Village Friends provides lockdown support for people living in isolation
Village Friends has been providing invaluable support through lockdown for people who are isolated in the Six Villages area, between Arundel and Chichester.
The charity’s volunteers have maintained contact with their clients through regular phone calls and, where possible, digital technology.
Arrangements were quickly made at the start to ensure prescriptions were organised and medicines delivered, and checks were made that sufficient food was available.
Chairman Meg Brackley organised a weekly fruit and veg run, with supplies being ordered from Davis’s Greengrocers in Bognor Regis, collected and delivered to doorsteps.
She has also arranged a weekly fish ‘n’ chips run, collecting from My Plaice and delivering to doorsteps.
Meg said: “As lockdown restrictions have eased, volunteers have quickly made use of the fine weather and, wherever possible, visited people in their gardens.
“One client, Cyril, turned
94 on May 7. His family do not live nearby and were not allowed to travel. Village Friends thought it would be fun to go and sing Happy Birthday to him, from outside his home.
“This was so well received by both Cyril and his neighbours that singing has taken place at various retirement complexes where a client resides, and has been greatly welcomed and enjoyed by many of the people also living there.
“The singers will continue in different locations whilst the vulnerable are still isolated. It makes such a difference to their day.”