THE DRAGON AND ST GEORGE STRIKE UNUSUAL PACT
Regulars at The Dragon in Werrington, near Peterborough, have struck an unusual pact with service personnel based at St George’s Barracks in North Luffenham.
Inspired by one of their regulars whose son is on active service in Afghanistan, pub managers Janek and Jackie Skutela have mobilised customers at The Dragon to provide home comforts for hundreds of troops on the front line and have even teamed up with their own regiment.
“When staff from nearby RAF Wittering were banned from wearing uniforms in Peterborough, we were horrified” explained Janek “because we should be thanking our troops, not telling them to hide in fear of insult and abuse. One customer, Gloria Aschettino, was particularly angry because her son is risking his life every day in Afghanistan and we decided to help her to show the world that we’re proud of our forces. So we discussed what we could do with Gloria and another friend, Philippa Millard, and as a result Peterborough Supports Heroes (POSH) was born in the pub and we’ve been doing what we can to help them ever since.”
The pub has been the centre of a drive to send “Boxes of Love” to troops overseas, with the first batch of 50 shoeboxes sent to Afghanistan almost immediately. “The boxes contain some of life’s little luxuries” continued Janek “such as toothpaste, soap, socks, magazines, sweets, toiletries and crisps and the response of our local community has been fantastic.”
So fantastic that a further 100 boxes of love have now been despatched to Iraq and the pub has a further 200 ready to go. The first group of shoeboxes was sent through Royal Mail but The Dragon has now formed an uncharacteristic alliance with St George. “We’ve been in touch with the 16th Royal Artillery who are based at St George’s Barracks, about half an hour away” explained Janek. “They were delighted with the support we’d pledged and have agreed to help distribute our next donation. We’re also organising a party at the pub to welcome the regiment back when they return home and will keep in touch to remind them that there’s one community thinking about them. In the meantime, we’ll keep collecting gifts from our locals and holding fundraising events to support the POSH campaign.”
Tim Smith, Retail Development Manager for Charles Wells Pub Company added “Janek and Jackie are great community pub managers and do a fantastic job of stirring their customers into action. They’ve already raised lots of money for local charities and have taken advantage of the charity scheme run by Charles Wells Ltd to give their donations an extra boost. With Peterborough Supports Heroes, they’ve hit a real chord with their regulars and it’s great to see them bringing everyone together with a common aim and really sum up what a true community pub is all about.”
A fun day was held at The Dragon over the August Bank Holiday weekend and a further Ł3000 raised for POSH and other good causes in the area, with members of the armed forces joining in to say thank you to the regulars on behalf of all their colleagues who have benefitted so far.
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www.charleswells.co.uk
For Immediate Release: Friday 26th September 2008
For Further Information, please contact: Janek Skutela, The Dragon on +44 (0)1733 750866
Or Kate Hempsall, Charles Wells Pub Company on +44 (0)1234 272625
