The community groups collectively known as Helping Dawlish are well prepared to support local residents during lockdown, the town council has been told.

At the full council meeting on Wednesday, November 4, Angie Weatherhead from Helping Dawlish said the 14 organisations involved had been meeting regularly to make contingency plans for a second Covid-19 clampdown.

She said: "It is unclear at this current time what the level of demand will be for services, in what is a different type of lockdown, with more shops prepared and potentially more people having their prescriptions sorted.

"But we do anticipate there being a need for befriending and volunteering, and I think the group would be clear in saying it has concerns for the mental health and well-being of people in this second lockdown period."

She added that the food bank has now become Dawlish Community Larder, and is still operated by Redeeming Our Communities (ROC). It is part of the South Devon Food Network and can call on other groups for extra resources.

Generous donations from the public

Helping Dawlish received around £6,500 in public donations in response to the first lockdown, and was given a further £5,000 by the council. The amount of that money remaining is still being worked out, but during the last week, local residents have donated £700 towards community support in the current lockdown.

A Zoom quiz is being held this Sunday, November 8 to raise funds for Helping Dawlish, with people taking part from their homes – email [email protected] to register to take part.

Angie said: "Things are very fluid and it's a case of watch and wait at this stage. But all the group, I think, feel better prepared, in that we've had a good base to move forward from and we do work very well as a group using WhatsApp and our regular Zoom meetings."

Praise for 'fantastic' and 'impressive' work

Welcoming the report, the mayor Alison Foden praised all the organisations in Helping Dawlish for 'all the fantastic work that has been done to date, and all the plans for the future'.

Councillor Martin Wrigley said he was 'so impressed' with the resilience shown by Helping Dawlish and their rapid response to the announcement of the second lockdown, and also by the amount of money donated by the public.

Councillor Terry Lowther also said the work of Helping Dawlish was 'incredibly impressive'.

For more information on the community support available during lockdown, visit the Helping Dawlish website