Garden centre closure leads to donations for groups in Irthlingborough and Raunds

A garden centre has made donations to groups in Irthlingborough and Raunds after having to close down during the coronavirus crisis.

While value garden centre Cherry Lane, which has a branch in Podington, has had to temporarily close all its stores as a result of Covid-19, each branch has been donating huge amounts of food, pet food and plants to causes local to every outlet.

Group operations director, Karl Ottolangui, said: “It has been heart-breaking to close our doors and the last few weeks have been really tough for all our teams, trying to serve their local communities with essential products.

"It has been a very emotional time for staff in all our stores and garden centres.

“They have all been absolutely amazing and have all worked tirelessly to donate whatever we can to those in need.

"The whole exercise has gone incredibly well.

"The store teams are absolutely exhausted, but it has given us some happiness that we were able do some good for our local communities in this very difficult time, on our final day until we can re-open.”

The stores have distributed items to worthy causes, with each individual store team choosing their local recipients.

Cherry Lane in Podington made their donation of essentials to Raunds food bank with pet food donated to NANNA (Northamptonshire Animals Needing Nurturing and Adopting).

While the stores are closed, Cherry Lane will continue to provide customers’ favourite products online and deliver them safely to their door.

The online shopping portal is at www.cherry-lane.co.uk.

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