A RESTAURANT owner said treating staff at Newton Community Hospital to a free lunch was “the least they could do”.
Staff from Amans, based on in Newton-le-Willows High Street, wanted to show their appreciation to the “local heroes” on the front-line of the coronavirus pandemic.
Newton Hospital is run by St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and is being used to treat patients who have contracted COVID-19.
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After contacting local ward Labour councillor Seve Gomez-Aspron and the hospital’s pharmacy, staff from the popular Indian restaurant today dropped off the food for the hard-working NHS workers.
Abdul Rouf, owner and manager of Amans, said: “We got in touch with Sev (Gomez-Aspron) and Deb Case at Newton Hospital Pharmacy to see how we could support our fantastic and hard-working NHS and to give them all a free lunch at Newton Community Hospital seemed like the perfect way to do it.
“We are fully behind our NHS and care workers and wanted to give a little bit back.
“It’s the least we could do for our local heroes”.
Cllr Gomez-Aspron said: “We have a such a fantastic and generous community in Newton-le-Willows and have worked with Amans before.
“But their generosity is fantastic and the staff at Newton Community Hospital were over the moon. The food smelt fantastic.
“I hope the public can show their appreciate to all local businesses who are going above and beyond to support our NHS and community.”
The kind gesture from the staff at Amans comes just days after an army of volunteers delivered 2,500 Easter eggs to school children in the area.
The operation took place on Monday and was co-ordinated by the Newton and Earlestown Community Group (NECG), which had been preparing for the annual Easter egg hunt in Mesnes Park before the UK went into lockdown.
The project was supported by the Tesco stores in Earlestown, Haydock and St Helens, who banded together to fund half of the cost of the eggs.
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On the day, volunteers used The Victoria pub in Wargrave Road as the base of the operation, which was also supported by around 100 volunteers, including local Labour councillors.
Cllr Gomez-Aspron said: “I know we have one of the strongest community spirit in the UK in Newton-le-Willows and although the idea seemed daunting last week, I knew NECG and the community could deliver.”
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