Betty’s Pots

I’m hoping you may have seen these little pots springing up around our area and wondered what they are all about. If so, read on...

Once upon a time there was a lady called Betty Frith who lived in Hertford. Now, Betty was a keen Lifeboat supporter who worked hard for her local RNLI guild.

I like to think that she was a very neat and tidy person and that every night, when she hung her husband’s trousers over the back of the chair, she would pick up the loose change which fell on the bedroom carpet and put it in a tray on the dressing table. One night, however, the tray was full, so she put a handful of coins in a little jam jar which she took along to the next Lifeboat meeting and donated to their funds.

This story is a complete fabrication (and probably politically incorrect), but Betty Frith did exist, and her little pots are now famous. They have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the RNLI - when I tell you that one Lifeboat guild alone has banked 8 tons (or £130,000 worth) of coins from Betty’s pots, you will get some idea. When we told this story to the staff at Douglas Yeadon’s in Boston Spa they were keen to get on board and have put our pots in pride of place on their counter. From small beginnings, as they say ... so far, over 150 pots have been picked up by their customers and the first ones are starting to be returned full of coins.

We can’t thank the local residents enough for supporting our RNLI charity stall on the green in September and now we are hoping you will embrace our latest fund-raising venture with equal enthusiasm. All you have to do is pick up a pot and fill it with coins (preferably 5p or greater) and return it to Douglas Yeadon’s who will exchange it for an empty one.

This year has been disastrous for all charities, as fundraising has pretty much dried up. However, the RNLI have not stopped responding to calls from people in distress on our waters and, as usual, our volunteer crews have been on call around the clock, Covid or not.

PAULA LETTS