A CHURCH hall on a Chester estate has been transformed into the headquarters of a community group working round the clock to get food to vulnerable people during the outbreak.

Cheshire West Communities Together staff Jo Norton, Caroline Holton, Jane Spruce and Siân Hughes have all been heavily involved in the food relief project in Blacon during the coronavirus crisis.

Holy Trinity Church vicar Tina Upton has made the church hall and office available as the team’s headquarters for food delivery and bag-packing.

The team have taken on key roles in the newly-formed Blacon Action Team led by Cllr Sheila Little and Western Avenue Surgery practice manager Jamie Ducker.

It has secured funding and support from the Westminster Foundation, Morrison’s, Waitrose, West Cheshire Foodbank and Holy Trinity Church, Blacon, to obtain food supplies and distribute them to Blacon residents.

By April 21 more than 250 families and individuals had registered for help and had collected weekly food parcels or had them delivered by team members, local PCSOs and staff from The Arches Primary School.

A spokesman for Cheshire West Communities Together said: "Jo has been a driving force in setting up the scheme, leading the organisational planning, loading and unloading heavy deliveries of food and driving the Transit van around Blacon delivering and collecting food.

"Caroline has organised the administrative side of proceedings by setting up a shared Dropbox file and spreadsheets, updating and organising records, printing lists for delivery and collection and co-ordinating with IT volunteer Rob Campbell to create an accurate system to track progress.

"Jane has made use of her contacts at Morrison’s distribution depot and has collected large amounts of food direct from the warehouse. Jo, Siân, Jane and Caroline have also spent many hours packing food parcels and handing them out to registered families.

"Siân has also been supporting a range of key agencies in Lache. Siân has supported the Food Bank, based in Lache Community Centre through helping to put together food parcels for those in need. Support has also been provided to Live Laugh Lache in the form of helping to put food bags together, delivering food and support with funding applications. Live Laugh Lache is a community group that distributes food waste, donated by supermarkets across Chester to local community members, through their weekly Lache Larder."

Cheshire West Communities Together has been working closely with community groups and volunteers across Blacon and the Lache in particular, ensuring those that are shielding; the most vulnerable; are getting the urgent help they need, such as food parcels and prescriptions.