They may never reopen Long queue grows Nurse Irene at garden centre beats virus
DOZENS of shoppers queued to get into a garden centre as it reopened its doors.
The government ordered the closure of all non-essential shops, including garden centres, when the coronavirus lockdown was imposed in March. But on Monday, the prime minister confirmed they could reopen as the nation moves into the next stage of the lockdown.
Yesterday, after seven weeks of being closed, the Newbank Garden Centre in Radcliffe opened its doors to customers.
Dozens of keen gardeners flocked to the centre on Bury Road to get their hands on plants, gardening tools and furniture.
One shopper reported a queue of around 100 people at 9am, half an hour before the store opened.
He said: “It took 10 minutes for me to get in. There were about 100 people in the queue waiting to get in from 9am this morning.
“Outside you have your trolley sprayed to wipe it clean, and then it’s a one-way system.”
All five Newbank sites in Radcliffe, Royton, Dobcross, Halifax and Newton Le Willows reopened yesterday morning in accordance with strict social distancing guidelines.
In a statement on their website, the garden centre said: “As lockdown continues people want to enjoy the garden and make this summer as great as it possibly can be. Gardening can be a welcome tool to relieve stress and increase exercise as we adapt to this new, temporary way of life.
“We are therefore opening all five Newbank sites. We are conscious that we do not want to contribute to the spread of the virus and have put in place a variety of measures.”
Each store has a strict maximum occupancy level and will operate a ‘one in, one out’ policy.
A NURSE and mum-of-four has been discharged from hospital after recovering from Covid-19.
Irene, who previously worked at Salford Royal Hospital, was able to return home to her husband and children, one of whom also fell ill with the virus.
A spokesman for Northern Care Alliance NHS Group said: “Happy International Nurses Day to Irene.
“After a hospital stay of nearly two weeks, including time in critical care, we were delighted to see Irene leave us to return home to her husband and four children.
“Irene’s youngest child was only three months old when she fell seriously ill with Covid-19 and was admitted to hospital. Thankfully Irene, herself a nurse, has made a good recovery but said it had been an emotional time, including being treated by some of the doctors and nurses she worked previously alongside at Salford Royal.”