End of road for charity's meals on wheels service

A charity-run meals on wheels service in Derbyshire is to close, with its trustees blaming rising costs and falling demand.

The Bus Park Community Hub in Swadlincote said it had supplied up to 50 hot meals each weekday to some of the area's most vulnerable older residents.

But the service will make its final deliveries on 29 May after trustees made the "devastating" decision to close.

Some users and their families have described the service as a "lifeline". In a post on Facebook, one said it had been "an absolute godsend" for their 80-year-old father.

Trustee Pauline Haywood said she had been getting up at 04:30 each weekday to prepare hot meals for the service for the past year.

She said Wednesday was always the most popular day, as roast dinner was one of the two daily choices - this week it was roast pork served with mashed potatoes, carrots and cabbage for £8.30, and cornflake tart an option as dessert for an extra £2.20.

"It's all made with love, we cook fresh food every day," said Haywood.

"We're all mothers, we've cooked all our lives. Karen [fellow cook Karen Gregory] is a dab hand at making the puddings and cakes."

Haywood said she was unsure how the people she cooks for will cope once the service ends.

"I don't know, I don't have a clue. I guess the families are going to have to cook for them if they can," she said.

Nobody at the centre could confirm when the meals on wheels service actually started but Keith said he had been a delivery driver for the last nine years and believed the difference he made goes way beyond the hot meals.

"I've found people collapsed on the floor and have had to call the emergency services," he said.

"I'm absolutely gutted it's closing. Not for us staff but for the people we see each day."

Trustee Dawn Lloyd said she had to make the "devastating" decision to close the service with six staff members being laid off.

"Basically we've become financially unviable. We have more going out than coming in money-wise," she said.

"We could put the prices up but some would no longer be able to afford to use us so our numbers would fall even further. It's been really hard having to tell our clients that we finish for good next Friday."

Some of those who use the service and their families have taken to social media to express their disappointment.

"A lot of people going to be sadly disapointed [sic] at losing this outstanding service, lots of people rely on the lovely meals supplied," said one.

"I don't know where to look now for my mother-in-law who is 93 and looks forward to seeing her driver turn up with a big smile, thanks Keith."

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