We also raise money through other channels and these are not included in above total. So far we have received another £5,000+ in addition to above.

Baldock Coronavirus Support Group (BCSG) created a Baldock & District Futures Trust Fund (BFF) to alleviate hardship and rebuild the town’s future wellbeing. The BCSG closed 31st August 2020 with remaining funds transferred to the BFF.

The BCSG was formed when a Group of Baldock citizens perceived an upcoming crisis in the town as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world in March 2020. After an initial meeting they decided to work together in partnership with key members from the local churches, county and North Herts councils, the WI, Trussell Trust and The Rotary Club of Baldock to support those residents of Baldock who would soon become in serious need due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic.

Within days the UK government ordered a national lockdown advising people to work from home if possible and only leave home when it was absolutely necessary ceasing any activity that involved social interaction beyond direct members of their household. The population were also advised to avoid any activity that involved getting within two metres of people not in their household.

Because the virus was deemed dangerous over 70s and those at higher risk of catching the disease or more likely to suffer worse from getting the COVID-19, were advised to stay at home for three months or longer (so to late June and further into 2020). This meant that this group who were self-isolating had survival needs such as shopping and prescriptions that needed to be collected by the younger people in the town who volunteered their services. However, it soon became apparent that families and younger people were experiencing hardship because of loss of income and the BCSG responded to this need. To this extent our services are not limited to just those defined as vulnerable by the government.

After announcing our group in the local press and on social media sites like Facebook we quickly formed a steering group to look after the key areas in which we would operate and soon had a large number of volunteers waiting to help their neighbours during the difficult times ahead. The number of requests steadily grew for collection of prescriptions and shopping. We had divided Baldock into six zones and got lead co-ordinators who received requests coming through the central email account or phone line and discharged these calls for help to local volunteers in each area.

It was fantastic to see how smoothly the system worked allowing us to respond quickly as the need arose. We soon added more services to help the community including a Friday delivery of food and household goods to households suffering hardship and formed a Listening Service so people who are adversely affected by the effects of the pandemic could call and talk to a sympathetic person who would listen and be supportive, caring and offer a safe place to talk.

Our BCSG Newsletter was created within the first week and covers a wide range to topics, those directly linked to COVID-19 and the services we have available, but also what was happening in the community.. The Newsletter is sent out to a wide universe of people in the area via Facebook (20,000+), our own brilliant website and emailed out to other institutions such as those who may be able to sponsor us or issue grants and local and county museums and halls of records to form a record of the period.

As the pandemic evolves we are adding new services hopefully ahead of when they are needed. The local support and involvement has been fantastic but there is still lots more to do. - BCSG May 2020.

Lead volunteers coordinate the arrival of the weekly food and household goods from Hertfordshire County Council to be distributed to homes in Baldock and the surrounding area. By May 2020 the service was going to nearly 30 households.

Local people got involved in other ways such distributing leaflets to all the homes so the message that the help the BCSG can offer is just a phone call away. These leaflets, and word of mouth, were vital to get the message that there were people in Baldock waiting to help residents as those most likely to need help were those less likely to be on social media to pick up news of our existence.

We have received lots of wonderful feedback from the recipients of our help and from the community as a whole. Baldock has a great community spirit and it came as no surprise that the BCSG was able to set up our operation speedily and in an excellent state to adapt to the changing needs of our residents as we all pull together to get through the unprecedented time challenging us all.

Our BCSG Steering Group, or more recently the BFF Trustees, are very grateful for your donation. If you have any questions email Baldockcs0@gmail.com (telephone line no longer available) and one of the team will get back to you as soon as they can.

As noted earlier, the BCSG created a Baldock & District Futures Trust Fund (BFF) to alleviate hardship. The BCSG closed 31st August 2020 with remaining funds transferred to the BFF.