COVID-19 and Lockdown – one year on – March 2021

January 2020 saw the ‘real’ start of COVID-19.

Wuhan, a Chinese city of 11m people, was sealed off marking the beginning of what we know now as a ‘lockdown’.

Not a Cornish, UK or wider heart or mind has escaped being touched since that news broke and the world went into shock. First condemnation, then realisation, response, redress and now, hopefully, rebalancing.

So many things that were ‘new’ then and in the rapid spread and rising further strains are now ‘normal’. Not in the true sense of the word ‘normal’ since it is far from it.

Things remain unusual and unexpected and that is what today’s normal looks and feels like.

For Cornwall, COVID-19 took hold from March 23. Unprecedented, never known or done before things have happened with the exception of our community spirit which has, as it has in the past, risen to the challenge.

It is an indomitable human experience of people brought together for a common cause, literally fighting for life. It has made ordinary extraordinary, it has demonstrated the best of people and amplified how precious life is.

Life before lockdown and the global pandemic will always be known in that context, much like conflict and prior historic global events. Today, tomorrow mark the start of new different, a new normal.

Your stories really matter and sharing is an experience we have all become used to. It is a shared cause and by working together we have started to move in the right direction.

In any changing environment there are snags, bumps in the road, paths to choose and storms to ride out but in our small Cornish communities the tremendous sense of localness and community has shone a bright light throughout an otherwise dark period in our history.

There have been numerous stories of help, of hope, of understanding and tolerance.

For those on the front line aiding the stricken and fighting the virus first-hand we salute you. For those unsung heroes battling away unrecognised we salute you. For those who have kept going at work, at home and in education we salute you. And for all those who have passed we mourn, as a community, as one.

Now we are calling on you, our readers, to have your voice. Tell us your stories and share your year with others.

Set aside all opinion and comment and help the Cornish and Devon Post mark ‘one year on’ with an historic look-back at the last 12 months in your community and the wider county of Cornwall.

Never give up profoundly resonates at Tindle Newspapers.

We have been proud to continue publishing through the COVID crisis and, despite some very difficult trading conditions and decisions, we remain resolute in providing the best local news service.

Compromises, change and challenges remain ahead. Meantime, what has life in lockdown been like for you… this is your chance to express yourself and share the experience.

So send us your…. Thoughts, pictures, photos, montages, bad haircut snap, poems, prose, drawings, paintings, witty ditty, song lyric, one-liner, one-word summary! – share whatever you like however you like (so long as it’s publishable within normal Editorial guidelines, all your own work and copyright free)

Send to [email protected]">[email protected], put ’Life In Lockdown’ in the subject line and add your full name to your email.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Simon Dixon-Phillip

Publisher, Tindle Newspapers West Country and Cornwall