Prince William was not the only person trying to help communities prepare for emergencies, after he visited Ilminster to launch a special initiative with a national organisation recently; a pilot study took place in Wiveliscombe as one of four currently being rolled out across Somerset.

Organised by Somerset Council and held in the Community Centre, volunteers and people from local organisations came together to find out about and test a ‘community resilience hub’.

“The aim is to make communities more resilient so that in an emergency they would be able to come together to look after each other, if the blue light agencies are delayed or busy elsewhere,” said Matt Fry, an Emergency Planning Officer at the council, who organised the event.

People were shown kit that would be stored locally, including a step by step guide and different tasks that would need to be done, if there were any kind of emergency from flooding to power outages.

They also joined in role play with an imaginary major storm scenario, to learn about all kinds of aspects from providing a central focus where those affected could come to seek or offer help, to acting as an information point for locals and for the council and blue light services to feed in information.

“The idea is not that a community emergency hub would replace emergency services, but would help communities to become more resilient and able to support each other,” said Matt.

The pilot studies are being held over six months and, if successful, will be rolled out around the county. Feedback will enable the organisers to see if communities need more preparation and knowledge about what actions to take, and if the emergency kit given to those who would use it, needs any changes.