IN March 2020, the hysteria caused by the first lockdown saw panicked shoppers buying up toilet roll in bulk from shops fearful of when they might see daylight again.

When Peter Dutch decided to make a Facebook group based on the topical situation, he didn’t realise what a long and significant impact he would have on his community.

From helping with deliveries, supporting bereaved residents, fundraising and more, the Anti Loo Roll Brigade, which is now 11,000 members strong, has done a monumental amount of work – and they will still be going during this year and beyond.

Peter, 50, who lives in Colchester, said: “The page was just set up, hence the silly name, as a response to me seeing idiots fighting over toilet rolls. It was just a knee-jerk reaction.

“So I set it up, thought we might to a bit of shopping for some little old ladies but it just grew enormously.”

The intention was to create a support network for elderly and vulnerable people isolating during the first lockdown. But Peter had touched a nerve and the group attracted almost 5,000 members in a week.

“During the first days, we were inundated with requests from panicking people who could not get their prescriptions, food or certain items. But then it just kept growing,” he said.

During the on-going restrictions, the group has helped with so many acts of kindness, supporting some of the most vulnerable residents.

Amongst its many achievements have been donating pampering products to Corner House care home in Clacton, organising a donation drive for a family who were made homeless by a fire and helping line the streets with hundreds of residents for the funeral of Fred Boomer-Hawkins, a Chelsea Pensioner who died after contracting coronavirus.

They also worked with St Helena Hospice on a campaign which supplied 15,000 masks to the hospice’s care network during the PPE crisis.

Peter said: “We’ve got so big now when people phone social services, they direct them to us.

“We have so many projects going on, it’s incredible to see the work we’re doing.

“One of the great things about it is the page has become a platform for facilitating kindness.

“It’s become a place where support workers and charities now have access to a big community for all these services.

“Everybody’s now talking to each other and there is certainly a lot more awareness of all these great people who were doing stuff before Covid and will be doing it long after.

“It’s become a wonderful place for people to seek help when they need it.

“It’s all been such a whirlwind, my feet haven’t really touched the ground. I don’t get too much time to dwell on it. But I do have few moments where I sit back and think ‘Wow, I’m so proud’.”

During the middle of the year, when restrictions eased, Peter was torn between going back to his old job as a scaffolder and keeping on with this project.

Not wanting the page to turn into another place where people post memes, he then decided to take the project on full-time and the group was registered as a fully-fledged community interest company meaning any profits it makes will be reinvested back into Colchester.

He added: “To be honest, while it’s been a torrid time for a lot of people, to a large extend a lot of faith in humanity has been restored.

“It proved to me 95 per cent of people are really nice. There’s just a basic need for people to get along and to help each other.

“Fact of the matter is, most people are quite happy to help each other and they’re not worried about skin colour, religion or social status.

“We don’t hear enough about the positive stuff with people helping each other out. There has just not been a platform for people to really be kind on.

“People are relishing it. I think, during the first lockdown, people’s help became a coping mechanism for them.

“It’s a snowball effect where the more kindness is being done, the more people want to get involved.”

And as 2021 starts as badly as 2020 ended, one of the group’s goals is to help obscure and underfunded projects in the community.

Peter confirmed they were not going to stop the brilliant work any time soon.

“We intend to grow and grow. None of this was planned but what we managed to find an area which was massively left out.

“This is for people who have slipped through the net and haven’t got anyone to turn to. Even when we come out of lockdown, things are going to be tight for quite a while so we’re here for the long run.”

Despite the name, Peter has only fulfilled a request for toilet roll once during the whole year.

“It happened after I went on BBC Essex and an old boy called up,” he laughed.

“I wanted to say it’s not necessarily what we do but I got him the loo roll anyway.

“It can only be a good thing.”