The Pistachio Tree in North Tawton, a shop and cafe that was founded by Jay Scrutton and his late wife Steffi, then incorporated as a community interest company, hopes to continue looking after local residents on low incomes despite closing its doors on Saturday.
Steffi was the Head of Radiotherapy Treatment Planning in the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital and used her NHS ill-health early retirement pension to set up and fund The Pistachio Tree, with the aims to get more people to shop locally and to help those less fortunate than Jay and Steffi to both eat better and learn to cook.
Hit hard by the pandemic, the shop found itself ineligible for support grants being administered by West Devon Borough Council, but aims to reinvent itself online and even scale up its activities. It is hoped that the mission of The Pistachio Tree – to help feed families in need and to reduce the town’s carbon footprint – can continue by using existing local businesses as outlets for their support services.
On Friday (25/02/22) Jay talked through his plans with Central Devon MP Mel Stride.
Jay explained:
“North Tawton is a great place to live if you have a job, don’t have to count the pennies and can drive. But having found myself on Universal Credit a couple of years ago I found it much harder getting by here on a low income; Steffi and I set up The Pistachio Tree to fill a much-needed void in local support services. It is great to have the support of our local MP and I hope we can bounce back from the disappointment of needing to close the shop by making a success of our community mission online.”
Mel added:
“I really admire the vision that Steffi had, and Jay’s determination for it to endure. Community kitchens in other towns in Central Devon provide a huge amount of help to families in need and I hope The Pistachio Tree can play a similar role, while also fulfilling its wider ambitions to get more people to shop locally, to reduce the town’s carbon footprint and tackle the scourge of plastic packaging in particular.”
Follow The Pistachio Tree on Facebook to be kept up to date (www.facebook.com/ThePistachioTreeNT) or visit www.thepistachiotree.co.uk. To discuss volunteering please contact Jay directly on 07983 721312.
