Earls Barton's Covid-19 group teams up with Indian restaurant to feed every volunteer in the village

Every member of a Northamptonshire village's Covid-19 response group was fed for free yesterday with the help of a local Indian restaurant.

The 80-plus members of the Earls Barton Coronavirus Response Group have been working hard in the past seven weeks to look after their community.

The team of residents have been looking after their elderly, isolated and vulnerable members by shopping, collecting prescriptions or just befriending them during the lockdown.

So, to say thank you, co-ordinator Mark Ayotte reached out to local businesses to see who could donate something to recognise the team's volunteers.

Mary said: "As we approached the seventh week of the lockdown it occurred to me that our volunteers could do with a treat.

"Volunteering is often an 'In the background' role and you'd hardly know what was being achieved if you're fit and well and didn't necessarily need any help yourself."

But one of the businesses Mary reached out to was Little India in Earls Barton - who heard the call and stepped up to tell the group how much they recognised their work.

Mark said: "When I approached Little India to see if they could donate a meal gift voucher for a volunteer as a prize they said they wanted to do more than that - the wanted to feed every volunteer!

"They explained that they wanted to help the people of the village in some way but was not sure how - what was better than feeding the whole troupe?"

Yesterday afternoon (May 12), all of the group's volunteers were invited over the course of an hour to come to Little India and pick up a free chicken biriyani.

Mary said: "The generosity, kindness and appreciation from these businesses is extraordinarily bountiful. In a climate that is unprecedented we all thank you from the bottom of our hearts."