Letter: Many financial and societal advantages of charity shops - well worth a look

The excellent Blythswood shop in Carrickfergus is typical of a lot of well-run NI charity shops.

Some great deals are present on clothes, books and other items.

Using charity shops supports the recycling of clothes and it channels money to good causes, rather than corporations.

It honours the donors and volunteers who make the reuse of clothes possible, as well as providing a flow of cash to charities.

I have listened to some inspiring talks by a volunteer from a Belfast connected charity called Educate the Orphans (ETO).

It's interesting to see the ETO website and Facebook pages, which describe the rescue of abandoned children in Kenyan wilderness regions.

Might the £125 cost of the luxury waistcoat, which failed to tempt Mr McCambridge, go some way towards keeping an ETO child fed, clothed and educated for three months?

ETO might even be a scoop for journalists seeking to justify their relatively un-groomed appearance!

James Hardy, Belfast