Summer trip will take place thanks to cash from Rotary

A community shop which betters the lives of struggling families in the King’s Lynn area is now able to provide them with a fun summer day out thanks to donations.

The three Rotary clubs in Lynn have teamed up to help the Fairstead Community Shop, which found itself struggling to keep open due to the rising costs of bills.

The Priory Rotary Club, Trinity Rotary Club and King’s Lynn Rotary Club have each donated £350, a total of £1050, which will help facilitate a coach trip out in August to Fantasy Island in Skegness for a number of families.

A cheque was handed over to Emma Brock, who runs the community shop, on Wednesday evening at King’s Lynn Golf Club.

Last month Emma wasn’t sure if the day trip – which helps families who have no transport and could not afford a holiday – could go ahead.

Phil Davies from the Priory Rotary Club said that Rotarians had put their heads together to help the shop after reading about its troubles in the Lynn News. “The Priory Rotary Club have prior involvement with helping the community shop fund previous outings, and we wanted to help again” Phil said.

As well as the donation, Priory Rotary have also made an application to the KidsOut charity, which could mean the shop would receive an extra £10 for each of the 70 children going on the trip.

Emma added “It will be quite a busy day, so far we have two coachloads booked up. This May half term we also provided more than 300 lunches to children in lieu of school meals. Depending on how much funding we get, we hope to be able to provide more than 2,000 free lunches during the summer holidays.”

The shop offers a number of other services to families in the Fairstead area who are struggling to afford items such as clothing, food and school uniforms. Emma also provides baby boxes for new mums, home boxes full of essentials for those moving into the area, and a food bank operating all year round.