Kettering family's Covid-19 heartache inspires care home tablet fundraising campaign

The family of a Kettering great-grandfather who died from Covid-19 without seeing his family for weeks are fundraising to buy tablets so others don't suffer the same pain.

Community champion Roy Hunt died at Kettering General Hospital on April 19 having tested positive for the virus when he was taken in with a suspected chest infection three days earlier.

The 83-year-old had not seen wife of 63 years Kay since early March because his care home, Temple Court Care Home in Albert Street, had ended visits after of an outbreak of the virus before the Government-enforced lockdown came later in the month.

Now his family want to provide tablets for care homes so those unable to visit their loved ones can still see them - and they have already raised more than £1,000.

Roy's daughter-in-law, Kelly Payne, said: "If Kay had been able to talk to Roy on a tablet it would have meant so much to her. She could see him, he could see her and hear what she wanted him to hear.

"When she left the care home she did not know that was going to be the last time she saw him."

Unable to visit him at the care home or in hospital because of the virus, it meant Roy's family didn't have any contact with him for more than five weeks before he died.

Kelly said: "It was awful, absolutely awful. When the care home was locked down we couldn't see him.

"Then when he was taken to hospital Kay knew he was in a bad way and she wasn't able to hold his hand or say goodbye.

"There was absolutely no way to contact him."

With care homes still closed to visitors, Roy's family decided they wanted to do their bit after his death to make sure others don't suffer the same agony.

They set up a page to buy tablets for care homes, starting with local authority funded homes, in Kettering and the surrounding villages.

They set a target of £500 but smashed it within 12 hours after "amazing" support and the total is now at more than £1,000.

The first tablet they buy will be for staff and residents at Roy's former home, Temple Court.

Kelly added: "It would mean the world to the family if we could get these tablets in as many care homes as possible.

"Roy was all about helping everybody. To know that he had made that difference would have put a smile on his face."

Roy was born and raised in Gloucestershire and joined the RAF when he turned 18.

Over the years he worked for Esso and at a sawmill before he moved to South Africa with his family, where he worked as a carpenter.

He was tasked with building the first midnight grill restaurant on Durban beach from a few measurements and four colour pictures and did such a good job that he won his bosses the contract for the whole of South Africa.

In 1987 he moved back to England and settled in Kettering where he and Kay became active in their community.

They opened and ran the Grange Resource Centre and cafe in Grange Place for many years, fundraised for the pocket park on the Grange estate and even helped plant the trees around it which won them an Evening Telegraph award in about 2002 for their voluntary work.

Roy and Kay had five children, 17 grandchildren and many, many great-grandchildren.

To donate to his family's cause, click here.