A WREXHAM borough councillor has praised the work of people in the Ceiriog Valley who give up their time to make and deliver meals for people self-isolating in the region during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Volunteers in the Ceiriog Valley rallied together to prepare, cook and deliver 100 roast beef dinners to those self-isolating on Friday, May 22.

Councillor Trevor Bates helped on the day, and was impressed with the community spirit and number of people offering their help.

He said: “I have a list of 50 people offering to help with delivering groceries, prescriptions and meals but there are so many neighbours buddying up to help one another that we have only needed to call on a handful, such is the spirit of our residents.

“It was also great to see the three community agents working together as a team on this.”

Before the pandemic, there were two lunch clubs operating fortnightly, one at the Oliver Jones Memorial Hall, Dolywern and one at the Ceiriog Christian Centre, Glyn Ceiriog.

A discussion between volunteers led to the Christian Centre volunteers applying for, and receiving, a £1,000 grant from the Association of Voluntary Organisations in Wrexham (AVOW).

On top of that, an offer to prepare and cook the meals came from Ted and Anne Johnston, who cooked the food in the recently refurbished kitchen at the memorial hall.

Food is then packed into microwaveable containers, with help from Andrew Pearce, Cllr Bates and Sarah Bates.

The first two batches were delivered to Llanarmon DC and Tregeiriog by Jane Claybrook and Anne Lloyd Morris, then Rowena Lewis and Adrian Richards delivered to Glyn Ceiriog and Glyntraian deliveries were handled by Agnes Roberts, Darren Eccleston, Peter Cassidy, Ian Masters, Graham Barrow, and Edith Jones.

Glyntraian Community Agent Davena Davies gave a special thanks to Ted and Anne for cooking the meals.

She said: “It was amazing, Ted and Anne spent hours peeling and preparing vegetables, the meals were packed and delivered within an hour.

“I have had so many people phone to say how pleased they were with their dinner."