The owners of an Italian ice-cream shop have been praised for their generosity after donating all the money they received from stock they were forced to give away after the start of the two Covid lockdowns to charity.

The owners of Ciuri Ciuri on Market Street Falmouth, Mariangela Aiuto and Fabrizio Sabato had only just made a batch of ice cream when the first lockdown announcement came and they had to close their doors.

They decided to give it away to the local community in exchange for donations, in the end raising nearly £400 for critical care at The Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske.

They got caught out in the same predicament when the country went into the second lockdown this month, and yet again asked only for donations when dispensing their surplus stock, this time raising over £277 for the Mermaid Centre.

Speaking to the Packet, Mariangela said the response from people from Cornwall to even Stoke on Trent, had been amazing. "We would like to say a huge thank you. People have been amazing and have a massive heart.

"They are so generous. The Cornish heart is amazing. They gave what they had, it was beautiful.

"We even had some customers from Stoke On Trent who came down on holiday in the summer donating."

Their generous actions have been praised Valerie James from Falmouth who works at the Mermaid Centre in Truro and received the phone call from Mariangela asking for the bank account details so they could transfer them the money.

She said: "I think it’s fantastic that such a small personal business has been so selfless, kind and big-hearted, when faced with so many business uncertainties brought about by Covid.

"They could have so justifiably tried to cut their losses and banked the monies themselves.

"When I thanked Mariangela profusely, she insisted it wasn’t their magnanimity, but rather the wonderful generosity and spirit of the Falmouth and Penryn communities and went on to say that instead of overly worrying about any negativities as a result of Covid, they are looking forward and drawing on new positives."