A HUGE team of volunteers from Bicester have sacrificed their time to take part in a national project to feed NHS workers across the country.
More than 1,000 people in the town, including residents and British Army veterans, have been packaging meals at Bicester Motion motoring attraction to send to hospitals as part of the SalutetheNHS.org campaign.
It is all to support the NHS frontline during the coronavirus pandemic, and after being set up last month, more than 100,000 meals have been delivered to hospitals and to NHS workers who may be self-isolating.
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Lieutenant Colonel Billy Dilkes, 51, from Bicester, was assigned by his seniors to lead the Bicester effort and rally up veterans as well as residents in the community.
As chairman of the Bicester Pioneer Association, he knew veterans in the area who first got onboard.
He said: “I went away on tour for seven months within the Army and arrived back in Bicester on April 1. The next day, I had to set up a work force with veterans and military personnel who were available.
“It took seven days with the support of Bicester Military Garrison to get things rolling.”
The project has been established in Hangar 113 at the Bicester Motion site - a Second World War RAF hangar.
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Tesco and Bicester-based company Absolute Taste are the main brands supplying food which is then packed by around 90 volunteers each day into boxes and delivered by courier Yodel.
As the operation got underway, Lt Col Dilkes set up the Bicester Pioneer Volunteers Facebook page where he managed to boost numbers.
He added: “After about 21 days we got around 1,000 volunteers helping out.
“We have 90 people helping on a daily basis.There are around 125 pioneer veterans and garrison veterans volunteering too.
“Our only day off has been Easter Sunday – it’s been really really good and we have a great set up here with good social distancing in the hangar on the lines.
“It’s absolutely brilliant.”
SalutetheNHS.org is a large-scale not-for-profit operation funded and first launched by Ron Dennis CBE, founder of F1 McLaren.
It was set up in response to a concern expressed by his daughter who works in the NHS, Dr Charlotte Hall.
It aims to support thousands of key NHS workers with their basic day-to-day needs, enabling them to focus on saving lives and fighting Covid-19.
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It has also now partnered with Unilever UK & Ireland and will provide workers with packages of personal care products too.
Michał Przykucki, 35, from Bicester is a volunteer helping out.
He said: “My girlfriend is a paediatrician at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. With her working on the frontline, I was looking for ways to also contribute to the effort. Bicester Pioneers gave me that opportunity.
“I volunteer two or three times per week, working with some great people from all walks of life: military veterans, F1 engineers, trades and crafts people, and many others, but all sharing the desire to support the NHS. It is absolutely fabulous.”
Packages were first delivered locally to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington and Horton General Hospital in Banbury but now they go to 19 hospitals all around the country including Great Ormond Street children's hospital in London.
Thousands of meal packs are assembled each day at the hangar.
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