Coun Pauline McHardy stepped in to help when she was alerted by people living in Alma Gardens, whose electricity was being cut for much of Wednesday to enable essential repair work to be carried out to the main supply.

'very worried'

"I was very worried because a lot of the people down there only have electricity for their heating and faced a cold and miserable day," said Coun McHardy.

Mustering help from council colleagues Andrew Williams and Peter Horton, she arranged for residents who would otherwise be left in the cold to spend the day at The Arches community facility at Holy Trinity Church, where they were fed and kept entertained.

Five residents took up the offer and were collected from their homes by Coun McHardy and Coun Horton early on Wednesday.

games

They spent the rest of the day at The Arches, where they enjoyed games including dominos, ludo and indoor bowls arranged by the councillors and Ripon Mind, which was holding one of its regular drop-ins there.

The residents were invited to join members in their various activities and had a soup lunch and hot meal later in the day before being delivered safely back to their homes.

Pensioner Mary Hayes, 75, said: "We've had a lovely day, we really appreciate it. Everybody has been so nice. If it hadn't been for this I would probably have spent the day it bed to keep warm."

Coun McHardy, who thanked Ripon Mind and Holy Trinity Church for their generous support, said the residents had been made to feel very welcome.

'absolutely delighted'

"They've had a great time and I'm absolutely delighted with the way it went," she said.

"I felt we had to step in to help because otherwise these people would have just been stuck at home without any electricity all day.

"They wouldn't have been able to cook a meal or keep warm.

"We couldn't leave them in a plight like that."