Community stores assist in customers’ hour of need

Shopkeepers in Aberdeenshire turned Good Samaritans to help communities that were without power and, in some cases, water.

Despite being without power themselves last weekend, Kimmie’s Convenience Store on Alford’s main street remained open and served customers by candlelight. Meanwhile, The Corner Shop at the heart of the tiny village of Rhynie, near Huntly, run by mum-oftwo Anne Lyne, 50, rallied volunteers who, with the help of a generator and barbecues, turned the kirk’s community hub into a food kitchen.

And despite a sudden dump of snow, they provided hot water for residents to take home in thermos flasks and delivered food and drinks to those who were elderly, infirm or just not able to leave their homes. Lyne said: “A few of us got together. I took some supplies from my shop, opened the church community hub, got a generator and got heating going. We heated soup, made sandwiches and got hot water so people could come with their flasks and get boiling water.

“We got a group of people to go and knock on everyone’s doors and see if they were OK and invited them to come to the hall.

“We didn’t have water for two days, so a local farmer came and left a big tank of water with pails for people to flush their toilets. A lot of people donated drinking water.

“There were people not able to come out of their homes, like the elderly and those who are ill, so we took plastic containers of soup and sandwiches to them as well. It was amazing how people came together to help. We ran the community hub for two days and then the power came back on on Tuesday.”