Map shows how over 150 'good neighbour' pop-up groups have launched across Northamptonshire during lockdown

Northamptonshire's community spirit is on show in all its glory in a new online map of all the 'good neighbour' groups launched during the Covid-19 outbreak.

More than 150 coronavirus support groups have been founded across the county in the last few weeks by communities who want to help their neighbours.

Each group was launched to help neighbourhoods look out for each other - from offers to collect groceries and even to pick up prescriptions for isolated residents.

Now, all of the dozens of neighbourly groups have been added to an online map so no one will be left struggling for help during the outbreak.

The map was compiled by Jennifer Hedges from community support charity Northants ACRE, who even before the outbreak were working to create neighbourhood groups across the county.

She told the Chronicle & Echo: "These groups are helping with what you would expect a neighbour to do. They are looking out for their neighbours by offering to go shopping for them or deliver a letter.

"One group I'm familiar with was contacted by a woman who needed a prescription. When they asked how she was she said she had been in isolation for three weeks and had no food left. Her community ended up putting together a food parcel for her.

"There are so many people and groups doing so many things individually, but by putting them together like this it makes a bigger picture."

Click here to see the online map and find out how to access a support group near you.It also lists 35 existing neighbourhood groups from across the county that have been helping their communities even before the outbreak.

The map has already been seen 2,000 times in a week and Jenni says there are still dozens of groups to add to it.

Jenni said: "I think most people want to be neighbourly. Some people I'm speaking to say they are meeting their neighbours for the first time, which would have been normal in 50 years ago.

"But people are aware of their neighbours. They know to check in on the elderly lady on the corner. People are really keen to talk to each other.

"Nine-out-of-10 of these new groups I've spoken to in a survey said they wanted to keep doing it after coronavirus."

Northants ACRE is a lottery-funded charity that has set out to create 30 neighbourhood groups in the county's rural and urban areas. With the outbreak of coronavirus, they have now been contacted by more than 150 new support groups.