VILLAGE PUB RALLIES LOCALS TO SUPPORT THE RELIEF EFFORT FOR THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE

A village pub has rallied its community to help the people of Ukraine.
 

Shepherd Neame pub The Flying Horse at Smarden held a cupcake sale to raise funds to help support the relief effort – and was inundated with donations.

Licensee Natasha Hartfield said: “We only had 130 cupcakes and we were selling them for £1 - but people were coming in offering us £10 each for them!

“We are a community pub here, so anything like this that happens people come straight to us. We do a lot of fundraising.”

In total the pub in Cage Lane, Smarden, raised £600 in just one day from the cake sale, with cupcakes rustled up by Head Chef Lou Walker.

With the funds, Natasha and her sister Louisa Gibbs, headed to Tesco at St Michael’s and 
bought supplies from an official list of essential items for families, such as nappies, bandages, medicines, baby food and toiletries.

The items – which totalled four car loads – were then taken to RM Cycles’ warehouse in Appledore Road, which has been collecting supplies to be taken to a London charity point, to be transported directly to Ukraine.

The pub has also been inundated with other items, after local Kate Stocker, galvanized local people to donate physical items such as clothing which will be taken directly to London for shipping to the country. 

Natasha added: “I have still got lots coming in. And we are still selling the cupcakes, as they have been so popular.”

The pub, owned by Britain’s oldest brewer, is nicknamed ‘The Flyer’ by locals, and nestles in the picturesque village of Smarden. It has a bar, restaurant and outdoor seating patio area.
 

You can keep up to date with the latest on the pub’s fundraising efforts on its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/theflyersmarden

To find out more about the pub, call 01233 770432 or visit www.flyinghorsesmarden.co.uk