Do you know someone who helped the community during lockdown?

Herefordshire Council need your help to celebrate people who went out of their way for others during lockdown.

Whether that was picking up prescriptions, delivering shopping or walking other peoples dogs, the Council want to celebrate them all.

They may well have received thanks from those they helped directly. Otherwise, their efforts went largely unnoticed. Even though they may have put themselves at greater risk of infection, they wanted to do good for their community.

Matt Pearce, director of public health, said: “This is a brilliant initiative. We’d love to hear about our local stars. We’re talking about those unsung heroes who went out of their way to help vulnerable people in particular. Their selfless acts are what community spirit is all about. We should all want to celebrate the way they helped bring people together during the recent pandemic.

“We’ve set up a dedicated webform on our play your part webpage (click on the ‘submit your story’ link at the end of the page). Here, you can provide your details and a little about the star in your community. Just tell us who they are, what they did to help others and provide some contact details. We’ll get in touch to speak to you about how they played their part by helping others.”

Councillor David Hitchiner, leader of the council, said: “I think this is a wonderful idea. We have a lot of people to thank. But the message is that Covid is still with us and we should continue to take care in order to protect the most vulnerable in our society.

“It’ll be interesting to see if our radio ads prompt anyone to provide a poetic submission. I feel sure our residents can create better verse than the following:
Residents we ask you

To nominate your star

Someone who surpassed

Your expectations by far

If you know such a person

Who went out of their way

Head to our website

And complete our webform today

If they give us permission

Their story we’ll impart

To share community spirit

And show how they played their part.”