Lockdown and the reality of weeks of isolation is biting but in Aberfeldy, Highland Perthshire, the volunteers of award-winning Feldy-Roo food delivery project have stepped up again.
The daily free hot food to the elderly service began by publican Gavin Price MBE, delivered its first evening meal in March and wound up when life returned to a better footing in July.
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But the return to a ‘war footing’ to beat coronavirus announced this week sees a big swathe of the population shielding and unable to get out to shop.
One person living alone and looking forward to her daily Feldy-Roo visit is 85-year-old Ida Warren.
She moved to the valley near Aberfeldy in 1958 and has lived in the town for the past 11 years. She lost her husband Archie three years ago.
The upbeat pensioner described Feldy-Roo volunteers in glowing terms: “They are a really nice bunch.
“Not only do they deliver a lovely meal, warming and homely, but they cheer you up and have some chit chat.
“The volunteers already know us, it is wonderful to see everybody again.
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“Older people take this new lockdown in their stride. We trust we must do what we are told to do and we try and do the right thing and stay at home.
“Feldy-Roo makes all the difference, especially now the days are so short and dark.
“Aberfeldy is a great place to live. Doctors know everybody’s situation and sometimes phone up to ask how you’re getting on.
“I feel very lucky to have my community in so many ways.”
Feldy-Roo anticipated it could have a role to play and reopened the lists of vulnerable OAPs and contacted the good-hearted locals who had volunteered to deliver the last time.
Gavin - who was awarded a MBE in August - gathered the team at the Fountain Bar in Aberfeldy at Christmas time and gave everybody a gift of their own branded face masks.
His organisational sidekick, pub manager Julie Roy explained: “We started again just after Christmas with a small group of vulnerable people with the original four Aberfeldy restaurants, The Fountain, Chillies, Errichel and The Three Lemons.
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“When lockdown was announced, we decided to open it up again to shielding people so we have almost doubled our numbers.
“Feldy-Roo is now delivering to around 80 people on six routes between Aberfeldy, Weem and Kenmore/Acharn.
“Two new restaurants have come on board. The Schiehallion Hotel will be providing the evening meal on a Friday and The Tay will be doing fish and chips on a Saturday.
“The original delivery driving volunteers have come back on board and are delivering to the same households as before.
“We hope to expand east to Grandtully in the near future.”
Julie explained the conditions are different to the sunshine and long evenings of May and June: “We delivered a Christmas meal on December 20 to everyone on our list so the volunteers got a feel for it all again.
“Recently it has been pretty Baltic and they have to add a layer or two now and are delivering in the dark, so it’s a little different to the Easter/summer deliveries.
“However, the volunteers have all risen to the challenge and are enjoying seeing their old pals.”
