Surplus flowers donated by a local florist have been delivered to care homes in Penrith by firefighters.
The kind donation was made by The Flower Bank, based in Wreay near Carlisle, following a delivery of fresh flowers from Holland that they were unable to sell due to the flower shop closing as part of COVID-19 guidelines.
Rather than let them go to waste, the flowers were donated to Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service HQ near Penrith for the staff and partners of the fire service and ambulance service who share the premises. They also donated flowers to the Cumberland Infirmary and Penrith Hospital.
Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service’s Penrith Day Crew then delivered some of these flowers to various care homes within the Penrith area, including Woodlands Retirement Home – where all 41 female residents received a bunch of flowers each for their room. Flowers were also delivered to Cold Springs Park Retirement Home and the Glenmore Trust.
Chris Middleton, Manager of Woodlands Retirement Home, said: “This was such a lovely surprise for our residents, who were all very happy to receive the flowers. They’re beautiful and really brighten up everybody’s rooms at this difficult time. It was nice to see smiling faces and we’d all like to say a huge thank you to The Flower Bank and the fire service for thinking of us.”
Craig Phillips, CFRS Watch Manager, was involved in distributing the flowers. Craig said: “We received so many lovely flowers from The Flower Bank, we didn’t want any to go to waste so we came up with the idea of delivering them to local care homes. We know the residents will be finding it difficult at this time and may not be able to see their families, so we just wanted to do something to let them know they weren’t forgotten. At times like this, it’s important people come together and support each other.”
