A TEENAGER is dedicating his spare time to helping people in need in his local community.

Rory Watt, 16, who goes to St Peter’s School in York, has launched a soup run for the over 60s in Husthwaite, who have been advised to self-isolate due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The service also offers a point of contact for residents who live alone with no family to check on them.

Now he delivers soup to the villagers twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays, using a delivery vehicle fashioned out of a golf trolley and two folding plastic crates, and has 15 customers so far.

Rory first launched a soup run back in 2018 as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award. Rory’s original recipes were inspired by a cookbook but now he makes soup using whatever he can buy from the supermarket.

A local Tesco store also donated £180 worth of flowers free of charge to Rory, after he explained the purpose of the soup run when trying to purchase the large quantity of vegetables required to make the soup. Rory has since distributed the flowers to older and more vulnerable people in the village, along with his portions of soup.

Rory said: “As I have until June (at the very least) to occupy myself, I thought I might as well do something meaningful with my time. I believe I have helped the local community a great deal and you don’t have to take my word for it, ask any of my satisfied customers! Ideally I would like to help more people but I simply don’t have enough containers”.

Jeremy Walker, head teacher at St Peter’s School, said: “This is a fantastic initiative and I applaud Rory’s sense of community spirit at this difficult time. It is great to see the support from Tesco and I know how much Rory’s neighbours will appreciate his hard work and dedication.”

Rory is currently studying for A-levels in geography, politics, maths and biology and hopes to go to university in 2021.