Heartfelt thanks to coronavirus crisis volunteers as Cromarty newspaper delivery service draws to a close after 15 weeks
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NEWSPAPER deliveries provided through the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in a Black Isle community will this weekend come to an end.
A stalwart team of volunteers has helped Cromarty Stores with local deliveries for 15 weeks now after the community organised a local response to the Covid-19 crisis.
The main aim of the initiative was to help dramatically decrease footfall through the shop to help prevent key worker staff maintaining a vital local service.
Tomorrow will see the final delivery of newspapers under the scheme which has seen around 4500 copies brought to the homes of some of the community's more vulnerable people.
Cromarty Stores, on the town's Bank Street, paid warm tributes to the volunteers who kept the scheme going.
It said: "All good things must come to an end. I’m sorry to say that we are stopping the volunteer newspaper delivery service, with the last delivery being on Sunday, July 12. We’ve been running the service during the lockdown with two main aims: the first was to dramatically reduce the footfall in the shop to protect the store and staff from the virus, which were and are so essential to the sustainability of Cromarty; and the second was to protect vulnerable people by enabling them to stay at home during the height of the crisis.
"By Sunday we will have run the service for 15 weeks and delivered about 4500, or about a ton of newspapers. We have now moved to Phase 3 of our return to post Covid-19 'normality' which means that the Cromarty Store has more capacity and along with this the demand for newspaper deliveries has reduced. It is time to turn towards the new 'normal'.
"We cannot end this service without a huge, heartfelt thank you to all our volunteers:Bryn, Keith, Evelyn, Helen, Aiden, Connie, Lindy, Luka, Nicki, Ingrid, Bay, Coll, Joe, Findlay, Mairi, Stuart, Charlotte, Fiona, Jamie, Gregor, Alistair, Maggie and Robert (my sincere apologies to those I have left off the list)."
@HecMackenzie
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