Gretton good neighbours helping hands for coronavirus crisis

Kind-hearted Gretton residents have been helping out their neighbours during the coronavirus crisis after posting leaflets to the whole village community.

Members of a village Facebook group had been offering assistance to one another as people started to self-isolate to protect themselves from Covid-19.

Helen Pike, a retired hospital manager and former nurse, posted to Gretton village group that she wanted to organise a leaflet drop and quickly gathered a band of volunteers.

She said: "I sat and thought about how people who weren't online going to access help, people like my mother, so eight of us got together and decided to leaflet all the homes in the village.

"We've now got a group of volunteers to help people in self-isolation. We bought a phone so there was a dedicated phone number and we've got 34 volunteers."

The village-wide service, Gretton Here to Help, will enable self-isolating residents, who do not have any other help from family or friends, to get essential items from the shops.

Nominated phone holders take it in turn to staff the line allocating the jobs to volunteers who collect prescriptions, do shopping and collect much-needed pet food and run errands and walk dogs.

Former nurse Helen said: "I haven't had my uniform on for ages but I want to do something to do. It never leaves you.

"Gretton is an amazing village, the community has really come together. We also have volunteers who are waiting to be a friendly voice at the end of a phone.

"The volunteers are so happy to help and everyone has been so very grateful. We all live together and we are all helping each other and we are doing what we can."