Helmdon: A Village in Lockdown – The First Devastating Weeks

Diary extracts from Audrey Forgham

These thoughts, written for posterity at the time of the 2020 pandemic, are obviously not typical of the experience of the village as a whole. They are an attempt to show how the village coped from the point of view of a “shielded person”, an “oldie” of 90.

After vague rumours in preceding months, during early March the press and media began to show alarm about some sort of virus, Covid-19, that had originated in the province of Wuhan in China, migrated over Asia and into Europe, and was now threatening our shores. Worries began to escalate during the middle of the month, and I began to have misgivings about a situation which I could hardly comprehend as true. However, I was due for a haircut and something told me to have my hair trimmed very short, I bought a few more groceries than usual and I decided that it was important to get, of all things, a stock of birthday cards. Towards the end of the third week of March there was beginning to be panic and mounting concern about the situation. I saw that shops now sported empty shelves and were running out of goods and there were reports of the hoarding of toilet rolls! Perhaps I would go to the shops over the weekend, but no, I didn’t want anything, and I wouldn’t be someone who panics. Then events escalated …

On Monday morning I thought that I would go to the Buckingham Garden Centre for some bags of Cotswold grit, and although it was but 9.30 a.m. it was full of people wheeling loaded trolleys of plants, with long queues at the tills. It was very unusual to see the place so full at this time in the week and I could not quite believe what was happening. I got home and watched with horror the news on TV that the Covid-19 virus had reached Britain and with it came a set of instant restrictions. Oldies over 70 were told to self-isolate and not to go out of the house and garden in what became known as “lockdown”.

As an older person I was able to exercise once a day outside my home, but not in a park or public garden, both of which were now locked and out of bounds to everyone. The younger over-seventies had a bit more latitude in that they were able to go to the supermarket, suitably masked, but they were told to work at home if they could, and only use their cars for essential purposes. The mantra to everyone was to keep a safe distance of 2 metres from anyone one they came in contact with, and indeed this new phrase “self-distancing” was repeated over and over again, together with strict hygiene rules which were also in place for all the population. Gloves were advised in all public situations and since cardboard and plastic were the serious harbingers of the virus, everything coming to the home in this form had to be sanitized.

This was getting serious. One needed food to live and like many of the oldies in the village how could I get my shopping? I tried to get an internet Tesco shop and failed but then the situation solved itself when Jo Howard over the road called, and said that if I was in trouble she would add me on to her internet shop order. I happily agreed. No-one could really believe what was happening.

When you are old, and I think must now admit to that!, you do not go out as much, so as far as day to day living is concerned the week went on much as usual. There is the house and garden to see to and I edit www.helmdonhistory.com so there is always something to be getting on with on the computer. What did start to happen were more telephone calls and e-mails asking how I was coping, and I called friends and relatives in my turn. Everyone is fearful of the future. My stepdaughter Jill sent me an early birthday present of an iPad, and introduced me to Zoom, and with a Zoom Book Club meeting coming up the following week this could hardly have been better timed.

I live facing what is called the Square at the top of Cross Lane – indeed I am called “the guardian of the Square” (I hope affectionately!) and there has been a significant reduction in cars as workers obey the restrictions and work from home, and an increase in walkers and joggers having their one hour of exercise.

On the wider front it is reported that Boris Johnson, the prime minister, has the virus and is away from work. In addition, Prince Charles has had mild symptoms but is now recovering. Covid-19 has not spared “the great and the good”.

On Thursday we stood at our front doors, or went right out into the Square into the darkness, and clapped the NHS, as the media has urged us to. There is a new spirit of thankfulness for what all carers do. In this pandemic, as well as saving lives of others, many are taking risks with their own lives, not least because of the shortage of masks, gowns and other equipment.

In the village there is help from the parish council, if need be, advertised on noticeboards and on the parish council website. In fact all sorts of information is coming out in the local press and on the web about local and central government initiatives giving information about help and support, which is good, for there is no doubt that some people could be in difficulty.

I see from Helmdon Facebook that the children are being urged to paint NHS rainbows and their efforts are being put on house windows and the parish council notice boards. On Friday I had a little blip in my mood but I was greatly lifted in spirits when Chris and Diane Thorpe knocked at the door with a pack of rock cakes. Diane bakes for the village café and she knew I always chose them when they were on offer there. Such a nice thought and from such nice people.

