A co-ordinated volunteer response to Covid19 is under way on Cumbrae, with local groups joining together to support the community through the pandemic.

Early in the outbreak the Garrison café and Royal British Legion were providing soup for the elderly and vulnerable and a small group of islanders started up the Millport Support Group Facebook page to connect locals online.

Government restrictions meant the café and Legion had to close, but gradually the Millport Support Group has evolved to bring together all the different local agencies such as the churches, the Elderly Forum (now known as the Cumbrae Forum), Cumbrae Community Council and the Resilience Team, churches and Youth Leaders, NAC staff and community councillors.

The group liaises with the police, pharmacy, and care workers team to work together for the good of the community.

The group is now a satellite hub of North Ayrshire Council’s Community Hub in Largs, which co-ordinates the volunteer effort across NACs North Coast locality.

An appeal went out to island residents for volunteers to assist and within 24 hours over 40 people had offered their time to the group.

Within a couple of days all had been issued with official ID, and had delivered contact cards to every household on the island to make sure no-one misses out on an offer of help with shopping, prescription collection, dog walking etc. or just a friendly chat.

Jonathan Fleming of Cumbrae Parish Church leads the group from his laptop in Largs and island BB leader Jackie Wilson is managing the volunteers.

Some have been deployed to help local grocery shops stack shelves, handle phone orders or deliver groceries and there has been good feedback from the community thanking them for their efforts.

Instead of having COBRA meetings like Westminster, the team organisers meet together on an online Zoom platform to have regular CROC meetings: Covid19 Response on Cumbrae!

The central helpline number to contact the team is 01475789179 and the group would be very happy to hear from anyone not on the island who might have concerns about their relatives and would like us to get in contact.

The local response is an exceptional, but certainly not an unexpected, example of the island’s community spirit.

Things may well become more difficult in the coming weeks but everyone pulling together will make it a little easier for all.

Daily updates are delivered by the Millport Support Group via its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/millportsupportgroup/