ELDERLY residents in a North-East village have had afternoon teas delivered to their homes as a lockdown treat.

Hurworth-on-Tees, near Darlington, became 'Hurworth-on-Teas' for the day as 44 pensioners enjoyed home-made jam, lemon curd, scones, shortbread, flapjacks, cupcakes, sandwiches, and pots of tea thanks to big-hearted villagers.

Pupils from Hurworth Primary School also made cards and painted pictures to send with the afternoon teas.

The recipients included Hurworth’s oldest resident, 95-year-old Margaret Turner, who was also presented with a bouquet by floristry business, Nattrass, which is based in the village.

Molly Ingham, who will be 99 in November, also had an afternoon tea delivered to her home in neighbouring Croft-on-Tees.

Margaret’s daughter, Maureen, said: “She got dressed up and put her lipstick on for the occasion and it really made her day. The afternoon tea was beautiful, and the flowers were gorgeous. It was such a lovely thing for the village to do.”

Margaret added: “I loved it all – it was a lovely surprise.”

Molly’s grand-daughter, Aylsa Nugent, who lives in Hurworth and helped deliver the afternoon teas, said: “It was unbelievable – I was blown away by it all. People were really taken aback by the generosity and kindness, and my Nan absolutely loved it.”

Aylsa paid tribute to Hurworth resident Liv Baker, who has been the driving force behind a host of community projects in the village since lockdown began.

“Liv deserves so much credit because I’ve no doubt people would have been a lot worse off without her efforts,” said Aylsa.

Liv said: “Even though we are gradually moving back towards some kind of normality, we still wanted to remind people that we are there, so we racked our brains, and thought it would be a nice idea to deliver afternoon teas to the elderly residents.

“It was actually quite emotional when the teas were being delivered and it was lovely to see how happy it made people.”