Charity begins….in the High Street. If you scout round our local charity shops, what an interesting collection they are. And what an extraordinary variety of merchandise is on show.

First, a bit of history. It seems the earliest examples of the outlets we see today go back almost a century. At the time of the First World War, a bazaar-type stall was opened in London’s Shepherds Market, which by the time it closed raised £50,000 for the Red Cross. That was a huge sum if you adjust into 2008 money. In wartime the work of the Red Cross would seem especially urgent, of course.

Come the next world war and the Red Cross was back in business. Their charity shops as we would recognise them started again in 1941.

Perhaps some reader can tell us when the first example appeared in our part of the world. Sadly, in my memory, it seems they really started dotting the high streets at a time when other stores were having a tough time. In the early 1990s, for instance, when one national newspaper actually used Reigate High Street to illustrate how local firms were disappearing as an economic downturn battered us around.

You can understand that commercial firms, especially small family-run ones having to bear the full costs of running a business, get a bit cheesed off when the charities move in. They have low overheads, no stock to pay for, and plenty of mostly unpaid staff. Recently, Horley has been identified as “over charitied”.

Even so, it is a good feeling to know that if you spend a bit of money, it is going to an organisation whose good works you support. It is always gratifying to see a shop helping to fund a local concern, like St Catherine’s Hospice. I remember a few years back being asked to re-open a hospice charity shop that had a very difficult time. It had been fitted out, welcomed its first customers, then a car smashed into it, and the place had to be refurbished all over again.

If you have a few moments when you are not diving in and out of the chain stores, or drinking coffee in one of the endless establishments devoted to our caffeine habit, do have a look along the charity shelves.

Clothing to suit all shapes and sizes. Always lots and lots of drinking glasses. Jewellery galore, though I don’t think real diamonds are to be found. There is always the vague feeling that you might find an undervalued gem, an old Victorian plate perhaps, that you can take to the Antiques Roadshow programme and be amazed at how much it’s worth. A lady in Portishead, near Bristol, has just discovered that a 19th Century painting she paid a few pounds for some years ago is rare and very valuable.

I went into one local shop and bought an ancient golf club for one pound. I reckoned it was a charming bargain. A friend who’s a keen and much better golfer followed me in, had a look round, and discovered a smart new and unused golf bag for five pounds. I should have looked closer.

I will declare my two favourite charity shops. Oxfam, which really got the idea going properly in the late 1940s, and runs more shops than any other voluntary group, has taken to selling second-hand books en masse. Since the closure of what I regard as proper old-fashioned bookshops in recent times, I love to peer along the Oxfam shelves. And when I buy, I help in a tiny way a charity that my father did a lot for.

And there is my pet love, Cancer Research UK. I have done a bit of time behind the till of the Reigate branch, and do admire the hard work of the staff there. Some of the ladies would have been entitled to retire many, many years ago. Well done to them.

I often take in ties that have had sufficient outings on the TV to be sold for the benefit of cancer research. I like to joke that I think I have  returned later and accidentally bought one or two back. A few days ago I found myself flicking through an interesting book, only gradually realising that it was one I had brought in myself.

All the charities with retail branches depend on them for much-needed income. They all need willing volunteers. Don’t chuck out things which could make a few pounds, and do offer to help out if you have the time.