Dr Ben Spencer MP
The support that our residents have given to everyone affected by this pandemic, has demonstrated Chertsey’s incredibly strong community spirit.
Every day there have been hundreds of unsung heroes delivering food parcels, medication, checking on neighbours, sewing masks and scrubs, and performing countless other tasks on behalf of those who have been most affected by the crisis.
Take the work at Salesians School. Using the Design and Technology skills on site they made protective equipment, raising money for NHS charities and the local foodbank, and helping countless frontline workers and those in need due to Covid-19. This initiative was supported by all staff, parents, and students. Before the summer recess I put their great work on the record in Parliament.
The pandemic has clearly had a significant impact on our lives, affecting many livelihoods and businesses, and I am working hard to help people get the support they need through this pandemic. Almost 20,000 people in Runnymede and Weybridge have benefited from the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Support Scheme, and many businesses have received support through Government grants or loans (over 2,000 loans worth £110 million have been offered). Now the priority is to get the economy open and moving again safely.
And the message I am hearing is that as people adapt and recover, they are finding new opportunities. Opportunities to look again at how we were doing things, and become better, more connected and more appreciative of what we have and the communities we are part of.
I recently visited the Ashford and St Peter’s Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy service operating out of the River Bourne Health Club to see how they have adapted to working as a result of the pandemic. Already a world leading and innovative service, and Leon, Ryan and the team showed me how following lockdown they now offer a service at a distance with treatments and classes over zoom! Our NHS and allied staff both at St Peters and in the community have been phenomenal. Not just through the way they have looked after us, leading and managing the response to Covid, but for also combining this with innovation and world leading medical research trials on site.