It’s been a while since I last updated the blog. Just over a year in fact. Having been inundated by a single request from my readership, I am again putting fingers to keyboard to share the inside story of Parish life. Lockdown has brought changes for us all and the green shoots of normality have started to return in some aspects of life, whilst others feel like they have changed forever. The next few posts will reflect on some of more notable impacts of Covid-19 across the Parish, moving to more recent events as the winter months approach.

As the rolling news coverage intensified and the daily Covid briefings started to punctuate the days and weeks, it all started to feel a bit ‘other Worldly’. Something serious was clearly happening but other than the reducing traffic levels through the village it was difficult to identify any tangible impacts in the early days of March 2020. A small group of us had gathered to commission the new defibrillator on the wall of the local pub and were reflecting on the worrying signs coming out of Italy, where the pandemic was really taking hold. Little did we know that in just a few days, and for months to follow, concepts such as ‘gatherings’ and ‘pub’ would never be taken for granted again.
The announcement eventually came that the local was to close the following weekend and so a dedicated few of us made a critical final contribution to this economic cornerstone of the village by gathering, suitably distanced, for a few jars. Conversation had become fairly template by now; working from home arrangements, the fledgling concept of Furlough, and how ridiculous the panic buying of toilet roll had become. Clinging on to those last few moments of directionless pub conversation, it must have been 2 hours past closing time when the dedicated few finally returned home.
Home – a place I would not leave (other than for 1-hour of daily exercise, essential shopping and medical appointments) for two months. Me, the wife, the dogs and the cat about to embark on a journey into the unknown – primarily characterised by not going anywhere. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was about to be updated to include Zoom, Netflix and Laithwaites. The good news was that we had secured some Tescos delivery slots to cover the next few weeks and there was plenty of toilet roll in.