The owner of a healthcare practice in Suffolk has decided to bring a “ray of sunshine” into people’s day by carefully hiding a trail of books for children to find during their exercise of the day.
The Melton Podiatry Practice closed its doors on Thursday March 27 after advice from their governing body, the College of Podiatry, and now owner Joanna Rowles has come up with a way to reach her community during lockdown.
The booklover runs the practice with her partner David whom she has two children with, Daisy, ten, and Ollie, seven.
“We had a surprise planned for later in the summer for the local community, but then coronavirus turned our world upside down,” she explained.
“Each day on our family exercise walk around the village we will be leaving book parcels on the way.
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“They have been stored and packed in the cleanest way possible prior to the coronavirus outbreak.”
The mother-of-two had bought the remained stock of a closing book store earlier in the year and is now hoping they will help lift the spirits of the Melton community during the isolation period.
“If you find one in the village we hope it brings you a little ray of sunshine at a dark and worrying time,” she added.
To reassure the community, the podiatrist added that she packed all of the brand new parcels with newly washed hands and latex gloves.
On Saturday, March 28, Cat Cowie and her husband were out walking at Melton Playing Fields with their son and daughter when they found one of the hidden books.
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Mrs Cowie said: “My son Benjamin found a parcel addressed to ‘A child finder’ and inside was a beautiful book of traditional tales left by Joanna Rowles and family.”
The two-year-old’s mother took to social media to thank the practice, saying: “Our little boy found your kind gift left at Melton Playing Fields today.
“He loves books and can’t wait for us to read it to him before bed. A lovely gesture in these uncertain times and we promise to pay it forward.”
Mrs Rowles added that she hopes people post photographs of them with the books on the practice’s Facebook page and said: “We know some of our elderly patients are following this each day whilst they are isolated and its bringing them joy to see the stories of books found.”
The practice is open for emergencies such as painful ingrowing toenails, but requests must be made in the first instance to info@meltonpodiatry.com for triage prior to booking.
All other podiatry and pedicure appointments have been suspended at this time.
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