BY ANDREW THOMAS

This week I wanted to let you know about the amazing community spirit being shown during the coronavirus pandemic in the village of Urswick, which I am fairly sure is also being reflected in other parts of the South Lakeland, Eden and north Lancashire area.

Most of my information came from Margot Smith, who is president of Urswick Women’s Institute.

Margot told me that the week lockdown was imposed, villager Denise Chamberlain created the Urswick Coronavirus Support Group. This group of volunteers collects shopping, prescriptions, pensions, posts mail, helps with pets and stays in contact with the more vulnerable and mature residents by ‘phone in Urswick and the surrounding area.

A lot of what is being done by the group can be found on The Urswick Massive group on Facebook, which seems to be a really valuable way of the community keeping in touch and helping each other out.

Low Furness CE Primary School cook Anne Davies has been supplying a hot meal each Saturday to around 80 villagers, supported by members of the lockdown group, many of whom have baked cakes to go with the meal.

Margot said the General Burgoyne pub in the village had been running a weekly quiz online via the Facebook group to keep people entertained.

And Ramsay Lunn, husband of Urswick Church vicar the Rev Lucie Lunn, has organised morning prayer at 9am on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and contemplative prayer on Thursdays at 10am via The Church of Low Furness Facebook page.

Villager Anne Bell, who works at a supermarket in Barrow, has offered to do shopping and deliver it for anyone who is struggling to get out to the shops.

And for VE Day, about 15 members of Urswick WI created boxes of traditional afternoon teas and distributed around 200 of them to more vulnerable and mature residents in Urswick, Ulverston and surrounding villages.

The boxes included homemade cakes and sandwiches. People gave donations and more than £2,000 was raised for St Mary’s Hospice at Ulverston.

As Margot put it: “People are just helping each other out where they can. It reminds me of how village life used to be in years gone by.”

Well done Urswick. What a tremendous effort.