A children\u2019s hospice has thanked big-hearted bakers who made a special consignment of bread to help them keep going.<\/p>\n
The Village Bakery\u00a0 delivered a special batch of honey and spelt bread to Hope House in Morda, near Oswestry, which also provides a service for families in North East Wales.<\/p>\n
Among the other recipients of the 800gm sliced loaves were the The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, in Gobowen, near Oswestry, Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham and staff\u00a0 at\u00a0 the Pendine Park care organisation which\u00a0 has eight care homes in Wrexham and Caernarfon.<\/p>\n
The family owned bakery is planning two more drops next week and the week after.<\/p>\n
The kind gesture from the Wrexham based company comes at a time when they have had to ramp up bread production by 200 per cent to cope with demand from the supermarkets and the independent stores they supply.<\/p>\n
Heath Arnfield, the hospitality manager at Hope House, which also runs the T\u0177 Gobaith Hospice in the Conwy Valley, said: \u201cI think the very fact that the Village Bakery is thinking of hospices and good causes at is fantastic.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a country there\u2019s proof all over the place that we\u2019re pulling together in these difficult times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe told the staff and the children that a special consignment was coming and everybody was over the moon with that, and the fact that they\u2019re being thought about at this moment in time.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a sentiment endorsed by Peter Jackson, the catering manager at Nightingale House.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe Village Bakery are long term supporters of Nightingale House and\u00a0 I think the gesture is fabulous.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody is working very hard here and we\u2019re all doing different jobs that we have to and the hospice is full at the moment, so it\u2019s business as usual.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need as much support as we can because fundraising is obviously very difficult in this climate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing what we can but a lot of the events that we\u2019d organised have had to be postponed or cancelled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pendine Park proprietor Mario Kreft MBE was also deeply touched by the gesture.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThis is a typically kind gesture from the Village Bakery who are a community-based company with a really big heart. It\u2019s bread of heaven.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all the more welcome because this kindness is also a recognition of the vital role social care staff are playing amid the coronavirus crisis in safeguarding the most vulnerable people in society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Village Bakery managing director Robin Jones explained the idea had come from members of staff a request from a nurse at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe\u2019re making three weekly deliveries of 2,500 loaves in total.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our ingredient suppliers said they were willing to work with us, so they\u2019ve given us some ingredients and we\u2019re going to provide all the labour and the staff are going to do it and make it and then we\u2019re going to deliver it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen videos online and news about\u00a0 people not being able to shop, including those who work in social care and the NHS, so I thought if we do a little bit it\u2019s going to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people deserve support and they\u2019re all going to be snowed under in the weeks to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a way for all the staff at the Village Bakery to say thank you\u00a0 to everybody who is on the frontline during this pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n