Pub delivering Sunday lunch for vulnerable residents
Staff at a village pub near Lichfield have been making sure vulnerable residents are well-fed on Sundays during the latest lockdown by delivering a roast dinner to their door.
The team at The Swan With Two Necks in Longdon prepare 30 two-course meals - a main and a dessert - each Sunday morning and drop them off around the village.
“We asked the people of Longdon to nominate residents for the meals,” said Jane Evans, 51, landlady of the pub in Brook End.
“We phone them each week with options of pork, beef or turkey.
“The meals are gratefully received - some people think others are more vulnerable than them, but they have been nominated.”
Jane said the whole team at the pub gets involved.
“Our chef, Leroy Brown, and I do the cooking,” said Jane.
“Our apprentice chef, Ethan Blake, prepares the starters while assistant manager Jenny Blake and and waitress Molly Draper pack up the bags.
“My husband, John, is the driver and we have a lad, Thomas Hicks, who runs them to the houses.
“We start at 11.30am and all 30 meals are delivered by 1pm.”
Jane said the meals are taken on disposable plates and in recycled paper bags.
“The feedback has been great,” she said.
“People say ‘it’s so lovely - thank you so much’."
Jane said that some recipients are still scared because of Covid and won’t come out of their houses.
“Some have not left their homes for a year,” she said.
“We leave the meals on their doorsteps.”
Jane said the meal deliveries, which have been running for ten weeks, have been supported with funding from the Longdon community.
The cost of ten meals was donated by village couple Tina and Paul Follows.
“They are doing a lot for food banks but decided to take a different approach,” said Jane.
“They contacted us and have donated money each week.”
Longdon Flower Club and Longdon Produce Show have both covered the cost of a meal a week for ten weeks as has Mike and Wendy Neary.
There have also been £50 donations from John Mealey, Carol and Frank Ellis and Andy and Jane Jeffries.
The pub has made up the additional cost so that 30 meals can be delivered.
The final deliveries will take place this Sunday.
Jane said the team at The Swan With Two Necks has really enjoyed taking meals to the vulnerable and elderly.
“I just feel it brings the community together and it is a way of being kind,” she said.
“We have not been here long - we came to Longdon in November 2019 - but we have been in the trade for 20 years.
“The village welcomed us with open arms and we try to get involved with everything.
“We want to be a part of the community.”
