Chulmleigh Organisations - Providing Community Help Around the Area

From our ‘Community Help’ planning meeting held on 19th March, it took just 24 hours to get our flier text approved by Wallingbrook Health Centre, then all three other organisations - and to get it printed. The following day and over the weekend more than 700 fliers were posted through letterboxes by volunteers. This was just the start - and within 72 hours we were building a data base of Chulmleigh people of all ages wanting to play an active role in helping the community.

SETTING THE SCENE:

Set in the heart of rural Devon, Chulmleigh is situated midway between Dartmoor to the south and Exmoor to the north in a prominent elevated position reaching up to 6oo ft. above the Little Dart river it can be truly described as a remote hill top town. Designated as an Area of Great Landscape Value the surrounding fields and woods are important wildlife habitats and together with its ancient woodland number contains sixteen sites of county importance for wildlife. Chulmleigh contains a network of small lanes servicing the town and the farmsteads scattered throughout the parish, together with important green lanes and footpaths which radiate out from the town. Chulmleigh is still largely a farming community, with fields surrounded by traditional Devon hedges - important for their biodiversity. Proud of its medieval Royal Charter and its title of Town, Chulmleigh however, continues to have both the look and feel of a village, in fact, most people think it IS a village. Chulmleigh does not have a professionalised voluntary sector – its village activities, support for the elderly and those in need is entirely dependent on good neighbourliness and willing volunteers. In Chulmleigh people know and care about each other, family ties go back a long way and there is a strong sense of belonging. To those who live in Chulmleigh it is a special and unique place. Away from major centres of population it has retained its sense of community and identity when so many other communities have not.

RESIDENTS

In 2011, NDC statistics informed us that Chulmleigh had the highest percentage of residents over the age of 80 in North Devon. Many of our elderly people are living with one or more long-term medical conditions, and for a significant number, advancing age brings complications and failing health. Chulmleigh has no Retirement home and no Care home. In 2018/2019, NDC Electoral Role showed 1,223 residents - that includes the town centre and rural outreach. Our assistance also covers requests from outlying villages such as King’s Nympton, George Nympton, Eggesford and Wembworthy (not included in numbers above).

Coronavirus

Our first ‘Community Help’ Planning Meeting was organised by the Parish Council with just three people and took place on 19th March. At that meeting it was decided to involve not just the Parish Council, but also the Parish Church, Chulmleigh Academy Trust and the Wallingbrook Health Centre. All organisations immediately gave their pledge of assistance and support. We designed a flier - it took just 24 hours to get the text approved by Wallingbrook Health Centre, then all three other organisations - and to get it printed. The Library who printed it for us opened specially to do so. The following day and over the weekend more than 750 fliers were posted through letterboxes by volunteers. This was just the start - and within 72 hours we were building a data base of Chulmleigh people of all ages wanting to play an active role in helping the community.

THE GROUP IN ACTION

We have a limited number of food shops ~ a master butcher, a wonderful baker who bakes daily on the premises, a dairy and a Central Stores franchise which has a wide range of groceries, also vegetables and frozen foods, plus a limited range of alcoholic drinks and wines. We also have a newsagent/post office. We have no pharmacy for over-the-counter medication - everything we collect for patients is from the Health Centre and prescription only. We visited all four food outlets to advise them of our plans and to determine how we could work together for the benefit of residents. We all agreed we would use local shops only to help our little stores survive the crisis too.

We have concentrated on Collecting, providing and delivering the following ~

• Collecting and home delivering prescribed and pre-ordered Medication to patients on behalf of the Health Centre. Our volunteers adhere to a strict protocol. We have no direct contact with our patients - when delivering their medication we place it on the doormat, ring the door-bell, stand well back until they pick up and take to products inside. We never leave medicines unattended.
• Arranging local Shopping Trips carried out by our volunteers, not just to those who are self isolating, but also to those who are disabled, cannot walk unaided or can no longer drive. All volunteers have agreed to a strict protocol - we collect residents shopping lists, collect their shopping bags, their payment - we return with the goods, any change and receipts.
• Telephone Support for those who are anxious and weary or just want to talk.
•  Walking Dogs as required - time limited to one hour.  Collecting and posting letters and parcels.
• Collecting and returning patients who have surgery appointments for blood rests, injections etc. We have secured an arrangement with DART (Devon Ambulance Response Team) who are now helping us and will transport patients to and from their medical appointments. The DART team are able to protect both patient and driver - drivers are always gowned and masked - and the vehicle is sanitised after every trip.  
• North Devon District Council give out our telephone number in answer to requests for help in the Chulmleigh area. Even if they are seeking help for something not listed - we do our best to oblige.

This is all a FREE SERVICE for all Chulmleigh people. We believe it is essential to support our local people and shops whenever possible - we need them to still be in business for us all for when this crisis is finally over.

We have now logged 36 volunteers, many of then that have put their own time aside to assist the community. Vulnerable groups of people need to be protected and many of our volunteers have up to date CRB / DBS checks which assist us in ensuring that the most suitable people are appointed to carry out requests.

We firmly believe there is no better act of kindness than helping someone perhaps less fortunate or struggling in any way. All our volunteers are kind, reliable, friendly and patient. They gain much satisfaction and enjoyment from helping others and often go beyond what is asked of them.