Ashfield Independent councillor Dale Grounds, who volunteered for the NHS as Spiderman before the coronavirus pandemic, visiting children’s wards at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, to take children’s minds off serious health conditions, is among the volunteers at the Covid-19 vaccination centre at Kirkby Health Village.

“When the clarion call came out for volunteers for the vaccination programme, I thought why not. I’m an NHS volunteer anyway. I wanted to do everything I can to help beat this dreadful pandemic. It’s great to help out residents, many of them I represent on the council feel that little bit safer. It’s a great way of continuing to give back to my community – it’s just a different age range.”

Before the pandemic, in his spare time Coun Grounds volunteered as Spiderman at the QMC, Nottingham after seeing his son Reece’s reaction to him dressing up as his favourite superhero.

Reece has autism and Dale noticed dressing up as Spiderman helped his son and changed his behaviour. He decided to roll this out and is a popular character at the Nottingham hospital.

Coun Jason Zadrozny, leader of Ashfield District Council, said: “Talk about going from one superhero to another. Dale is a tremendous ambassador for our council. It’s great to see him volunteering at our vaccination centre.

“He is a popular figure across Kirkby and our elderly residents are delighted to see him when they arrive for the vaccine. It helps put them at ease.”