Dereham Cares – the 2020-2021 lockdowns
Volunteers praised for community spirit
- Dereham Cares was set up by Councillors Alison Webb, Phillip Duigan and Hilary Bushell. It was the very first scheme to swing into action to support residents of Dereham town who needed to isolate from this deadly pandemic;
- One of the very first actions was to set up a web page, so that people could apply for help, for themselves or their relatives – and at the same time we put out an appeal for volunteers;
- We received over 165 volunteers through the website. This was a magnificent response and shows how much heart the people of Dereham have – as we are seeing again in the response to the Ukraine crisis.
At a special ceremony on 18th March 2022, Melinda Raker, Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Norfolk, joined with our councillors and some of the volunteers at Dereham Windmill to present a plaque created especially for the occasion.
The blue plaque is to commemorate for ever the magnificent response of Dereham citizens in a time of crisis.
More than 165 people volunteered to help: hundreds of food parcels and prescriptions were delivered to people who could not go out as they were shielding in the first waves of Covid.
Councillor Alison Webb thanked all those who had given their time in order to help others at a difficult time.