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Dougie and Irene call it a day at the Stores
A COUPLE who owned and ran Sandsend Stores for more than three decades have retired.
Dougie (67) and Irene (62) Raine bought the shop in 1976 but Dougie had worked in it since 1968.
Born and brought up in Sandsend, Dougie who went to school in Lythe, said he’s seen many changes in the area over the years.
“The biggest change is in the local population. Now it’s all holiday cottages but then it was local people living and working here.
“I’ve no objection to the holiday cottages, they’re good for business, but they’re not so good for the community – for example, we’ve lost the village hall without enough people all the year round to use it.
“The shop kept four of us going in the winter and 11 in the summer when we also had a beach shop and employed students as extra staff.
“Our permanent staff included Gillian Menzies, Elizabeth Marsay and Laura Prudholm.
“I used to do a lot of deliveries years ago when we had a bigger population in the village.
“Some of them were retired people but quite a lot worked for ICI at Wilton.
“A special bus used to run from Whitby, where there were also a lot of ICI workers, to Wilton.”
The couple are looking forward to retiring but Dougie said: “I’ll miss the business terribly – it’s given us a good living all these years.
“ I’ve met some fantastic people and I’ve written to all my customers thanking them for their support.”
Irene is a native of Aberdeen and the couple’s plans for the future include spending more time there with their son John and his wife and granddaughter Daisy.
John is a communications officer for Shell UK in Aberdeen.
They also have a son Christopher who lives in Lythe, where he has a metalworks’ business, and has two children, Macey and Finley.
The couple enjoy walking and in May Dougie plans to do the 197-mile coast-to-coast walk in aid of Macmillan Nurses and Mulgrave Community Sports – he is chairman of the community sports’ committee.
He has already raised nearly 1,000 in sponsorship but would welcome more.
Anyone who would like to sponsor him should contact him on (01947) 893231.
The stores have been taken over by Frazer Canfield from Saltburn.
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Weather for Whitby
Saturday 19 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 6 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North
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Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
