By Chris Cornford
Each Island fire fighter and support staff received a special treat of an Easter egg thanks to the Isle of Wight Mums Facebook group.
The 183 eggs were delivered to Newport Fire Station and fire fighters from across the Island turned up to pick them up and distribute them among their colleagues.
The eggs were collected by Cowes duo, Kate Holland and her sister-in-law Carolyn, who run the group and which has around 1,700 members.
Kate said: “We wanted to do something special for Easter, so we took a vote and the original winners were the Island teachers. But it just wouldn’t have been realistic to get that many eggs and distribute them to all the schools in such a short space of time. So we then decided on the firefighters who do such a great job.
“We collected the eggs through donations and from supermarkets and shops including the Shanklin and Ryde Co-ops and Spar, Ryde.
“Distributing them was going to be a problem because of the logistics, so we dropped them off at Newport Fire Station and then various members of each team around the Island came over to pick them up.
“You could say that the firefighters were very happy! It was all a bit of a rush in the end because I was panicking a couple of weeks ago that we weren’t going to get enough, but everything worked out in the end.”
It’s not the first time the Mums have thought of frontline workers. In February, they made sure hospital and hospice staff received a packet of sweets or bar of chocolate on Valentine’s Day. And at Christmas they raised funds to distribute food and presents to women and children in refuge.
Kate added: “I’m going to take a break now and come back after the summer and think of our next project.”
Isle of Wight Observer