STUDENT volunteers from Chester sent hand-written letters and goody bags out to elderly residents after a tea party had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The group from the University of Chester were due to host a ‘CommUniTea’ event for older people in mid-March, but the national initiative, organised by charity Re-engage, had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the cancellation, those students who had been due to volunteer sent hand-written letters and made goody bags for the older people who were supposed to attend, which the volunteer drivers at Re-engage then kindly delivered.

Sophie Fearnall from Re-engage emailed the university team to say: “Thank you to you all for all the hard work you put in to organising the Tea Party on Sunday, which unfortunately had to be cancelled due to protecting our elderly guests as much as possible from COVID-19.

"We delivered all your goody bags and lovely hand- written cards. Our ladies were overwhelmed with your kindness. They all wish to thank you and were saddened that the highlight of the calendar year could not go ahead, but they understood.”

Student volunteer Sammie Seagrave, who is studying adult nursing, said: “Our events bring vulnerable and isolated individuals together to show them how important and well thought of each person is within their local community.

"We were grateful to receive donations from Grosvenor Garden Centre in Chester, who provided beautiful primrose plants for each of our guests.

"We also received cakes from a local bakery firm on the Wirral. We had CommUniTea mugs, as a special momentum of our day together. Sadly, the actual event was cancelled due to the current pandemic, but this did not stop our amazing, small team from jumping into action. No matter what obstacles got in our way, by working together, we still delivered a personal service, to make older members of our community feel important and showed them we care.”

Volunteer Izabela Farkas, who is studying accounting and finance, said: “In the goody bags were notes written by my daughter to let our guests know that although we were not able to do the event, that we are thinking of them and that we promise that next year we will return with another event as beautiful as we had originally planned.

"I look forward to returning to University to organise another event as soon as we can. Thank you very much the University of Chester for giving me the opportunity to be part of this project.”

The University volunteering team is also continuing to encourage volunteering, but now in a virtual sense, through its virtual volunteering service, which people can do without having to leave their homes: https://volunteering.chester.ac.uk/lookingtovolunteer/virtualvolunteering/