Local Life - Wigan - October 2020

34
Parbold’s
Community Champions
By Nicola Gray
“In our 90-year history I don’t think we’ve seen anything like
2020 and this branch has even lived through a World War!”
If the impact of the COVID lockdown can be summed up in
one sentence, then Marilyn Walker from the Parbold branch
of the Women’s Institute manages it with aplomb.
Talking about their time during the national lockdown,
members Helen France, Sylvia Wright, Marjorie Salt and
Marilyn muse that this is the first time their members
have really been asked to step up to the plate and help
the community. And that is exactly what they achieved.
For four months their volunteers were a lifeline to the
village’s most vulnerable residents, offering grocery and
prescription collections to people who were shielding.
Helen adds, “People were
incredibly grateful for the
help. We had a lot of local
volunteers, not just
members, and
we organised
collections
of food
and
other supplies including medications, magazines or even
just a book to read.”
At one point the group were even taking referrals from
the local GP surgery and the Chemist as word spread
around the village and people made use of the service.
Sylvia added, “We worked together as a community,
Paolo’s Fruit and Veg shop, Reynold’s Butchers and the
local milk man all provided free delivery services during
lockdown.
She added, “We are keen to continue to help where we
can, we feel that lots of people have made sacrifices
during this time and it’s the least we could do. There
has been so much goodwill from our local community
and what we are trying to get across is that Parbold is
such a lovely place to live and everyone has rallied
together for the good of each
other.”