Mayor praises Alnwick volunteers for 'amazing' efforts to support the elderly and vulnerable

Coun Lynda Wearn acknowledged the ‘amazing’ work done by the town’s support group to help the elderly and vulnerable over the past four months.

“I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has assisted in helping the town get through this unusual and sometimes scary period in our lives,” she told a meeting of Alnwick Town Council. “I think you’ve done an amazing job.”

The 130-strong volunteer support group has delivered over 1,000 prescriptions and, with the help of Alnwick District Food Bank, handed out over 1,000 food parcels.

Their work has been scaled back in recent weeks in line with the gradual easing of lockdown measures.

However, Coun Wearn believes they may still have an important role to play over the coming months.

“It’s inevitable there will be another spike,” she said. “They’re talking about January, it may come earlier, it may not be as bad as this time but certainly in previous pandemics the second spike has been worse than the first one so I think we should retain them.”

Prescription deliveries to those shielding will continue, along with a small portion of other individuals who have been identified as needing support.

Coun Wearn said: “There are some very elderly people in this town who were not asked to shield, and I am talking from 90 to 103, haven’t really got any support and are dependent on other people. We have agreed that we will keep on delivering to them.”

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