Private 'Billy' Connolly takes delivery of the meals for Willowcroft residents at Bemerton Lodge last Thursday.SOLDIERS from Middle Wallop stepped in to ferry hot meals to elderly residents living in Odstock Road, Salisbury, last week, while the kitchen in their residential home was refurbished.

Builders had been renovating the kitchen at Willowcroft Nursing Home, run by the Orders of St John Care Trust, for the past three weeks and staff had made arrangements for a contractor to bring in the meals.

But when the workmen told staff they were a week behind schedule and the contractor said he was needed elsewhere, manager Sue Tiller realised she needed an alternative plan, and pronto.

She rang their sister home, Bemerton Lodge, on Christie Miller Road, where manager Erik Thomas suggested his staff could prepare the meals for both homes - a hefty total of 174 lunches each day.

"I said my staff would be able to prepare the 62 cooked meals for the elderly residents at Willowcroft," said Mr Thomas.

"But we still needed someone to transport them across the city, so I contacted the commandant at Middle Wallop airbase, asking him whether he could assist us.

"He got someone called Mark Stevenson involved and asked him to work out the logistics."

Within a couple of days, Warrant Officer (Class 2) Stevenson had arranged for a member of his staff to travel to Salisbury every day and transport the meals in army polar boxes, which would keep the food piping hot.

They also had to return the empty food trays and ended up staying for lunch most days.

"Without the army, we would have been in real trouble," said Mr Thomas.

"They have bailed us out and done a very good humanitarian service - nothing was too much trouble."

He added: "My kitchen team has done me proud, too.

"They are an excellent group of people and, when they see others in trouble, they will always try and help out."

Miss Tiller said her residents had really enjoyed the meals prepared by staff at Bemerton Lodge.

"It has been a great example of pulling together and using the resources available to us, because I never would have thought of using the army," she said.

"Staff at Bemerton Lodge have been tremendous - and if they ever need our assistance, we would be more than happy to help out."