The head of a London security firm has returned to help the Northumberland school he attended more than 40 years ago after it set him on the path to success.
Bob Morrison is owner of London-based Sec-Tech, which provides close protection for VIPs from the 海角视频 and abroad and advises on personal and corporate security.
The former major in the British Army Reserve grew up in Lynemouth, near Ashington, where his father Jim ran the post office from 1958 to 1987.
Mr Morrison attended Lynemouth County Primary School - now part of the Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust - and he has returned to provide financial support for a Gregg’s breakfast club at the school.
Mr Morrison has provided two years of sponsorship for the club, which provides a nutritious pre-school breakfast for pupils.
He said: “I received a great education at Lynemouth CP School and it has served me well throughout my life.
“It’s helped me achieve many things – 22 years with the Territorial Army in the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Logistics Corps, a commission at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and even an honours degree in international business studies with French and German – for which I am eternally grateful.
“For me, the opportunity to sponsor the breakfast club at my old school is simply a wonderful way to say thank you and it was also a pleasure to work with the Greggs Foundation, which made the whole process really easy.
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“I know that there are other schools that could benefit, and I really hope more businesses will get on board and support this fantastic initiative.”
Bakery chain Greggs supports more than 600 breakfast clubs around the country, supplying schools with bread and other food and linking up with sponsor businesses to provide financial support.
The company recently announced plans to extend the network in the hope of helping more children.
Amy Thompson, head of campus at Bishop’s Primary School - William Leech Campus, said: “We have been completely blown away by Bob’s generosity toward our school.
“As the cost of living has gone up recently, as Covid-19 has seen more and more people go without a full-time regular income, many of our families have found it increasingly difficult to fund their children’s place at breakfast club.
“Breakfast is such an important meal for kick-starting children’s metabolism and making sure that they’re properly ‘awake’, so being able to ensure that all of our pupils have eaten well before they begin their lessons each day is fantastic. It improves their attention span and their levels of concentration and also their overall behaviour in the classroom.
“On behalf of all of the staff and pupils, I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Bob and his team at Sec-Tech, as well as the team at the Greggs Foundation, for helping to make this possible.”
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Lynne Hindmarch, breakfast club manager at Greggs Foundation said: “The need is even greater due to Covid-19 as families who have always just about managed now find themselves in difficult circumstances asking for help for the first time.
“As part of Greggs Pledge, we hope to have 680 schools open by the end of 2021.
“We cannot do this alone and by working collaboratively with 106 wonderful partners such as Sec-Tech, we are able to support 40,000 children each school day access a free nutritional breakfast who otherwise might go without.”
Anyone wanting to find out more about the programme should go to www.greggsfoundation.org.uk/breakfast-clubs.