Generous gesture and pizza delight

Kate and Stu Richards of mobile pizza business Nomadic Appetite, who have been serving their pizzas to Montgomery folk on Friday and Saturday nights, made an incredibly generous gesture last week, replacing their usual Friday collection service with an evening of making free pizza for people who are self-isolating or shielding because of age, illness or other circumstances.

Nomadic Appetite have received a phenomenal reception in Montgomery and were determined to give something back to the community by providing free pizzas to as many elderly and vulnerable people in and around Montgomery as they could manage.

Kate said: “It was just a small token from us to those who can’t get out for whatever reason at the moment.”

Hot pizzas were collected and delivered to homes by a band of Montgomery volunteers and Kate added: “We would like to say a huge thank you to the volunteers for all their amazing help Friday evening in delivering 67 free pizzas for us. It was a brilliant effort from everyone and from the feedback we’ve had it sounds like everyone enjoyed their pizzas.”

The pizzas were well received by residents, many of whom had not been outside their homes for nine weeks.

Recipients and relatives thanked the couple for their kind generosity and the lovely idea.

Paulene Jones who, in better times, runs a luncheon club for older citizens, said: “I just want, on behalf of us self-isolating oldies, to send you our grateful thanks for the free pizzas you supplied us with on Friday. This was a wonderful gesture and a real treat. The volunteer team delivered as promised and it all went perfectly. Many, many thanks.”

Local food and suppliers have had the opportunity to come to the fore in this crisis and, like others, Nomadic Appetite source their ingredients locally wherever possible. They will be continuing to sell pizzas throughout lockdown via their order and safe collection service from The Cottage car park, thanks to Montys Brewery. To order a pizza and book a collection slot, telephone 07973 796068.

Happy 100th birthday, Mr Hughes

Montgomery resident Cyril Hughes reached his milestone centenary birthday last week. Mr Hughes, who worked as a forester for the Powis Estates and now enjoys retirement with his wife in Mortimer Road, celebrated with a surprise cake baked by neighbours.

Unable to have a party, or even a small get-together with friends and relatives, the couple enjoyed the cake in the sunshine outside their home, receiving good wishes and celebratory cheers from neighbours at a safe distance. Others sent well wishes via social media, many of which included tributes to his skills as a gardener. Sue Blower, Town Crier, who is one of his neighbours, also wrote a personal ‘cry’ which she delivered to him with neighbours looking on from a distance.

The cry, a video of which has been placed on YouTube, paid tribute to Mr Hughes’ years of work, and spoke of how he and Margaret met, 71 years ago, at a fair in Llanidloes. Sue concluded with congratulations and good wishes to Mr Hughes.

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Lockdown embroidery

Pat Weaver, from Montgomery, has been busy during the lockdown period creating an embroidery map of Montgomeryshire. The work, which Pat explained had taken her a significant number of hours throughout April, is a beautifully embroidered representation of the county, including the main towns, villages, rivers and boundaries.

Pat said: “I also embroidered into the map the fact that it was created during the Covid-19 lockdown.” She added, “I like to think that in times to come someone will look at it and understand the context, much as we look at embroidered samplers today.”

Pat hopes one of her twin sons, who are both about to graduate from university, will look after it in the future. “I hope they don’t fight over it!” she said.

County Times:

Workout continues

Fitness instructor and personal trainer Steph Bates has been helping clients in the Montgomery and Welshpool area to maintain their fitness during lockdown by hiring out equipment and providing recorded classes.

Steph began very popular weekly “Sunday Sessions” full body workout classes at Montgomery Town Hall in February this year. Just a few weeks after their successful beginning, along with all other such group activities, these could no longer take place due to the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions.

After classes stopped, Steph’s regular clients continued to work out with equipment they have at home, and she hired out all her boxes and bars. She then considered providing live online classes, but quickly realised a number of attendees were key workers and it would be difficult to run classes at suitable times. She decided to record and send classes to clients who were interested in this, and it made sense for people to be able to complete a recorded class after their work shift.

Steph said: “The response was fantastic and I’m providing classes for a wide variety of abilities. We all know exercise is amazing and has a wide range of positive health effects but is also fantastic for emotional wellbeing and mental health.

“I love being able to provide a small snippet of normality to clients amidst all of the chaos and sadness that is Covid19. I am also using this time to prepare new classes for the future.”

Walking Festival booking

The group behind Montgomery Walking Festival, which is due to take place between October 2 and 4, has been revising its plans and working hard to ensure the festival can go ahead safely.

Organiser Jill Kibble said: “We are hoping for an improved situation in October, and so we have revised some of our planned walks and will be limiting the size of groups so that safe distancing can be observed.” She added, “We hope there will be one evening of outdoor entertainment linked to the walking festival for people to enjoy.”

As always, festival walks are free, but booking is essential. Website booking will open on June 1st, and Jill recommends booking early to reserve a place. Bookings can be made via www.MontgomeryWalkingFestival.co.uk

Diary Dates

  • Thursday, May 21 - Montgomery Market (outdoor food stalls, and the fishmonger is back now)
  • Friday, May 22 - Friday morning prayer online
  • Sunday, May 24 - Church services online
  • For details and joining information for online Church meetings, contact Rev Alexis at smith.sparrowssong@gmail.com
  • Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday - Yoga and somatic movement classes online see www.creativeyogamotion.uk/www for details
  • Thursday, May 28 - Montgomery Market (the regular outdoor food stalls)
  • Thursday, May 28 - Montgomery Town Council meeting (online - contact townclerk@montgomery-wales.uk)