Town's celebrated geese to get their own shop

Town's celebrated geese to get their own shopJohn Devine - in March;

The gaggle of geese is regularly seen waddling into shops and over zebra crossings

A town's flock of geese which have been immortalised in books and on calendars, tea towels and pin badges will soon have another feather in their caps.

The birds seen waddling around March in Cambridgeshire are set to be a key feature of a new shop combining sweet treats, tourist information and goose-related gifts to raise funds for charity.

Chocolatier Chrissie Fadipe, who was behind the gaggle's range of merchandise, said she hoped The Geese of March Visitor and Gift Shop would open before Christmas.

"There's a lot of work to do, but through a bit of support in the community hopefully we can get it done," she said.

"I'm going to have a little working space where I'll be making chocolates to make sure the shop is always filled with chocolate bars and chocolate geese."

The shop would welcome tourists, she added, especially those who come to see its "celebrated geese", which have their own Facebook page with more than 8,000 followers.

Chrissie Fadipe said she dedicated her time and money to the project "out of love"

The selection of goose memorabilia includes tea towels, greetings cards and socks

In the past year, Fadipe co-ordinated the production of a goose calendar, tea towels, greeting cards, socks and a "dino-goose" printable toy, to raise thousands for The Waterfowl Sanctuary in Godmanchester and Sally's Duck Rescue in Wisbech.

A pop-up goose shop was held at a Christmas market event last December, with orders reportedly coming in from around the world.

Fadipe said the town's gaggle needed help because they were a domestic breed that had been "dumped" and made March their home.

"They don't act like regular geese, they are so confident, they boldly walk around the High Street, a lot of geese are quite anti-social and hiss at people, but ours come over to meet and greet, they are friendly and so photogenic," she previously explained.

Renovation work had already begun on the building in Darthill Road, she added, including creating goose themed displays.

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