A READING restaurant wanted to do something extra special to mark an extra special day.
Last Thursday, to celebrate the leap year, staff from Kings Road-based The Coconut Tree made a special delivery to the maternity unit of the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
They donated 29 meals to staff helping deliver the ‘leaplings’ – a name given to people born on February 29.
And there was an extra special reason for making the welcome gift: it was the birthday of the mother of one of The Coconut Tree’s co-founders. Well, it does only come around once every four years.
The meals included the restaurant’s famous small plates filled with Sri Lankan flavours, ranging from Kotthus to Sambols.
Deliveries were made to eight maternity units across the country, meaning there were 232 additional bundles of joy delivered for the leap year.
Rashintha Rodrigo, operations director and co-founder of the Coconut Tree, said: “My mother is a leapling, having only technically had 15 birthdays, and our roots are so important to us.
“We thought what better way to celebrate Mum and give back to the community than to offer a little something to the staff working hard this 29th to bring the next generation of leaplings into the world.”
The generosity didn’t stop there: customers in the restaurant were offered a bonus dish on the house.
