The Ilkley Corona Response team, which is made up of representatives from the voluntary sector, faith groups, health centre, as well as local town and district Councillors and MP Robbie Moore, are holding regular video meetings.
At the last meeting, the team heard that during the previous week there had been approximately 220 offers of volunteering, and 15 referrals or requests for support.
Ilkley Town Mayor, Mark Stidworthy said: ‘On behalf of everybody in Ilkley I would like to thank the fantastic Ilkley Corona Response team for their hard work on behalf of those who need help in the town. We are learning to bring together resources, information and ideas across the community to share the burden as the situation develops.’
‘Unfortunately, we should expect things to get worse before they get better. With so many vulnerable people in the town, the message to residents is that everybody, young or old, must keep their social distance, everywhere and all the time. Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.’
‘We owe a huge debt to our NHS colleagues and those in the emergency services who are working flat out to protect our health under very demanding conditions. Finally, we owe gratitude and respect to the many people still working as carers, in pharmacies, essential shops, for Royal Mail, keeping schools open for those who need it, and in communications and utilities, on which we all depend. Thank you to everybody for pulling together in these challenging times.’
If you are in Ilkley and need help, or you would like to volunteer, the telephone number is: 07375 803 693 or go online to: https://bit.ly/ilkleycorona.
If you have already volunteered by this route or through the national or Bradford helplines, your information has been collected and passed on locally to where your help is needed, and somebody will be in contact in due course. National information about the most vulnerable is also being passed down to local level.