted, they are checked three times by volunteers, once for cleanliness, second for any marks and third to see if it will need mending.
Lorraine is one of the many volunteers that carry out these checks. When asked how long she had been volunteering with For Rutland, Lorraine said she had 'lost count' but that it was 'more than ten years but less than twenty.'
An important part of her job is looking up items online to get an idea of how much they may have originally cost, what they are being sold for now, and whether a piece is high-end, high street or designer.
This helps them to competitively price items.
For items that are not in perfect condition, they are given to Miranda. With experience working in needlework, Miranda is able to do intricate, invisible mends, place buttons, fix holes and repair any issues the garments may have.
She said she likes to give damaged clothes 'a new opportunity to be worn' and has a real attention for detail to spot what needs mending and how best to do it.
There are other specialists in the team. Jojo is a professional Milner and works with any hats that are donated.
The sale always have a beautiful selection of hats, some in their original boxes. All the hats sold at last years event.
Viv works on the designer items, with a keen eye and great knowledge of what to look out for.
This year, they have a great selection of evening wear and prom dresses, ideal for finding a beautiful, unique dress for school prom at a bargain price.
Ian works on the menswear section, with year-on-year more men attending the sale to discover the broad and varied selection of men's clothes on sale every year.
Ian has been with For Rutland for three years, saying 'it seemed like a really good cause' and that he liked 'raising a really good amount of money' from their work.
From spending time with the For Rutland team, it is clear there is real pride and passion behind what they do, as well as a strong feeling of community, working together like bees in a hive.
The Good and New Clothes Sale will be taking place on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 March at the prestigious Rutland Hall Hotel, just outside Oakham.
The Friday night is ticket only, costing £30 per person with a glass of champagne and canapes provided by Hambleton Hall while you browse.
On Saturday morning, tickets will be just £5 with most items half price.
To find out more about the Good and New Clothes Sale and book your tickets, visit the For Rutland website.
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