Chorley car dealership donates van to local pub making food deliveries for vulnerable residents

A week after donating six electric vehicles to Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust to help keep their workforce mobile, Chorley Group have donated a van to Kevin Bath, the owner of The Hinds Head in Charnock Richard for the past four and a half year years to help with his deliveries.

“I’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity and support from the whole community and from businesses like Chorley Group," said Kevin. “I saw local people struggling getting their shopping - some of them having to self-isolate, others who were NHS staff - and I wanted to help.

"As a publican and restaurateur, I can get fantastic quality fruit and veg from our wholesalers as well as superb quality meat from our butcher, so I thought why not bring the two together," he added. “I can’t believe how popular it’s been in such a short space of time and we’re now doing over 100 deliveries a day.

Taking orders for £10 or £20 boxes of food which can be made via his pub's Facebook page, Kevin has seven members of staff packing and making up the boxes for him to deliver and said: “Even though these are quite scary times for some, it really has shown how the community has come together.

"We’ve had people providing us with cakes and leaving us drinks of tea and coffee on their doorstep’s when we’ve delivered to keep us going," he continued. "We’ve had people who’ve contacted us and paid forward for three £20 boxes to be delivered to NHS or frontline workers.”

A Type 1 diabetic, Kevin has said that the work has been 'physically quite exhausting' but explained that helping people in a time of need has been mentally positive for everyone involved. "Seeing the appreciation from everyone makes it worthwhile," he said. "If it means that people stay home and stay safe, then we’re happy.”

Andrew Turner, Chairman at Chorley Group, said: “These are unprecedented times and we all have to do our bit. We’re happy we can help in this small way to ensure initiatives such as Kevin’s are able to keep going. We want to beat COVID19 and we know we need to all stay at home to help.

"By donating this van for Kevin’s use we feel like we’re playing our small part in ensuring we all get through this as quickly and safely as possible," he added.