The British Red Cross in Cornwall has launched a campaign to recruit hundreds of volunteers willing to drop everything during a major emergency to help people in crisis in their own community.

When disaster hits, ‘Community Reserve Volunteers’ will form a  practical task force, working as a team to do anything from filling sandbags to sorting food for their flooded community.

It is hoped the new teams will be able to provide valuable help if emergencies like the flash flooding incidents in Coverack or Boscastle were ever to be repeated.

It takes ten minutes to sign up, and volunteers will then be called out by text when they’re needed.

Kate Monaghan, a nurse from Wadebridge, has already signed up.

She said the new initiative ‘is a great way for people to offer their kindness, skills and local knowledge when something happens on their doorstep’.

Simon Lewis, head of crisis response for the Red Cross, said: ‘We’ve seen through the sad events of this year, including the Manchester Arena and London Bridge attacks and the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the extraordinary levels of compassion shown by ordinary people from local communities when a crisis hits.

‘It shows you don’t need special skills to help others. Small acts of kindness and coming together as a team can make a huge difference.

‘This project is a way of harnessing the goodwill and kindness of the public for future emergencies, by signing people up in advance.

‘We recognise people have busy lives and can’t always commit to volunteering all year round.

‘We would only call upon people at times of major local crisis, which hopefully won’t happen often, but when they do, and extra help is needed, people will have the opportunity to make a big difference.’

Modelled on similar initiatives run by the Dutch and Austrian Red Cross the new volunteering role aims to recruit 10,000 community reserve volunteers nationwide by November 2019, targeting areas most prone to flooding and weather-related emergencies first, in order to have teams in place this winter.

People can sign up online at www.redcross.org.uk/reserves by watching a short video, answering some questions and registering their details.