Ottery St Mary residents rally together to look after their community 'in time of need'

In the last few days listening to all the news of the development of the Corona virus around the world I have been brought back to my days at university when I was studying for my degree in Biology and Chemistry.

Among the many things that crossed my mind there was something I remember being said to us by one of our lecturers. How true it was, I don't know, but at the moment it looks like his words were filled with great wisdom and knowledge. He said to us: "Nature has its own ways of controlling the population and that is the reason we see famine and epidemics, war and natural disasters occurring at times.

"At the same time when that happens human beings show their worst and their best and that is the reason we hear of horror crimes committed in the name of religious or nationalism, but also we hear about great acts of courage and kindness."

A week ago an Ottery resident Sarah Crow put a message on Ottery Matters that showed her concern should the spread of the virus would reach the town and how the lonely and vulnerable would be able to cope if they would be forced into isolation.

Within hours there was a meeting of representatives of organisations such as the Help Scheme and the Coledrige Medical Centre and a group under the name of Ottery Community Volunteers was formed.

This group got into action and through the facilities of their own and the local social media pages they asked for volunteers to come forward so they could have enough resources to deliver medicines, basic essentials, food, etc. to those confined to their homes during the crisis. In other words to provide those residents with the necessary reassurance that they had not been forgotten.

The latest figures show that over 200 people have indicated their willingness to help. The group still is looking for people who could help, in particular volunteers that may already have DBS checks in place and can drive.

If you think you could be one of the members of this great group of volunteers, please get in touch with Sarah through this link.

I would like to congratulate Sarah on the success of her initiative which I hope will set up an example for other communities.

It would be wonderful not having to use the services of this group and Ottery spares the damage the virus can bring upon the town but, who knows, this could be the beginning of an initiative that will give those isolated and vulnerable people in the parish the reassurance that there will always be lots of people in town on standby ready to help at any time and under any circumstances.

I am sure we all in Ottery join our voices to thank Sarah and all those volunteers for showing us that in this community there will always be people who care and will come forward to help.