A TAUNTON woman who mobilised thousands of volunteers at the height of the coronavirus pandemic has been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Natalie Dyson has been handed a BEM (Medallists of the Order of the British Empire) for services to the community in Taunton during Covid-19.

Concerned about the conflicting stories and misinformation circulating at the start of lockdown, and with an overwhelming urge to do something positive, Natalie co-founded a Facebook-based support group, which soon mushroomed into something much more than that.

Natalie said: “I so desperately wanted to do my small bit to help. It felt like a war effort.

“Being part of a team of people who rolled their sleeves up with such community spirit was the most challenging, frightening, rewarding and amazing experience all rolled into one.

“We were fighting an invisible enemy, and although we had to keep far apart, this community really knows how to come together when it counts.”

When the membership of the Facebook group reached 13,000 within the first few days, Natalie realised it was becoming too unwieldy to manage.

So, she set up 37 satellite groups based loosely along the electoral wards stretching from West Somerset to the Somerset Levels, the Quantocks to the Blackdowns.

Each group had its own co-ordinator and a team of local volunteers, delivering shopping, collecting prescriptions, and running errands for elderly and shielding people.

And local businesses stepped up providing leaflets, posters and ID badges for the volunteers.

This speedy response meant vulnerable and shielding people were able to get help from the very beginning.

As the year progressed, Natalie’s commitment to supporting the community through the lockdown was unwavering, including helping to set up a local pop-up shop to provide basic supplies to vulnerable people, organising a thank you barbeque at Musgrove Park Hospital, running a campaign to provide 65 gazebos to local primary schools, setting up a foodbank and petfood bank, as well as raising funds to provide food hampers and Christmas presents for more than 300 children.

The group closed in April 2021 and the surplus funds of £4,500 were donated to Taunton Foodbank.

“It is a wonderful positive legacy in an otherwise incredibly bleak year that many of the groups are continuing as good neighbour/community help groups,” Natalie said.

“I also don't really feel like it should only be me accepting a reward - I was but one cog in a huge engine. The whole community pulled together and each and every one of the people involved played an equally important role.

“I feel truly humbled and honoured, but the real thanks belong to the hundreds of volunteers who queued for hours at pharmacies and shops to ensure elderly and vulnerable people could stay at home.

“They undoubtedly saved lives. They are the true heroes.”

Natalie found out about the award a couple of weeks ago but was sworn to secrecy, even keeping the news from her partner.

She said: “It’s all shrouded in secrecy which is quite hard because I’m really bad at keeping secrets!”