THE Prime Minister has awarded a man from Carlisle with a national award in recognition of the thousands of people he has helped throughout the pandemic.

Richard Francis has been awarded the Point of Light award for his work in setting up the Leave a Light On (LALO) community group.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Richard and the LALO team have helped more than 2,000 people in a range of different ways.

In a letter to Richard, Boris Johnson wrote: “I am lost in admiration for remarkable people like yourself who freely give up your time to improve the lives of others.

“By setting up Leave A Light On, you have brightened thousands of people’s days during their darkest hours.

“Your work to bring together teachers, counsellors and finance professionals to support the Cumbrian community with advice and grocery essentials is remarkable.

“Also, your work to improve the homes of those returning from hospital shows how small acts of kindness have a huge impact on people’s lives.”

The news that he was to be awarded the nomination was unexpected, but the community was in agreement that it was well deserved.

Richard and a team of volunteers have redecorated houses, provided people with furniture, recognised incredible people who are supporting friends and family, among other things.

“It’s completely unexpected but I’m just very proud of the project and the support that it has been able to generate and everyone that has backed it from pretty much day one,” said Richard.

“We’re now almost up to 100 days, it’s definitely been the community that has inspired us along the way even throughout those tired and exhausted moments. We have definitely been able to keep going based on that.”

As the group approaches the 100-day mark, it is looking to the future and the long term plans to continue helping the community beyond the pandemic.

“We are dropping the ‘coronavirus’ in our title, we’re simply going to be LALO community support group,” he said.

“We’re restructuring as it is looking on a semi-permanent basis to being able to offer community support throughout Cumbria for the foreseeable if not long term.”