Reporters from Western Daily Press battled through the flood waters of Gloucestershire to deliver aid parcels bought with the early proceeds of an in-paper appeal to villagers who have been cut off for days.
Readers have so far donated more than £20,000 to the appeal.
The newspaper’s transport reporter, Brian Price, motoring editor Simon Harding and photographer George Burgess toook the aid packages – containing vital supplies of bottled water, food and treats – to Canterbury Leys in the town of Tewkesbury, which spent days under water after the flooding began two weeks ago.
While the water on the streets has subsided since then, the Daily Press team found that residents – who are still without mains water – were delighted to get the vital supplies.
Pat King, 78, who lives in a ground-floor flat in Canterbury Leys, was among the first to be given the survival kit. She told the paper: ‘Even in war time, we never had to be given food or parcels like this. We are so grateful to the people who have paid for these bags. It’s just brilliant to see people coming out here to help us.”
On Saturday, Daily Press editor Andy Wright drove supplies to a local hospice that lacked water to clean patients’ wounds.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog