Corby’s Lakelands Hospice Emporium to receive much-needed refurbishment

The Lakelands Hospice Emporium in Corby;s town centre will be receiving a much-needed refurbishment next month.

The emporium, located in New Post Office Square, is a charity shop as well as a restaurant and café.

It was officially opened in October 2007, six years after the day care hospice opened in 2001.

It has been in much need of refurbishment for some time now, and new board of trustees member Karen Govier, who also volunteers in the Emporium, has taken it upon herself to get it done.

Karen said: “The first thing I said when I went into that post in November was, it’s about time we did something with the shop because it’s been there for 18 years and it is in desperate need of a facelift and I said I want to make it my mission to make it happen.

“We want to be able to make this a shop to be proud of. I’m really passionate about everything that the hospice stands for. I think it’s a wonderful charity and I think it’s so well needed in this town to have this kind of service.

“It will make a massive difference.”

Karen also works for Wincanton, who have chosen Lakelands as their charity of the year for 2024.

Through Wincanton, Karen has arranged vehicles to get the materials/stock out of the store during the refurbishment. They’re also providing volunteers from across all of their sites in Northamptonshire to completely repaint the 500 sq ft emporium and put up additional shelving.

Other companies have also offered to provide items and services for the refurbishment, including EBM who will be doing the new ceiling.

B&Q will be providing all of the decorating materials and IKEA will also be providing items of furniture for the store.

The shop, office and kitchen will all be refurbished.

The mammoth project will happen over the Easter bank holiday with the emporium being shut for the best part of a week.

The store will close on Wednesday, March 27, with a grand reopening being held on Thursday, April 4, with the mayor of Corby, Cllr Leanne Buckingham.

They are looking for people who are able to volunteer their time to help with the refurbishment. If you would like to volunteer contact Karen by emailing [email protected].

Karen said: “Any time that anyone is able to give will mean so much.”

An Easter trail for children has also been planned which will cost £1 per child. Those taking part can collect a sheet from the Emporium between April 4 and April 23, excluding Sundays, and follow the clues. People can fill in the missing letters as they find them to spell out the magic word before returning to the Emporium to receive ‘a chocolatey reward’.

Lakelands Hospice is an independent charity committed to delivering the best possible care, practice and development of specialist palliative support for people with cancer, heart failure and other life limiting illnesses.

Lakelands receives no statutory NHS or government funding and relies on the support and generosity from the people of Corby to provide award winning levels of care into the community.

To find out more visit their website.