PH8 Coronavirus Group

stuartpaton What we’ve delivered and what happens next:
From the germ of an idea in the week before lockdown to a large multi-faceted team, the PH8 Coronovirus Group has been a fantastic community effort that has made a real difference to many, many people during this crisis. With the easing of restrictions we are winding down the current efforts.
So, what has been achieved and what happens next?
The Core Group that took on the coordination task was selfselecting but tried to represent as wide a range of interests as possible within the community. Throughout, we have continually challenged ourselves on thinking about the wider community and getting as wide a range of views and support as possible.
However, we did have to trust our judgment when decisions had to be made. Other key principles we tried to follow were to remember that everyone involved is a volunteer- often with many other pressures of family and work; to forgive each other when mistakes are made or when we should have taken a different approach; to try things out- not everything we tried got support, so we stopped! And most importantly that these were, and continue to be, very challenging and stressful times- people being isolated in their homes, children not being at school, financial pressures, usual support networks not being in place, people getting ill either through coronavirus or other causes- and that we have to be sensitive to these stresses and how different people handle the stress.
The PH8 Community responded immediately to the Core Group’s call for help and over 185 volunteers took on and organised a variety of initiatives through area coordinators - covering the PH8 area from Amulree to Butterstone and all in between - and through group organisers such as shoppers, sewers, cooks and administrators and bagpipers! Much of the work that was carried out would not have happened it if had not been for our volunteers and we thank them on behalf of everyone who benefited from their help.
Some of the achievements of the Community group have been:
Organising shopping deliveries from the Co-op, Scottish Deli, Birnam Village Shop-Best One, Chattan Tea Room and Post Office, Dunkeld Butchers and Smoked Salmon shop. Although a large effort was focused on setting up new systems for the Co-op we were very keen to provide support for all the shops. The system relied on people taking in orders from customers by email or phone, shopping and packing coordinators who organised people for each morning, and delivery people organised via area teams. This system ran incredibly smoothly with few mistakes (many apologies to the people who got the wrong milk or in some cases entirely wrong shopping) which were quickly rectified with good humour all round! A huge thank you also to all the staff in the shops for their support for our efforts.
Prescription deliveries from the chemist. This was a vital service for people selfisolating. Again, a huge thanks to the staff in the chemists for their support of our service provision and more generally for their fantastic support to our community.
Production of hundreds of scrubs and scrub bags for hospitals and care homes.
Hot meals preparation and delivery. We have provided a weekly service of hot meals produced by Kelly at the Post Office and delivered by our volunteers.
Provision of face coverings- both a huge supply of disposal masks and cloth coverings, sold locally with all profits being donated to the PH8 fund.
Financial support provided on a confidential basis:
Food bank and larder set up and coordinated by Maggie Hands, Caroline Robertson and Calum Martin. We have received a huge amount of donations over the last few months (thank you to everyone!) and the food can be collected from a number of telephone boxes in Dunkeld, Birnam and Amulree. The Food Larder is one of the initiatives that we will keep going – at least in the short term. Thanks to Calum Martin, Caroline Robinson, Maggie Hand and Moira Baker for all their work on this. Keep an eye on The Bridge for future updates on this.
Keeping in touch with Perth and Kinross Council to ensure we understand what is going on in other areas.
8 special editions of the Bridge (plus updates online on the webpage and facebook pages). These have been invaluable in keeping people up to date with activities, shop opening time and post lockdown the opening up of other services round the village. A huge thank you particularly to Sally for the mammoth amount of work involved!
Although most of these activities have been delivered at zero cost (and a huge amount of time from volunteers) we have been extremely fortunate to receive significant financial support from a Crowdfunding project which raised about £6,000 from individuals plus corporate donations from the Highland Games, local Masonic Lodge, Tesco, SSE Griffin and Perth, Kinross Council, Corra Foundation.
The PH8 Coronovirus group of 170 volunteers has shown community action at its best- responding to real and immediate need- as has happened up and down the country. As the Lord Lieutenant of Perth and Kinross said in a letter to the group:
I write to express my thanks for the way in which the PH8 Community Group have risen to the challenge brought about by Covid 19. You have coordinated a wonderful response to the pandemic challenge that we have all had to face. I would like to send my sincere appreciation to everyone involved in the PH8 Community Group for their efforts to make life that little bit better for those around them.’
So, what are the next steps? And what can we take forward from the past few months to make our local area an even better place to live?
We now have a large cadre of volunteers who have said they are keen to continue to offer their services. Recent shout outs for support have been have been for the Art Exhibition at end August, bags for Royal School of Dunkeld pupils and from Dunkeld Cathedral. Gien a Haund is also considering options for developing its services.
If you were not on the original volunteer list but would like to become a PH8 volunteer for the future then we would be delighted to have you on the team. Please email PH8community@gmail.com and let us know if you can help. You need only volunteer for things that interest you or that you have a particular skill for – or you may just find a new skill you didn’t know you had!
Unfortunately, there is the risk of an increase in number of cases or perhaps a ‘second wave’ in the Autumn and Winter which will require a response and may require ramping up support again. The last few months have shown we have the ability and capacity to deliver necessary support.
And more generally, as we emerge into a somewhat different world, we will see activities start up more slowly than we would like. If you provide services in the village and would like volunteer support please drop a note to: ph8community@gmail.com
At a larger scale, an idea that has evolved over the last few months has been to consider longer term developments in the village- perhaps related to climate change, food security (with a plan already having been delivered by Mel Nicoll), road safety etc. A Steering Group has been formed to take forward the concept with the next steps being development of a Community Profile leading to a Community Plan of action. If you want to find out more please drop an email to: ph8community@gmail.com
And finally, a huge thank you to everyone who played their part in this fantastic community effort!

All best wishes, Stuart Paton
The PH8 Coronavirus Core Group :
John Gilruth, Annie Le Roy-Lewis, Dot Meechan, Stuart Paton, Fraser Penny, Sally Robertson, Brenda Roddy, Philip Rutledge.

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