Care home residents inundated with letters of support after social media call out following coronavirus visitor ban

Residents at a care home in Buckinghamshire have been inundated with post after a call for messages of support during the coronavirus outbreak got a huge response.

People living at Swarthmore Care Home are no longer allowed to receive visitors due to social distancing measures brought in to protect the vulnerable and elderly.

A return to the traditional way of communicating has helped residents keep in touch with the outside world.

After staff put out a message on social media, residents have received letters and cards from around the world offering them support.

Filming through glass windows and doors so as not to put the residents at risk, ITV News heard how the letters had offered a lifeline to those living inside.

One resident, Peggy Neustaft, said she was "absolutely amazed" by the response.

While Aileen Davis said: "It makes me feel like somebody cares.

"I think that's the important thing.

"I think we need to think that somebody cares".

Letters and cards have come from all over the world with messages of support.

All of the residents at Swarthmore Care Home are between the ages of 76 and 101.

Despite the current pandemic, staff member Claire Allsopp said many of the residents were unfazed: "They've ridden so many waves, over so many generations and decades, that nothing phases these people.

"They've seen it all before, almost.

"They've lived in worse situations."

John Brown is looking for the positives amid the coronavirus outbreak.

A comparison resident John Brown agreed with: "One benefit of coronavirus is that it makes people more conscious of the need to help others.

"It does remind me of the war time."