King's Lynn: The community shop with a chair for those who 'are not OK'

Those who know Fairstead Community Shop well, compare it to Dr Who's time-travelling police box, the TARDIS

The Fairstead estate in King's Lynn, Norfolk, which is among England's most deprived neighbourhoods, has been hit hard both by the global pandemic and the repeated lockdowns. Yet people here say adversity has given rise to a new hero: a woman called Emma Brock, and her community shop.

Those who know Fairstead Community Shop well compare it to Doctor Who's time-travelling police box, the Tardis.

Run entirely by volunteers, it sells donated goods as cheaply as it can to the community that surrounds it.

Inside, visitors will discover toys, clothes, books, games, DVDs and school uniforms.

But making a purchase is only one of a number of reasons people visit the shop. Some come to use the food bank, others just come for the company.

During the pandemic the shop provided prescription and food runs for the vulnerable, and called those who were housebound to check on them.

John 'Jack' Jackson visits the shop every day, whether as a donor, a customer, or both.

John 'Jack' Jackson visits the shop every day

"It is something for me to do and to meet people like Emma and the staff in here," says Mr Jackson.

"This shop has helped out getting stuff that I can't get. They have helped me out a lot."

Hazel Lewis says she has found the Fairstead estate welcoming

Hazel Lewis moved to the Fairstead estate about eight years ago from North Lynn.

"I came to this community and I fitted in straight away," she says. "Everybody said 'you don't want to go to Fairstead because it is rough and it is not a nice place'.

"But it is fine, people are welcoming. It is just a community.

"I pop in here all the time, even if I don't want anything. I just pop in to see what is here."

Emma Brock first started working at the shop as a means of managing her mental health

So who is Emma Brock, the driving force behind the estate's shop?

She first started working at the shop in its previous life when it was run by a charity. When the charity pulled out, she stepped in to take it over as a volunteer-run venture.

For Mrs Brock, setting up the shop was a means of coping with depression and anxiety.

"It became my safety bubble," she says. "When the charity shop closed down I organised a petition to get the local authority to let me run it.

"Living on the estate, I know how people struggle. I talk to everybody and they tell me what they need and if I can do it, then I will try and help as best as I can.

"We get donated items or we buy in items. Anything that is donated gets quarantined and sorted and then it goes out for people to buy.

"We keep the prices for things like children's clothes as low as we can because we know how hard it is for parents with children struggling with money and stuff."

Visitors who sit down on the "worry chair" will be brought tea and biscuits and given the chance to share their concerns

There is one item in the shop which is not for sale. It is a wooden-back armchair with forest green upholstery.

"All my staff know that if somebody comes in and they sit in that chair then they get them a tea or a coffee and if they want to talk then they talk," says Ms Brock. "If they just want to sit there then they can just sit there and people watch.

"It is a worry chair. And we try and take their worries away. Sometimes it can take a couple of times before they open up and get used to us and we can help them with whatever they are worried about.

"We get quite a few people sitting there."

Mary (centre) has found the shop's "worry chair" very useful whilst suffering the confinement she felt during the lockdown

Mary has in the past used the worry chair.

"I didn't like the isolation during lockdown," she says. "I just felt sometimes like pulling my hair out, like I was going to explode.

"I used to get so fed up and I'd come and sit in that chair and they would make me a coffee or a cup of tea and cakes and I'd feel better.

"It is nice, I feel better because somebody is there for you."

Kingston Nwosu of The Kings Glory Church is working with the shop and the Youth Advisory Board to create a new youth club for the estate

Mrs Brock knows that not all issues can be solved from within the walls of her shop.

She is currently working with other community groups to set up a youth club for young people on the estate.

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"It is always good to have a good blend when it comes to life and with children it is a very important part of their development," says Kingston Nwosu, from the local King's Glory church, one of the youth club partners.

"When we look around us here, we see there is not too much for the children to engage in and these people are young people with energy. If we don't channel it, that energy will go towards vices.

"So we are trying to bring something that would bring them together and work for them in the future."

Mother-of-two Maxine Mifsud says a new youth club will give children on the estate something to do in a safe environment

Maxine Mifsud, mother-of-two children aged three and 10, is looking forward to the youth club.

"It would provide a bit of structure and a safe haven for them to go to, where they will have adults that they can reach out to if they are having some trouble out and about," she says.

"We want it to be somewhere good for them to go rather than hanging around the streets."

Alistair Wagg says people on the estate would be "struggling" without Mrs Brock's efforts

In the meantime, the shop has organised transport to take about 70 children from the estate for a day out at a nearby dinosaur theme park.

"They are helping people who are struggling a bit to get out and about instead of being trapped in your house," says father-of-three Alistair Wagg.

"Lockdown has made us feel slightly depressed because we can't really see anybody or do anything. We've managed to get a few tickets to go to the dinosaur park. It will mean the world to our kids.

"Lockdown happened and everyone has been struggling. But thanks to Emma keeping her shop open, she has been doing a wonderful job supplying food donations just to help them get that ball rolling so they can get back on their feet.

"Without Emma, everybody around here would be struggling."

Photography: Martin Giles