VOLUNTEERS supporting people throughout lockdown have been recognised at a special presentation.

When coronavirus lockdown restrictions saw many people stuck indoors earlier this year, a network of volunteers was established to help people with everything from dog walking to food collections.

Andrew Brown, president of Dunbar Rotary Club, and fellow Rotarian Elaine O’Brien were recently on hand to present Rotary service community awards to George Robertson, chairman of Dunbar and East Linton Area Partnership (DELAP), and Helen Harper, East Lothian Council’s community development officer.

Mr Robertson stressed that his certificate was in recognition of the hard work of each of the volunteers during some challenging times.

He said: “I was very pleasantly surprised and gratified by the numbers that stepped forward so promptly.

“Literally within a week we were having to close down the volunteer list. We got up to 250 and we were not able to use all the volunteers.”

The volunteers were divided into nine clusters, covering not only Dunbar but also neighbouring West Barns.

Each cluster then had a Single Point of Contact (SPoC), who could ask for a volunteer to come forward and assist with a particular request.

The group remains on stand by in case more severe restrictions are reimposed.

Mr Robertson said: “The whole idea of resilience is not just about the pandemic but any emergency that might emerge, whether that is floods, extreme weather, you name it.

“At least now we have a database of people who are prepared to step forward for the pandemic and, should the need arise, we could very quickly assemble a group of people with expertise to tackle what we are facing.”

Meanwhile, Ms Harper also collected an award on behalf of Katy Pollok, manager of Home-Start East Lothian.

A number of groups, including the town’s community council, East Lothian Council’s connected communities team and Home-Start East Lothian, came together to create a hot meals service, with more than 600 meals a week being served up at the height of restrictions.

Catering company Thomas Franks, which serves the town’s Belhaven Hill School, also came forward.

Ian Mabon, chef at the school, was on furlough and volunteered his time to cook meals for those in need. Scottish Government funds were given to local communities, with chefs working in Dunbar’s Bleachingfield Centre.

However, demand proved so great that they moved to Musselburgh’s Loretto School as they outgrew the kitchen in Dunbar.

East Lothian Council drivers then transported the meals from Loretto back to the east of the county before a team of eight volunteers delivered the meals to people throughout the community.

Ms Harper said: “The relationships built during this time had a positive effect on people’s mental health and wellbeing and, where some did not necessarily need a lot of food support, they did benefit from a nutritious meal and the social contact.”

Meanwhile, youth workers from the Countess Youth Club opened up contact with young people in and around Dunbar.

Ms Harper added: “Working closely with education to check up on young people to see how they were coping and providing those young folk with craft/activity packs, Dunbar Rotary kindly provided £500 to support this project.”