Astronaut Ice Cream Anyone?

Fundraising | 23 Sep 2009

Never knowing what treasures you might find in your local charity shop is one of the joys of venturing in, but a 1970s condom, a set of false teeth and live rifle ammunition go way beyond most people’s expectations.

Amongst the standard donations of books, clothes and general bric-a-brac, veterinary charity PDSA has discovered some rather strange items in its pink collection sacks in the last year.

Objects have ranged from freeze-dried astronaut ice-cream (pictured) to the more extreme samurai sword, which was immediately handed over to the police. However, an electric organ was warmly received at a Liverpool branch, raising £700.

Here’s the full list of PDSA’s top ten peculiar items for the year:

1.    Freeze-dried astronaut ice-cream, vacuum-packed
2.    Canoe, including paddles
3.    Emergency distress flare
4.    Shower cubicle
5.    34-year-old condom
6.    False teeth
7.    Live rifle ammunition
8.    Mobility scooter
9.    Samurai sword
10.    A musical organ

Andrew Holl, PDSA director of retail, said: “Some donations are rather strange to say the least and some leave our staff and volunteers a little red-faced.”

Directory: The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA)

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.