ABERNETHY ANGELS

Back in March with lockdown on the cards, concerned residents began to comment on the Abernethy facebook page…’how will people manage’…’we should do something’…’I’d be happy to help’… Taking the initiative, the Church rounded up a few volunteers and Abernethy Angels took flight! Leaflets were delivered throughout the village to make sure everyone had a number to call if they were isolating and needed help with collecting shopping or medication or just wanted a friendly chat.

Initially, the calls to the help line were from more willing volunteers asking for their names to be added to the list but, gradually, requests for help started to come through. The pharmacies in both Newburgh and Bridge of Earn were delighted to hear about the Angels and were soon asking us to collect as many prescriptions as we could each day. It was much easier for them to have one person collecting a list of prescriptions rather than lots of people queuing on the street outside their door. The Angel could then deliver the items to the relevant people.

We also instigated the Angels’ Share box that took up residence on the Museum railings for a while. The instruction was to ‘give what you can and take what you need’. Of course, being Abernethy, much more was donated than was taken and the box soon became a collection point for Perth Food Bank allowing us to help the wider community too.

Over recent weeks, as we have tried to return to some sort of normality, the number of requests has greatly reduced. Both pharmacies are happy for everyone to collect their own prescriptions again and supermarket delivery slots are much easier to find so the Angels have been able to return to their ‘day jobs’.

Thank you very much to everyone who volunteered as an Angel. Many of you were never called into service because we were never as busy as we expected to be but we were still grateful to know you were there. We have also had thanks from the Provost of Perth and Kinross, Dennis Melloy and from Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for Perth and Kinross, Stephen Leckie.

It says so much about our village that we were able to pull together a service like this at such short notice and make it work as successfully as it did.

Well done Abernethy Angels!!

(Name and address supplied)