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Sophie Countess of Wessex volunteering for NHS

Sophie Countess of Wessex volunteering for NHS

On Wednesday last week I had the pleasure of photographing Sophie, Countess of Wessex as she volunteered with Surrey Drive to support their local initiative to provide food for NHS workers during the coronavirus emergency.

We started at Lavender Catering in Bookham, one of several catering businesses supporting Surrey Drive. The Countess helped Melanie and her team prepare barbecued turkey meals for staff at the Royal Surrey County Hospital – while maintaining “social distancing” of course.

It wasn’t a traditional “meet and greet” kind of Royal Visit – this was all about the Countess offering her support in a very practical way and getting involved directly in community efforts to support the NHS.

Delivering meals to staff at the Royal Surrey County Hospital

After helping to prepare the meals (which looked delicious!) The Countess drove across to the Royal Surrey County Hospital, She joined the volunteers who handed out meals to the frontline NHS staff. Surrey Drive had set up a marquee at the back of the hospital from which pre-cooked meals, cakes, fruit and veg, and drinks are distributed to the hard-pressed hospital staff free of charge each day.

There was a big queue lining up to collect their food, and clearly the project is very much appreciated by NHS doctors, nurses and support staff at the Royal Surrey.

Having Sophie Countess of Wessex volunteering for NHS with Surrey Drive was a great psychological boost to both the Surrey Drive volunteers and NHS workers.

From my point of view the only slightly tricky part was making sure I kept 2 metres away from everybody as I moved around taking photographs!

Here’s a selection of my photos from the day. Details of how you can support this effort are below!

Sophie Countess of Wessex volunteering for NHS support with Surrey Drive - preparing food for NHS workers Sophie Countess of Wessex volunteering for NHS support with Surrey Drive - preparing food for NHS workers Sophie Countess of Wessex volunteering for NHS support with Surrey Drive - preparing food for NHS workers Food and drink provided for NHS workers at Royal Surrey County Hospital by Surrey Drive Sophie Countess of Wessex - delivering food to NHS workers at Royal Surrey County Hospital Sophie Countess of Wessex - delivering food to NHS workers at Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS workers collect food from Surrey Drive's stalls at Royal Surrey County Hosptial NHS workers collect food from Surrey Drive's stalls at Royal Surrey County Hosptial  

How to help Surrey Drive support the NHS

Surrey Drive is managed by Surrey Event Professionals and is supported by more than 25 local event businesses and friends. They deliver over four thousand meals every week to the Royal Surrey County Hospital and its community hospitals that are part of the NHS Trust.. If you’d like to help, there are TWO ways to donate to Surrey Drive

Paypal – paypal.com/pools/c/8nISvJN5N7

RSCH Charity – https://www.rschcharity.org.uk/fundraisers/surrey-drive

Every penny that does not get turned into food will go to Royal Surrey County Hospital.

And last but not least, if you have any kind of event, commercial or charity, that you would like photographed, please do get in touch!

Sophie Countess of Wessex volunteering for NHS – photos by Chris Mann

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