Corby’s Lakelands Hospice Emporium reopens after much-needed refurbishment

Northants Telegraph

The Lakelands Hospice Emporium in Corby’s town centre has re-opened after receiving a much-needed refurbishment.

Transcript

00:00 It's an absolute honour to declare the new shop, Rebamped, open.

00:07 [Cheering]

00:09 I've been volunteering here every Saturday for about eight and a half years

00:13 and I was asked would I consider going onto the board of Lakelands

00:18 and so I went for an interview last October and joined the board in November

00:24 and they asked me because they've never had anybody represent the volunteers before

00:27 of which I think there are about 180 across Lakelands in all different guises.

00:32 So they asked me would I go on the board and my very first board meeting I said

00:36 the thing I want to get done is the shop because it really does need it

00:41 and I've got the wherewithal to do it because I work for Wincanton,

00:44 we've got the big trucks, we've got customers that we can get materials from,

00:48 I can hopefully get volunteers together and I'll make it happen somehow

00:52 and I don't know how but I'm going to do it and that's really how it happened

00:55 and I've snowballed from there.

00:57 Well we started last Wednesday so it's been an eight day project.

01:02 Obviously all over the Easter Bank holiday weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday as well

01:06 so people are giving up their time from all different walks of life.

01:10 From within Wincanton we've had people from London, Chippenham, Birmingham,

01:15 our sites in Wellingborough, all over Northamptonshire,

01:20 people have come from everywhere to give their time

01:22 because anyone who knows anything about Corby realises the importance of Lakelands.

01:27 Lakelands means everything to this town.

01:31 It's a very special place.

01:34 I'm blown away by the generosity of people's time and spirit and effort

01:39 because everyone's actually just got on with it and got stuck in and did us proud

01:44 so I'm immensely proud of it all.

01:47 I don't think it could have looked any better.

01:49 We've managed to get much more done than we hoped.

01:52 We've done the shop, the office, the kitchen, the corridor, the ladies and the gents toilets.

01:58 An amazing feat of work I think in eight days.

02:00 I don't think Nick Knowles could have done any more than us.

02:02 Isn't it fantastic that the community has come together to really piece together

02:07 what is a fantastic shop already but just needed a little bit of revitalisation.

02:11 Lakelands is a huge player in terms of the charity landscape around here.

02:16 It's got some really good fundraising but actually at the time of need

02:22 they are a huge point of a family's journey into maybe saying goodbye to a loved one

02:27 so I think it touches quite a lot of lives.

02:30 It's so nice to be part of all of these community projects that it's literally about sharing

02:34 so there was no transaction of money or cost.

02:37 It literally was time and energy.

02:39 We've been working here since day one which was the 17th of October 2004

02:44 so I've been here nearly 18 years.

02:46 So this was my baby, this is my pride and joy.

02:49 So when Karen decided, you know, she said let's give it a revamp

02:53 it was a bit daunting for a start and I thought oh no do I really want to go back

02:59 but it needed it so bad.

03:01 So when we started it was very daunting but as the days went on we've had the right good

03:07 and everybody's worked so hard and well you can see it's just amazing now.

03:12 Absolutely love it.

03:14 Because we are like a little community hub here and we've got a lot of old customers

03:19 we're getting a load of new customers come in, try and keep it cheap and cheerful

03:24 and everybody knows us when we come in, we have a good laugh.

03:28 It really is a pleasure to work here.

03:30 Batemans is exceptional.

03:31 I mean I've never known a community hospice like this to have so many people support it

03:40 and you know everything that we do just goes to the hospice.

03:46 They do such a great job up there, the nurses and I think it's great for Corby

03:51 you know to be able to support us helps to support the hospice and keeps it going

03:57 and we need to keep it going because it is a community thing

04:00 so hopefully many years more to come we'll still be here.

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