“...as a village we are fantastic at looking out for each other...”
COVID-19.
We watched as it approached. News from abroad. The devastation in Italian hospitals on our screens.
The first confirmed cases in the U.K. of "Corona", as we first called it, came on January 31st, in people who had travelled back from Europe. Our first confirmed home-grown case, with no connection to foreign travel, came one month later, on February 29th. Our first U.K. death came just five days after that, and the third three days later. There was an acceleration, and new cases rose exponentially. On March 12th our first line of resistance, Public Health England, threw up its hands - its capacity for tracing contacts of the disease, for tracing sources and isolating those who might have been infected by them - had been overwhelmed. We moved from trying to contain COVID-19, to delaying the inevitable.
March 16th: Lockdown Lite announced. From the evening of March 20th cafés, pubs and restaurants - indoor venues where the infection could readily spread - were ordered to close, except for takeaways (Wormington's own takeaways came later!). Quickly followed by other indoor places of gathering and mingling - nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms, leisure centres.
"Stay at Home"
March 23rd: Lockdown Heavy announced. With legal effect from March 26th, we were ordered as a nation to stay at home. We were allowed outside the home for one form of exercise daily, to travel to and from work if and only when absolutely necessary, to shop for basic necessities, and to seek medical care. There was no leeway and no end of the tunnel. There was no cure for what was coming. We were on our own, together.
And what happened in Wormington?
More than we can or will say here, and if you have memories and images, please share them:
But let's have a go.
March 18th. With prescience, the Wormington Village Society, at the suggestion of Sarah Hughes, agrees to create a Wormington Village Facebook Page. It goes live on March 18th.
"A brilliant idea to help people share ideas, services, events, concerns, items for sale etc. If you search for "Wormington Village" under Groups and join we can all keep in touch."
And gave a sense of light at the end of the tunnel.
Wormington Village Society flyer, circa March 25-26, 2020. All except the Easter Egg Hunt were cancelled.
March 23rd. "Stay at Home" Lockdown announced. As road and air traffic disappear, the background of everyday silence is profound. It is like going back to an earlier time. [for sounds of the pandemic, click here]
c. March 24th. In-person services in St. Katharine's Church are suspended. They will resume on Zoom. [for St. Katharine's in the pandemic, click here]
March 26th. Wormington joins the national "Clap for Carers". Who will turn out? They continue each Thursday evening for 10 weeks. [for sounds of the pandemic, click here]
April in Lockdown. "This past month", the Vicar Revd. Julia Hook writes in the May Parish Bulletin, "has been, in a word, unprecedented...Our news programmes are full of statistics of illnesses and lives lost..."
A list of volunteers to go shopping for the more vulnerable in the village is prepared and distributed. It is so quiet, without traffic, and there are so many Villagers regularly walking and meeting (with social distancing) on the roads and footpaths. There is almost a pilgrimage to meet a robin up by the College Farm road who will come to your hand and eat from it.
Joe Wicks was a staple for many for daily exercise.
April 11. Easter Egg Hunt around the village organised by the Wormington Village Society.
May 10th. The government changes its slogan from "Stay at Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives" to "Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Save Lives". On May 13th restrictions on outdoor exercise and recreation are relaxed (within limits), and some non-essential businesses are allowed to re-open. Relaxing restrictions on exercise and recreation make a difference in Wormington, wIth its footpaths, surrounding fields, and easy access from nearby towns.
May 16th. The litterpickers pick again, to a different world. [for litterpicking and the pandemic, click here]
May 28th. The Final Clap for Carers (But the Bell for Heroes will be rung in the New Year)
May 31st. Sammy the Snake appears on the Village Green, and appeals for help to grow. [for Sammy the Snake, click here]
May? or June: Limited re-opening of the church: The parish bulletin notes that St. Katharine's "is now open during the day for private prayer".
July. Wormington's postbox becomes one of 30,000 nationwide designated as a Priority Letterbox, especially selected to post completed COVID testing kits to the lab. They were to be rolled out by July 3rd, the date this photograph was taken.
July 19th: The first face-to-face service since the start of Lockdown is held in St. Katharine's. It is a Book of Common Prayer Communion, with face masks and social distancing. From August there are two services a month, one morning and one evening.
September 25th: Andy's job is to drive around the country in his specially adapted, self-sufficient, off-the grid retired Belgian military ambulance, to refurbish and repaint the 1,000 or so red mailboxes that BT still maintains. He is the only person in the country who does this. After spending the night parked on the road he sets to work, and leaves our phonebox beautifully red.
October 16th: The very first monthly Wormington Takeaway - beautifully prepared food delivered to your door, with proceeds in alternate months to the Parochial Church Council for St. Katharine's Church, and to the Wormington Village Society (with a special edition for Red Nose Day). [for the Wormington Takeway, click here]
November 5th: A second national lockdown begins. Scheduled to last four weeks, it ends on December 2nd, the day the new Pfizer vaccination is approved. It is the first of the vaccines to be approved.
December 8th: 90 year old Margaret Keenan becomes the first person to be vaccinated in the U.K. outside a clinical trial. The national vaccination campaign begins. It goes in stages, and starts with people 80 and above, and older care home residents and their carers.
2021
January 10th: Seven Wormington villagers have been vaccinated. [for the Wormington vaccination thermometer, click here]
January 18th: Everyone over 70, and clinically extremely vulnerable people become eligible for vaccination. The age of eligibility continues to fall.
January 4th: National Lockdown Number Three is announced.
January 14th, Thursday, 8pm: The church bell is rung for heroes for the first time. It continues to be rung each Thursday until February 25th.[for sounds of the pandemic, click here]
March 20th: 50% of Wormington's population has been vaccinated. One can feel a light at the end of the tunnel.
April 3rd, Easter Saturday: The village is again treated (and treats itself again) to an Easter Egg Hunt around the village.
May 15th: There are 94 adults and 16 children in Wormington. Not everyone will be vaccinated in the end, because not everyone in Wormington believes in it; but most do, and as the roll-out continues down the ages, by the middle of May 79% of the adult population has received their vaccinations. One can feel something lifting.
July 3rd. The light is visible but we're still in the tunnel. The Wormington Village Society postpones the village 'Fun Day with Boules and BBQ' until all the restrictions are lifted.
July 19th. The last COVID restrictions are lifted in England. Life returns to
SPECIAL PAGES:
St. Katharine's in the Pandemic
Made in Wormington: Sewing for neighbours and the nation
Pandemic and Food: The PCC-WVS Takeaways
Litterpicking and The Pandemic
Coming out of the Pandemic: The Vaccine Thermometer
April 26, 2021