The village of Graveley is located on the outskirts of St Neots has a pub, church and a village hall. Although the village does not have a huge population, there is a strong community spirit and during the pandemic, volunteers made sure everyone was okay.

Will Walker, vice-chairman of Graveley Parish Council, said: “There was a network of people, a small circle of volunteers that were each assigned 10 to 15 houses to check on and see if people needed help.

“As some of the residents in these houses might have been shielding and would need help picking up medications or food. A service was set up to collect prescriptions and Papworth surgery is our local surgery. The residents of the village set this up themselves, so it wasn’t directly set up by the parish council.

“A resident in the village, whose daughter worked at Budgens in Offord, said if anybody needs anything and is running out of this, that and the other, that supplies can de dropped to their houses.”

Will describes the village pub The Three Horseshoes as the focal point in the village.

During the pandemic lockdown, the pub remained closed but continued to provide a takeaway service.

Will said: “When they were able to open before the pandemic, in the summer a live band would normally come and play and many people would attend this. They also used to hold a weekly quiz and many people would attend this.”

During the pandemic a micro bakery, which had been established a few years before the pandemic, remained open and they did a once-a-week bake. A list was circulated via email and people were able to place orders for bread and cakes midweek and then collect them on Fridays.

Will mentioned that some of the events that bonded the community together were the Clap for Carers.

Will said: “The clap for carers was quite a bonding point for people in the village, people got their pots and pans out and shouting which was nice.

“A scarecrow competition was also held in the village and VE day within the community was a big highlight.

“Everyone came out onto their driveways and had a meal, kids also painted stones and left them around the village.”