Community Aid 19 Update

 On the 19th March, Welton-by-Lincoln Parish Council held an extraordinary meeting to set the wheels in motion to enable the Council to function knowing that lockdown was imminent; members of the public and local groups/organisations from Welton and Dunholme were invited to attend; 19 came along including Dr Alison Lumley and Nadina Prestedge form Welton Family Health Centre, Tony Pache, the Chairman of Dunholme Parish Council and the Revd Adam Watson.  Welton-by-Lincoln Parish Council were asked to take the lead and Community Aid 19 was formed, using the Parish Office in Welton as the central point of contact for residents of Welton and Dunholme, offering help to those who were self-isolating or unable to get out and about by contacting us via a dedicated e-mail address, telephone or the Dunholme/Welton Area Coronavirus Aid Facebook page which had already been set up by Laura Richardson, the Clerk to Dunholme Parish Council and has been regularly updated. The Health Centre sent out a text to 4,500 patients and a leaflet was printed and delivered to every household in Welton and Dunholme by Garry and Jo Crowther from the Paper Shop in Welton who volunteered to do this with their team of paperboys/girls; they also kept both villages going with their deliveries of food essentials. My Deputy Clerk, Linda Blankley (who has now retired) and I took it in turns to man the office.

 We were overwhelmed with offers of help and currently have more than 250 volunteers on our database who have been collecting and delivering prescriptions (623 at the last count), shopping, walking dogs, mowing lawns, and even installing a router for one resident so they could access the internet. A very kind resident also crocheted an elephant named “Welton John” dressed in “life-saving” apparel for us as a thank you present (he will be auctioned at some point in the future to raise funds for a local charity).

Getting through these last few months has really brought our communities together and hopefully the spirit will continue, and we will be ready to face any challenges thrown at us in the future.

 A BIG THANK YOU to all the volunteers and unsung heroes that have provided help to neighbours and the vulnerable in these challenging times.

 From the 1st August, it is intended for the Community Aid to be scaled down now that the Government guidelines have been further relaxed and people are more able to do things for themselves; but should it be needed again, we will be ready to spring into action.

 Julie Murray, PSLCC

Clerk to Welton-by-Lincoln Parish Council