Arion serves up a treat to land heroes award
THE Arion pub in Ainsdale is the regional winner in the Enterprise Community Heroes Awards for the fourth time.
The pub on Kenilworth Road was crowned the winner in their region for Cumbria and Lancashire out of a total of 530 entries.
The pub has been recognised for its commitment to helping the community, and aims to support both local and national organisations with the winning prize of £3,000 being reinvested in local projects.
This time around The Arion has raised money for first aid training in schools, built a new play area at the back of the pub and after the temporary closure of Ainsdale Library they set up their own comfy area with book stands where people could go to read.
In the past the pub has helped with the restoration of the war memorial and raised money for the spinal and critical care unit at Southport Hospital.
Manager Jackie Phillips who has been at the pub for the last five years, said: “My grandad was at the critical care unit and I asked what we could do for them. They don’t have tellys so we bought some to give to people who wanted them on the unit.”
“It makes it worthwhile after all the sleepless nights. I was up all night putting Hallowe’en stuff up for the family fun night, but when you see the kids’ faces it’s worth it.
“People think it’s about who can raise the most money but it’s not all about that. We use a lot of our funds we raise in the pub to keep the cost of events down. We don’t make any money out of them.”
The Arion holds quiz nights for just £1 with all the proceeds going to their chosen charity, which is currently the Southport Lifeboats.
Brenda Porter runs Revitalise Sandpipers which will be the pub’s next chosen charity.
And she said: “They are really good with the community. The Arion does lots for the community and really goes out of its way.”