AN 11-year-old Hackney schoolgirl will officially open the Marks and Spencer Foodhall next to Dalston Kingsland tomorrow (see update above).

Jessica Dadzie, of Hackney, will cut the ribbon to open the new grocery and off-licence in Kingsland High Street on Wednesday 11 April 2018 at 10am. 

She was one of 20 children from the Hackney Pirates after-school learning scheme to draw a picture of what they love most about their locality. 

Judges liked the depiction of Kingsland High Street, showing passers-by stopping to look at the Marks store, drawn by Jessica. 

Store manager Debbie Cunningham press-released that it felt important to involve “incredible local resource” Hackney Pirates.

She added: “We’ll be working hard to become an integral part of the community…  giving a lot of thought to the community initiatives we can support.”

Cunningham said the Foodhall had chosen St Mark’s Community Hall, at nearby St Mark’s Anglican church, as its charity partner. 

The shop will donate fresh food daily and other products weekly to the church for its Tuesday community lunches. Leftover items  will go to the church food bank. 

St Mark’s dismayed Hackney charity workers last year 2017 when it ceased to provide one of its three halls, (two of them with a kitchen), for a weekend winter night shelter for homeless people. The church had been providing space for 16 stretchers for rough sleepers but vicar the Rev Joshua Zvimba withdrew the facility just before Christmas. 

Hamish Scott 100418

* The M and S Foodhall is at 51 Kingsland High Street , Dalston E8 2JS (below the Dustbin building) and will be open Mon-Sat 7am-10pm and Sundays 11am-5pm; Hackney Pirates is at 138 Kingsland High Street, Dalston E8 2NS (020 3327 1777);  St Mark’s church at St Mark’s Rise, Hackney E8 2NJ.

* Backstory: Return of a great department store?; Boost for Dalston; From Dalston church boy to West End photographic fame; Dalston church tries a musical tack

* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained. Main picture supplied by Hackney Pirates.