Northamptonshire's Air Ambulance charity home stores will be open again on Monday morning

Two of Norhamptonshire's Local Air Ambulance charity shops are set to reopen on Monday (June 1).

The charity, which provides rapid response emergency services across the county, is unlocking doors at homeware stores in Daventry and Wellingborough for shoppers and donations across the county.

Eight home stores are allowed to open under the latest Government guidelines allowing homeware retailers to reopen while the charity's shops in Northampton and Oundle will have to wait until after June 15.

Income from the shops allows the charity to operate and support NHS partners working on the front line — including at an accident in Northampton town centre on Friday morning (May 29).

The Local Air Ambulance is spending £22,000 fitting out all its stores to keep customers and staff safe and stick to the Government guidelines on social distancing, installing screens, hand sanitiser stations, social distancing signage and other health and safety measures.

Store manager Scott Bannister said: “It is safe to shop and donate and we look forward to welcoming you to the home stores.

"Please come along and help save lives by supporting our cause.”

“The safety of our customers, volunteers and staff is our priority. We had fantastic support from the local communities before the lockdown and I thank them for that. My hope now is that it will continue when we reopen.

“I am looking forward to welcoming back customers and ask that they follow in-store safety measures which will be clearly signposted.

“Anyone with extra time on their hands, due to the Covid-19 crisis, who wants to volunteer at our stores please get in touch – there are plenty of jobs for you to do and we would really appreciate your help."

Each emergency call costs around £1,700 and the Air Ambulance charity gets no funding from government or the National Lottery for daily missions and instead relies entirely on voluntary donations and support from communities and business.

Flying medics to emergencies means patients can get treated quicker and transported to specialist hospitals where needed without relying on slower ground transport.

The stores at Daventry and Wellingborough store have been shut for ten weeks during the coronavirus lockdown but will be open from 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday and 10am til 4pm on Sunday.