Meals service providing food and a friendly face

Mary Norman said meals on wheels volunteers helped to ease isolation

A meal delivery service is calling for more volunteers to help it continue its work.

Meals on Wheels Jersey, based at the Enid Quenault Centre at Quennevais, is seeking new drivers.

Stalwart volunteer Mary Norman said the charity's ethos was about more than simply delivering food as sometimes volunteers are the "only contact" recipients have in a day.

"You feel you're doing a service to people who need help - and it helps them stay in their home," she said.

Mary and her husband Peter are both volunteers delivering meals to elderly residents.

Returning to her car after dropping a meal to an elderly man, Mary explained how important the visits were to him.

"He's had a birthday, yesterday," she said. "He was born the year after Queen Elizabeth II and he very proudly showed me his birthday card from Meal on Wheels.

"He's still fit and reasonably well but needs that bit of assistance that meals on wheels can provide."

Mr Norman said the couple enjoyed volunteering and were happy to help people keep their independence.

He said: "I've got time on my hands and it's a great pleasure to be able to go and do this – it's nice to be able to give something back."

Meals on Wheels Jersey chairman Hilary Grant said new drivers were needed

Meals on Wheels has been providing its service to Jersey residents for more than 50 years.

A recent move from Overdale to the Enid Quenault Centre at Quennevais has made things a little more difficult for the charity, said chairman Hilary Grant.

She said: "Overdale was beautifully in the middle of the island, you could send drivers off in all directions, now if someone is delivering to Gorey it's a noticeably longer run than it used to be.

"That may be part of the reason we are just a little short on drivers. We are all volunteers," she said.

Ms Grant said the volunteers were far more than simply delivery drivers.

"We always stress when we take on new drivers that part of your role is to be someone they look forward to seeing, so it becomes a good experience for them and while you're doing that you have a good experience yourself."

She said the commitment was once every two weeks and the deliveries took "about an hour or an hour and a half".