Yesterday I joined forces with Cllr Dr. Nitish Raut and Sewa Day to donate dates to local care facilities and volunteers. We visited Hafod Care Home on Anchorage Road, Mercia Grande in Mere Green and popped over to see staff at the Town Council. Following these visits we went to deliver food to the Baptist Church Food Bank.

I also joined our newly elected Royal Town Mayor and First Citizen Jane Mosson in Mere Green wearing the ancient Royal Town Mayoral chains for her official visit to St James’s  church where we were both thanking Rev Daniel Ramble and his volunteers for all their remarkable hard work throughout this crisis - it was my first chance to meet her since her election and congratulate her. I wished her well for her year in office.  

I would like to thank Reverend Daniel Ramble for his generosity in offering the Church Centre to support the work of the Hope Helpline. Rev. Daniel and an army of volunteers have been collaboratively working together with a number of local and national agencies including local supermarkets in the Royal Town, our local police, FareShare and Neighbourly networks as well as many others local businesses; a brilliant example of the way in which our Royal Town has come together and shown a real sense of community spirit over recent months.

The Hope Helpline has been a silver lining for many residents. The helpline volunteers have worked incredibly hard collecting and delivering shopping and prescriptions, offering thousands of free hot meals and food parcels. 14,000 befriending conversations have taken place to support the most vulnerable and isolated members of our community. An absolutely extraordinary feat consisting of more than 20,000 hours of volunteering from local people.

I would like to send a huge thanks again to everyone that has volunteered locally since the pandemic began.