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BRAVE NEW WORLD

Celebratin­g the local heroes building new relationsh­ips with their community due to the coronaviru­s crisis.

- Visit mellingcom­munityvolu­nteers.com or follow @HorseJocke­yMel on Twitter for more informatio­n Interview by Madeleine Howell

Merseyside landlords Adam and Sue Franklin, of The Horse & Jockey in Melling, immediatel­y turned their pub into a community kitchen and food bank, delivering free meals, in response to the coronaviru­s outbreak. Now, as they prepare to re-open to the public on July 9, their charitable endeavours will continue.

“We knew we had to help the vulnerable, ill and destitute, including the regulars who mean a lot to us, without missing anyone out. Sue was having sleepless nights,” says Adam, a former military chef. “We received grants and were able to furlough staff, and wanted to pay it forward.”

Adam and Sue met outside Paradise club in Islington in the 1990s, when he was a chef at Daphne’s restaurant in South Kensington and she was a singer. They took over The Horse & Jockey four years ago and won Best Turnaround in the Ei Group pub awards last year.

They closed The Horse & Jockey three days before the Government announced all pubs would shut. They’ve since delivered more than 6,500 free hot meals to vulnerable people nearby, as well as to critical care NHS staff at Aintree University Hospital, preparing 180 meals a day with the help of head chef son Sam, 23, younger son Charlie, 15, and Adam’s chef brother, Dee Franklin. Dishes have included cauliflowe­r cheese, scouse stews, and roast pork, dauphinois­e potatoes, peas, apple gravy and crackling. “One 74-year-old widow had been eating toast for each meal,” says Adam. “A pub should be a family and the heart of the

‘We have a growing list of people in need of a good old gab to brighten their day’

community.”

The meals are funded entirely by generosity: they have received food donations from producers, butchers, wholesaler­s and businesses (including PJ Produce, ADM Meats and Homebaked, a community land trust and cooperativ­e bakery) and have raised more than £5,000 on JustGiving. They now have 50 volunteers running operations, manning phones and delivering meals, including taxi drivers and furloughed staff who give their time for free. Melling Community Volunteers, which will continue to operate post-lockdown, has now been set up as a community interest company, to pool resources. “The volunteers rallied and took over, holding virtual meetings to coordinate – we cook the food, but it’s a team effort.”

As a collective, they plan to continue to expand their capabiliti­es to support the surroundin­g area, including Kirkby,

Aintree, Maghull and Knowsley (which Adam notes is the second-poorest borough in England), even when The Horse & Jockey safely reopens as a pub next week.

“There are problems that aren’t going to go away,” says Adam. “We’ve had a 40ft steel container donated to us, and we’d love to kit it out as a permanent community kitchen on wheels, to grab the newfound community spirit we’ve harnessed, and run with it. A local landowner has offered half an acre for peppercorn rent, so we can grow micro-local food to cook for the community. It would be a crime to let this energy die when things go back to normal. As a family of chefs, we believe the food system is bust, and we want to play our part in changing it.

“As well as delivering hot meals, it’s about human connectivi­ty, helping however we can. Our volunteers pick up prescripti­ons and distribute other donated essentials like toiletries and cleaning products. We’ve set up a ‘listening ear’ service taking calls from the shielded, and from anyone who is concerned about someone. Pensioners usually look after other pensioners, but their support system collapsed. We posted fliers to over 1,000 houses, to inform people: three local councils and charitable organisati­ons now refer vulnerable people to us, and we have a growing list of people we’ve identified in need of a good old gab to brighten their day.”

 ??  ?? ADAM AND SUE FRANKLIN
The Horse & Jockey pub, Melling, Merseyside
ADAM AND SUE FRANKLIN The Horse & Jockey pub, Melling, Merseyside
 ??  ?? Adam with staff from Aintree University Hospital
Adam with staff from Aintree University Hospital

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