Community rally round in a show of ‘heart warming support’ for a family who lost everything in a house fire
Items collected for House Fire victims at orchard school Wisbech. Picture: Steve Williams. - Credit: Archant
A community has rallied round in support of a couple with four young sons who were left with nothing when fire ripped through their Wisbech home.
Items collected for House Fire victims at orchard school Wisbech. Picture: Steve Williams. - Credit: Archant
The parents remain at Broomfields Hospital, in Chelmsford, in Essex, where their baby is being treated in the specialist burns unit while their three other boys aged two, four and seven, stay with family and friends.
In the meantime, donations have flooded in to the school attended by the older children and money totalling more than £1,000 pledged to help them get back on their feet.
A local firm has donated furniture, Tesco have offered to kit the boys out with new school uniform and Wisbech Lions have offered to help re-decorate their rented home.
Orchards Primary School head teacher Nicola Parker, who put a small message on the school website following the fire on Saturday (2), said: “I asked if anybody could bring items into school on Monday and expected a few bits of clothing and maybe some toys from our parents.
House Fire, Lime Avenue, Wisbech. Picture: Steve Williams. - Credit: Archant
“I didn’t expect to receive such an outpouring of support from so many - some as far away as Norfolk. The pledges are amazing.
“This proves how integrated this community is, look at all of this support.
Most Read
- 1 Man, 28, dies after truck and lorries crash on A47
- 2 Three rail and bus strikes in London and the East this week
- 3 Unauthorised encampments across Cambs a 'tricky issue' says Police and Crime Commissioner
- 4 Two combine harvesters catch fire in under 12 hours
- 5 £150,000 splashpad to open in Wisbech
- 6 Andre Rieu brings new summer concert to Cambridgeshire cinemas
- 7 NHS staff praised for ‘virtually eliminating’ long waiting times
- 8 Discount store expanding making it ‘bigger and better for customers’
- 9 How you can treat and prevent heatstroke in your pets
- 10 Driver cleared by reason of insanity over death of Louis Thorold
“Here we have a family in need and other families have dug deep, it is heart warming.”
Donations include clothing, bedding, toys, colouring books and shoes.
House Fire, Lime Avenue, Wisbech. Picture: Steve Williams. - Credit: Archant
Mrs Parker put out her message after seeing a call for help from Hayley Ogden who posted it onto a Wisbech Facebook group.
A day later the post was shared more than 400 times and has been seen by 19,000 people, Mrs Parker said.
Now the school is holding a cake sale on Wednesday and is looking for donations from local bakers to help raise funds.
The family also need men’s clothing in a 34 inch waist long leg trousers and women’s clothing size 10 to 12.
House Fire, Lime Avenue, Wisbech. Picture: Steve Williams. - Credit: Archant
Fire investigators are working to establish a cause of the blaze, which started at around 8.30am.
Three crews of firefighters from Cambridgeshire and Norfolk were called to the scene and spent most of the day damping down the area and making sure there were no other hotspots.
