PEOPLE in Semington have set up a community support group to assist those in need.

Within five days, they had connected all the 400 households in the community, using a combination of a Facebook group, word of mouth, a small local business called Ask Me and a lot of hard work. The group covers Semington, Littlemarsh and Littleton.

The Facebook group has seen the recruitment of nearly 100 volunteers offering a range of different jobs supporting the effort.

Emma Putnam of Ask Me said: “I thought it was a great opportunity to use the contacts I have from those I already help in the community.”

The group are working on a weekly village e-newsletter to keep the residents up to date on what is happening and the assistance they can receive.

Copies may be printed for those not online, and as many of these are the most vulnerable residents, the group will try and provide information over the phone to them to avoid risk of virus transfer.

Village pub the Somerset Arms is providing a take out menu, which meant that a number of people were able to have their Mother’s Day celebration that had been booked at the pub at home, with a four pint pitcher of beer also delivered to the door.

Landlord John Adams said: “It’s important that we all do our bit to pull together in these tough times.”

The village is also home to a local gin distillery, Scout and Sag,e which can be ordered from their website. The local gin night will be moving online and they are exploring other ideas which they can set up over the coming weeks to keep people entertained.

The Semingtones, the village choir, are practicing a special song for singing at the celebration party which will be held when the crisis is all over.

Semington village hall is home to the post office, which is still open twice a week although the hall itself and the social club are shut to events to ensure people are social distancing. The group are looking to co-ordinate deliveries from local businesses.

Vicky Bodman, one of the organisers, said: “We want to help bring the feel of real community back in to the village and ensure everyone is being looked after.”

Now the network is set up, it is looking at working with local business to provide milk, veg boxes and other essentials, with the aim of reducing travel in and out of the village by co-ordinating shopping trips.