Support Our Stamford volunteers are on standby to help elderly and vulnerable people through another lockdown

A network of volunteers remains ready for action after clocking up more than 1,500 errands since the start of the pandemic.

Support Our Stamford was set up by key workers Andy Smith, David Stafford and Vickie Bracken to coordinate people who wanted to help others.

They divided the town into zones and allocated volunteers who could be called upon to collect shopping or just call someone for a chat.

The group has continued to operate since March but after experiencing a lull in recent months, they expect a rise in requests for help as people adjust to a new lockdown.

Andy said: "We've not stopped the whole time. Individual requests have dropped off as people gained the confidence to go out, but we've continued to support charities in the town like delivering for Second Helpings."

The group attracted a strong following of volunteers at the start of the pandemic but this has dropped by about 50 per cent as people have started to return to their jobs after being furloughed.

Support Our Stamford has enough volunteers to meet current demand but could be forced to seek extra help if the number of requests increases.

Andy said: "We received three calls for help on the first day of the new lockdown and we haven't had that many for a while.

"We expect the numbers to rise as people with medical conditions are advised to stay at home again but we have all the necessary systems, zones and volunteers in place."

Many of the Support Our Stamford team also responded to a call from Lakeside Healthcare to help with the vaccination programme.

The organisation put out a plea for both medical and non-medical volunteers to assist them at St Mary's Medical Centre.

To contact Support Our Stamford visit supportourstamford.weebly.com