Lockdown has not stopped a Teddington-based charity continuing to help the vulnerable.

Ruils, a charity that supports the disabled and the elderly, has set up two new services in response to the pandemic.

A service delivering shopping across Richmond now has 91 clients and a telephone befriending service has 75 clients.

Fundraiser Carolyn Jones has described how the charity turned to the community to help run these services.

She said: "The response from the local community has been amazing.

"We have had 85 new volunteers step up to help us out."

One family has shown their appreciation for Ruils by making their own embroidered card.

The charity rely on their annual quiz and curry night, hosted in the heart of Teddington, to fund their counseling service for the whole year but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

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Ruils set up an online quiz in its place which has been well-received.

"The success of the quiz has been a pleasant surprise.

"The annual curry and quiz night usually raises £2,500 and the first online quiz raised £500 alone which we're really happy with."

The quiz takes place at 8pm every Wednesday throughout lockdown and costs £3 to enter.

While the majority of the money goes to keeping the counseling service running, ten percent of the money raised will go to the winner of the quiz.

Face to face services such as counseling and workshops are suspended due to the virus although Ruils are continuing to provide as many services as they can over the phone.

The consequences of the virus on the charity sector has been huge and Carolyn explains that it will likely continue to impact Ruils for some time.

She said: "We have already had to cancel three events which provide vital funds.

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"This has been such a strange year for us and all other charities as we have had to balance emergency funding alongside the valuable services we usually provide."

Ruils also had 24 teams take on the 2.6 challenge over the weekend, raising £12,000 in total.

You can help support Ruils by visitng their website here: https://www.ruils.co.uk/

taking part in their weekly quiz here: https://www.virtualquizevents.com/quiz/ruils-not-quite-quiz-curry-night-3/