In April 2020, the community group Helping Hands began setting up 'activity boxes' around town.

The idea was to provide isolating residents with books, DVDs and games at a time when all of which were difficult to come by.

Those who had taken the opportunity to clear out their attics - or just wanted to donate - would deposit items in the boxes for others to use.

Sixteen months, three lockdowns and countless donations later, the activity boxes are still going strong.

Tony and Mary Farmer are the couple responsible for the most used activity box in Penarth, the one outside their home on Herbert Road.

On the eve of Wales entering alert level 0, Nub News spoke with them about the scheme's success and what the future has in store.

How it all began

Tomorrow's return to something-like-normality gives us cause to reflect on the past year and a half.

The early pandemic was a time of uncertainty, stockpiling and fear. But it was also one of immense kindness and generosity of spirit.

The vast majority of Penarthians came together to support their community in those strange early days. This can certainly be said of Tony and Mary.

Almost as soon as the pandemic struck, Mary began making scrubs to replenish depleted NHS stocks.

Then, in April, she discovered Helping Hands and the activity boxes.

The community group was established on 16 March 2020 to help the town's most vulnerable residents through the then-nascent pandemic.

Led by founders Kathryn and Anthony Easthope and supported by legions of organisers and volunteers, the group delivered necessities to care homes, battled loneliness and even organised PPE for frontline workers.

Noticing that children in particular were suffering from a lack of accessible reading material and games, they also set up a series of activity boxes across town.

The Farmers expressed their interest to Kathryn and set up their own activity bank, initially filled with their own books and some provided by Helping Hands. But, given their central location, it wasn't long before further donations started rolling in.

Neighbours from further and further away started depositing their possessions and a snowball effect commenced.

"The stuff people put in has been amazing," Mary says. "We've had games, DVDs, videos, books, toys, dressing up clothes, household things - at one time we had about seven boxes of things that just appeared."

Whenever there was a lull in donations, Mary would trawl the local environmental page Penarth Reuse for suitable items.

"At times we've had books out back, books in the hall," says Tony. "We've even been to Sully and Dinas Powys to collect items."

Why?

Setting up an activity bank isn't as easy as it looks. Besides taking the boxes in and out every day (and whenever it rains), Tony and Mary disinfect all their donations on a nightly basis in order to limit the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

In what they call a 'before-watching-tele' chore, the couple spend half an hour scrubbing down each item. By our calculations, they must have spent almost 250 hours cleaning donations since the pandemic began.

Nub News asked why the couple have gone through all the bother.

"We just wanted to do our bit," replies Mary. "People will say, 'well what did you do during lockdown?' And we'll be able to say, 'we did the scrubs and then we did the books'."

"We've had comments from people saying that we've been a lifesaver during lockdown," chimes in Tony in the way that only long-term couples do.

"They couldn't get to the library, they couldn't get to the charity shops and they needed reading material."

"I feels good to be a part of it and it gave us a bit of purpose," continues Mary. "But I always tell people that it wasn't our idea, it was Kathryn from Helping Hands who started it."

What next?

The boxes were born out of lockdown.

But although Wales 'stay-at-home' restrictions were lifted five months ago, there is no sign of the boxes becoming a thing of the past.

As recently as March this year, local carpenter Giancarlo Cancelliere provided the activity banks with wooden, waterproof boxes free of charge - a sign of the scheme going from strength to strength.

"I suppose it should stop soon because the charity shops are open, the library's open and we're coming out of lockdown…" says Mary.

"But people won't let us," adds Tony. "Every time the numbers of books run down, more suddenly appear. We've never run out and people keep taking them. There is clearly still a need for it."

For more information on deposit box locations, visit the Helping Hands Facebook page..