Dear Neighbours
Since you received your last leaflet, we have been busy developing our Support Group and now have 65 volunteers from the village who are ready to help other residents. This is an amazing response and shows how fortunate we are to live in Eaglesfield where we want to look after each other.
The new public health advice for vulnerable individuals to self isolate for up to 12 weeks and the general instruction to “stay at home”, has worried many as to how they will cope with shopping and normal social support. We are here to help and as highlighted in the first leaflet we can help with shopping, picking up prescriptions, dog walking, gardening or whatever you feel you need help with. You may just want a regular phone call for a chat, that’s fine we are here to support you.
If you need any help or support then please contact one of the following four volunteer coordinators:
One of the biggest anxieties that people have had is about getting their shopping. You may already have a friend or neighbour getting your shopping for you and you are you happy to continue with this arrangement. We wanted to provide a safety net for those in our community who don’t have that support and are unable to get their shopping because they are self isolating, either by choice or because they fall in to the ‘vulnerable’ category as defined by NHS and the Government. We also wanted to help reduce the number of different people having to make trips into Cockermouth for shopping on behalf of people if possible.
Following discussions with local businesses and suppliers, we are now in a position to put in place a system, which will enable shopping for basic and essential supplies to be delivered to your house directly or collected by a volunteer and delivered to you.
These include:
The service would be based upon a once a week order which would be prepared by Lindsays, ready for collection and delivery by our Volunteer group. Orders in by 10am on a Thursday, collection first thing Friday morning.
Same arrangement as with Lindsays. Order in by 5.00pm Tuesday for collection and delivery by our Volunteer group, first thing Friday morning (to coincide with the Lindsays collection).
Orders can be telephoned into them direct and they will deliver to your door. Because of demand, they are looking to focus this for Eaglesfield on a Friday delivery day.
At the moment, they can’t offer us a telephone order system and their tills are programmed to only allow 2 or 3 of certain items. So, any form of ‘group’ shopping would not be possible.
However, they have come up with a system whereby we co-ordinate orders – they will pack up the orders individually ready for collection by our Volunteer Group. This would be a once a week opportunity.
Online Ordering – Sainsburys are advising that the current lack of delivery slots is being resolved, by re-directing resources and staff. It may become a viable option – we will update on this as the situation improves.
Caterite have set up a Click & Collect system for personal orders. In case anybody is wondering, the delivery vans you see around the area are for business customers only, at the moment. So deliveries to your door, by Caterite, will not be possible.
However, they have offered to co-ordinate orders for a specific collection day – collection and distribution will be by our Volunteer Group.
Local traders have risen fantastically to the challenge the current situation is creating. Most are offering some form of supply / delivery, supported also by a delivery system being run by the Chamber of Trade. However, this is ever-changing in line with Government directives.
More information on the Home Delivery Directory is available at: https://cockermouthonline.co.uk/
For those not online, a paper copy of this Directory is available. If you know of someone who needs, this, please contact one of the coordinators listed above. Thank you.
Much depends upon the number of people who would like a bit of help. There are a number of different options around the arrangements for ordering, delivery and payment, which the Eaglesfield Community Support Group are happy to discuss and organize with you.
If there is large demand for help with shopping we can help co-ordinate ordering, payments, group delivery or collection and distribution of groceries safely to your home. If the demand is small we can arrange a 1:1 service for you with and a couple of volunteers to get and safely deliver your shopping.
So, if you feel you need help with getting your shopping then we are here to help you sort it out. You only have to pick up the phone and ask. Tim is coordinating the plan with local stores, so In the first instance, please call
Tim Grisdale – 01900 823943 or 07850 654005
If Tim is not available then call one of the other volunteer coordinators listed at the top of this post.
We understand the need for respect and privacy – any discussions will be completely confidential. We will then be able to discuss how we can help and begin to put that support in place. The practicalities will then be passed on to the volunteers and we will put in place the necessary support, as far as we can.”
It’s really important that all residents of the village know what’s going on within our community at this stressful and uncertain time. It’s easy to start feeling isolated without our normal social contacts and routines.
We hope we can help you feel less isolated by:
That’s all for now – keep safe and remember we are all here to support each other. If you need help, all you need to do is ask.
David Clarkson