Lockdown efforts of Selkirk’s response team volunteers applauded by community council

At Monday night’s virtual meeting of the town’s community council, chairman Alistair Pattullo praised the efforts of the newly-formed Selkirk Response Team as part of his annual general meeting statement.

In the meeting, held using the Zoom conferencing application, Mr Pattullo said: “Since our last AGM, indeed, since our last regular meeting, the lives of all of us have changed almost beyond recognition.

“Two weeks after our March meeting we found ourselves in lockdown.

“Most of us in employment were furloughed, the self-employed were applying for government support and we all found ourselves confined to our homes and gardens, except for limited exercise and essential shopping.

“This meant that potentially large numbers of people in our community who were vulnerable or at high risk from the virus would require assistance with some of their most basic needs.

“I am proud to say that we were in a position to offer that assistance from the very first day of the lockdown as a direct result of the work we had carried out previously to set up the Selkirk Response Team. “This swung into action speedily, we set up a working committee and were immediately able to identify both volunteers and those in need of aid and to match up those two groups.

We were almost overwhelmed by the response of Selkirk people and actually had far more volunteers than we needed, as a result nobody in Selkirk should have gone without any essentials.

“We set up the Response Team pop-up shop which has been managed by Graham Easton from the start and this has provided a hub from which we were able to organise the work of the team.

“I cannot praise Graham enough for the hours he has put in to matching up the volunteers and the needs of the community, his reassuring voice at the end of the phone has been a great comfort to many vulnerable and often distressed residents.

That is not to ignore the contributions made by the other members of the core group and the massive support given by the people of Selkirk and the valleys who have generously donated time and money and put service before self during this difficult and most exceptional period.

“When we set up the Response Team I think we expected to be mainly clearing the snow off the pavements, instead we found ourselves to be the first point of contact for many people who were really struggling in the midst of a crisis none of us could have foreseen and which none of us was trained for.

“What we saw in Selkirk was the epitome of community service and I am proud of what we have achieved.”

Vice-chairman Mr Easton was quick to deflect the praise towards the small army of volunteers who have looked after anyone who asked for help.

He said: “I thank Alistair for his kind comments, but at the end of the day, the response team effort has been carried out by the people of Selkirk.

“It’s been a phenomenal volunteering experience.

“Since we started putting in figures for SBC, the team has completed more than 400 shopping trips, 20-plus prescription pick-ups, 15-20 post office trips, a lot of dog walks, and many other things, such as doing gardening and looking after hanging baskets.

“We’ve done everything through Alistair’s second-hand phone and a Facebook page.

“I can’t say quite how chuffed I am in the way the people of Selkirk and the valleys have responded to this particular crisis ... it’s been phenomenal.

“I think the people of Selkirk need to be applauded for what they have done, they’ve gone above and beyond.

“When you look at resilience teams, you are normally looking at a two-day crisis, whether it’s a beast from the east or a flooding.

“You get all your volunteers on board, they do their two days and that’s it finished.

“Now, here we are into the fourth month and we are still plodding along ... it says a whole lot for how people have just adapted to the situation.”

Mr Easton said donations of food and money have also helped bring the community together,

“At the end of all this, I’d like to think that this community, which has always been strong, will continue to be strong together,”