West Sussex welcomes royal visitor
The Princess Royal visited Haywards Heath on Monday (12 October).
Last updated 15th Oct 2020
There has been a royal visitor in West Sussex this week.
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal made her way to Haywards Heath Town Hall on Monday (12 October).
She was welcomed by the Town Mayor, Councillor Alastair McPherson, accompanied by Vice Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Sir Richard Kleinwort.
The Princess Royal met, within a socially distanced and Covid secure setting, with those responsible for the town's response to the COVID-19 pandemic during the lockdown period, to understand the current arrangements in place, and to hear what the plans are for the future for the residents of the town and the surrounding villages.
As well as meeting statutory and voluntary organisations that worked on the response, she also spoke to the volunteers themselves who had given their time to help those who were in need in the community.
These volunteers were from the Haywards Heath Mutual Aid group led by founders Amie Cherverst, Jo Lee and Redwan Chowdhury who worked in partnership with Haywards Heath Town Council and its ‘Leave No-One Behind’ campaign.
They provide a day to day and on the ground response to the needs of residents individually, and offer subsidiary services to Haywards Heath and surrounding villages.
This work included receiving 2,537 telephone calls and the making of 1,660 direct responses, through their 750 volunteers, to help individuals isolating or shielding with day to day matters.
Her Royal Highness also met the co-ordinators from Haywards Heath Mutual Aid’s ‘Emergency Food Hub’ set up to support the town's food bank, which is backed by Haywards Heath Town Council.
Cllr McPherson said:
"The impact of the coronavirus has affected everyone in the town, country and indeed the world so this partnership, developed in response to the pandemic, shows what can be achieved when the community comes together in times of need.
"Therefore, it was such an honour to greet Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal and introduce her to the people who were so selfless during lockdown."