Scotch College

The Origins of the Swap Shop

How Scotch mothers’ industriousness with the assistance of Thor benefited Scotch in the best of Scottish traditions.

WORDS: Mr GEOFF BELL (’76) – SON OF MARG BELL, CO-FOUNDER

‘Lost property everywhere, no names on it, what are we going to do with all this clothing?’ asked ‘Ginner’ Davidson.

‘So much of it in good condition, only worn once’ said Marg Bell.

‘We should sell it and raise money for the Scouts. We always need new equipment’ suggested Michael Achurch (then Head of Scouts).

As Marg Bell and Di Ramsey both had boys in scouts: Peter Bell (‘67), Tony Bell (‘69), David Bell (‘73) and Geoff Bell (‘76), and Andrew Ramsey (’69) they sought permission from Garth Tapp (Junior School Headmaster) to sell unclaimed lost property through a ‘Swap Shop’.

Marg and Di bundled all the clothes into the back of the Valiant station wagon, (the 1960s equivalent of the people mover or 4WD) and took it home. The old Thor washing machine went for days. It had only two cycles: wash and spin. One could alternate between the two cycles by holding the control down and turning it, therefore washing clothes for as long as needed, and spinning them until they were virtually dry! The clothesline looked like a Christmas hamper with 76 pairs of Scotch footy socks on it. The billiards room resembled a storeroom in Myer, with rack after rack of suits, blazers, shirts and ties, boxes of socks, footy shorts and jumpers, school jumpers, footy boots, and other assorted items.

On Family Day 1970 the ‘Scout Swap Shop’ was born in the 6th Form (Year 12) Common Room (then in the south-east corner of the quadrangle). Clothes were rated excellent, good or fair condition and priced accordingly: anything too worn or that did not survive five rounds with Thor was consigned to the ‘Mr Wilson bag’, a bag of old rags saved for Mr Wilson, who serviced the washing machine throughout its 28 year life. When he took Thor away for spare parts, Marg shed a tear for an old friend while the new Westinghouse was delivered.

That first day of the Swap Shop the Scotch mothers worked like slaves! When it was all over they sat down and recited the comments from the day: ‘So cheap I got a whole suit for Hamish for $25’ and ‘I’m sure that was Michael’s blazer on the rack; he has only worn it once…expletive deleted’.

They raised approximately $2,000: ‘That will buy two new auto tents for the Scouts’ announced Michael Achurch. The Scout Swap Shop was subsequently integrated into the Scotch community, where it proudly continues to serve Scotch today, recycling lost property and clothes grown out of, giving access to good clothes at very reasonable prices, and reinforcing the humble and very Scottish traditions of our great school.

Headmaster Colin Healey was delighted as it solved the lost property problem and funded the Scouts. It was also a living example of his vision of the yet-to-be formalised Scotch Family, and how this network could foster not only financial benefits for the school, but also the involvement of many different people in the broader Scotch Family.

Sadly, Marg is the only surviving member of the original Swap Shop ladies (Di Ramsey died on 7 September 2003 aged 77). Marg left the Swap Shop in 1974 to go back to nursing and was second in charge at the Mercy Private Hospital operating theatres until her retirement in 1993. It is with great pride she looks back on those happy days as a Scotch mum from 1956 to 1976 and now as a Scotch grandmother with three Scotch grandsons: James (‘07), Lachlan (‘09) and Quentin (’14). GS