Chilworth volunteers helped villagers stay connected

The head of a Surrey community support group said the organisation has seen overwhelming interest in its social events since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Chilworth Care Committee has been offering village residents free lifts to medical appointments since it was founded in 1979.

The organisation’s volunteers expanded the services they offered during the pandemic to help keep Chilworth connected.

Committee chairwoman Cathy Browning told BBC Radio Surrey that people “were desperate to see each other” and the group was “overwhelmed with people coming back” to its coffee mornings after pandemic restrictions eased.

She added that the group was “now doing many more outings” to local social events, such as school nativity plays.

In addition to organising lifts to hospitals, surgeries and other clinics, Chilworth Care Committee volunteers started a telephone buddy scheme during the first lockdown, five years ago.

The group’s 20 volunteers – including some who were themselves isolating – were there to provide “a friendly voice down the end of the phone” to its 40 passengers, Ms Browning said.

The group advertised itself online and with posters in the village, leading to the committee being “overwhelmed” with people who were otherwise stuck at home offering to volunteer.

The committee “evolved as things changed” to continue providing its support safely, she added.

Volunteers also made more than 60 deliveries of groceries and 40 deliveries of prescriptions in the first lockdown for residents who could not leave the house.

Residents were grateful for the extra support, according to Ms Browning.

She said: “It was just a huge sense of relief that there were people there that could help them.”