At the start of the first Covid-19 national lockdown in March 2020, Ulverston residents were amongst the first in the UK to set up a temporary voluntary support organisation known as the “Ulverston Self Isolation Group”. The group aimed to assist the elderly and vulnerable in the LA12 area.

Within a year it took on the remit of Ulverston’s Emergency Planning Group to form the single Ulverston Resilience Group. It is now becoming a charitable incorporated organisation so that it can support its community in the longer term as a bad weather friend and a good neighbour rolled into one.

At the beginning, a committee of 11 members was formed, led by Caroline Smith-Dance and Neil Fleming. The group was able to get going quickly by utilising the existing ulverston.com news website and automated phone system. A new Facebook page was created, and 15,000 leaflets were quickly printed and distributed by volunteers to households in the area. Announcements were made in the local press and on the radio.

Almost 400 volunteers were recruited in the first week, and members of the public and local businesses donated money towards buying food and other essential supplies, such as toilet rolls! Within a week, the group had fully established a helpline rota and a call management database, and had taken 500 phone calls. The enthusiasm and goodwill in the town towards the undertaking was quite overwhelming.

The group sent weekly email newsletters to a mailing list of 1,000 people, and still does so, now on a fortnightly basis. Over 4,000 people have joined the Facebook group, and it continues to be very active.

Initially the group offered shopping services, prescription collections, mail posting, friendship calls and dog walking. Dog walking was quickly dropped due to insurance difficulties. The group worked with local professional caterers to provide food parcels and frozen meals, in many cases delivered to people who were not entitled to access the food bank. It quickly became clear that the lockdown was affecting individuals and whole families who had never previously needed support, and so the group tried to help them as best it could.

Thanks to a generous donation from Cyril Flint Befrienders, the group was able to provide “random acts of kindness” such as bouquets of flowers or takeaway meals. The group has worked closely with other local groups, such as Ulverston Food Waste Project and Ford Park Community Group, and has helped with the logistics of delivering food parcels and Christmas dinners.

In 2021, the group took on the role of recruiting and organising volunteer stewards for the Covid-19 vaccination clinics at Ulverston Health Centre. It has received further donations and grant funding, to enable the purchase of rota management software, safety equipment, training, and insurance. Work is ongoing to update the constitution, and to plan for other activities, such as stewarding festivals, and operating a reception centre in the event of a major incident.