It is my birthday, and I expected a quiet day – it was anything but. I did not know getting to 90 was such a big deal. Kind neighbours Niki Phillips and the Tunleys both baked me great cakes and I had numerous birthday cards and bunches of flowers. Then mid-morning I was sitting in my lounge with my coffee and I saw Judy Elkington approaching over the Square with a bouquet of flowers, and within minutes neighbours and friends were congregating. I went to the front door and was serenaded with “Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you…”. This was brilliant, and really lifted my spirits at a time when I had had to postpone a big family party. During the day there were many telephone calls, numerous emails, two family Zoom meetings and one Book Club Zoom, and I felt very tired when evening came.

Grave news that on April 7th Boris Johnson went into intensive care. This does not bode well. He has a government to run …

I decided to contact the parish clerk about my shopping buddy. I became aware that Jo Howard, bless her, had taken on too much shopping for other people and had lost her Tesco slot, so I have been put in touch with Laura Whitehouse from further down Cross Lane who has kindly undertaken to get my groceries.

On Friday I realised that David, the Springfields surgery deliveryman, had not come with my prescription so I asked Eileen Graham (who had offered to help if I wanted anything) if she would do this little chore for me, which she willingly did. We clapped for the NHS again on Thursday, and there were more neighbours out in the Square this time.

Helmdon Facebook reports that coloured stones have been placed round the village paths, in nooks and crannies and in the undergrowth, for the children to find. This seems a lovely thing to do and from all the comments they are loving this.

News that the pub has started takeaways on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday evenings, and some breakfasts. Good for Ian and Lisa and I hope that they get good support!

Out of the blue my shopping buddy, now Laura, brought me a Sunday roast, and her children a rainbow card. Much appreciated. It was so good of them.

Good news in that Boris Johnson is out of intensive care but it will be some weeks before he is fit to return to government. Deaths in hospital are staggeringly high and are predicted to increase, and it does not do to dwell too much on this.

It is quite different in the Square. There are very few cars, except for delivery vans, and many more walkers and joggers. I notice that several teenage boys seem very keen to take dogs for a walk all of a sudden – it must get them out of the house.

Helmdon Facebook is a mine of information and for several weeks now Rosie Moffat has been arranging dolls outside her house to amuse the children as they go on their daily walks. Often very amusing, they are the subject of many comments.

April 16th: I’m a bit “down” today. It was alright at the start of all this but I am now missing the little events that punctuated the weeks particularly the café, the Fellowship and WI meetings. Granted we had the Book Group on Zoom but that was not actually seeing people. Yes, I shout pleasantries to neighbours and we email each other, but that is not like sitting down and having a conversation.

However, on Thursday I thought I would cheer myself up by having a take-way fish and chips from the pub and this was delicious, as always. At 8oc we went out and clapped the NHS and on Helmdon Facebook it said that music in Station Road music blared out (I suspect from Bill England’s at the corner of Hintons Close!) which was heard in Church Street. It must be said that the NHS is due lots of praise for the way they are carrying on in the face of continuing tremendous difficulty.

Laura (accompanied by children) brought me a great Sunday roast lunch which was much appreciated. I said that she should not be doing it for me but she insists that she enjoys doing it.

There are DVDs and books for loan in the Reading Room, available the same time as the post office facility on a Tuesday morning. So on Tuesday I thought I would take the car out round the village to make sure the battery was still active and at the same time get a book of stamps. I felt like a criminal as I crept down the road but in the event I saw no cars, only one or two people in the street, and there was no-one in the Reading Room except the postmistress who said that she was missing her usual slice of cake from the village cafe! As well as the books and DVDs there were packets of garden seeds that people found were spare, so I took advantage of this and took some lettuce seeds.

Usual clapping for the NHS on Thursday and I had my usual shouty remarks to the neighbours in The Square, quite prolonged this time. We had a lot to say to each other.

Another Sunday lunch from Laura. Again I said that it was becoming too much of a habit but she insists on doing it and I must say that I find it very enjoyable.

Boris Johnson is back in harness and states that we are coming to the end of the first phase of the stamping out of the virus in Britain but warns that restrictions will stay in place awhile yet. It gives a bit of hope to everyone but there is no doubt that the oldies, and especially the extremely vulnerable oldies, will be in lockup the longest because of their lack of resistance to this awful disease. The phrase comes to mind: “The old have lived a life but still have a life left to live”, and this is so true. We want to make the best of the time we have left and it seems we shan’t be able to, for, it seems at the moment, many weeks if not months. To the young this will be a dreadful memory but they will soon put it behind them and carry on with their lives.

Little Francesca Whitehouse came to the door with her Mum this evening. She had made some Irish stew for the family and wanted to bring me some down in a bowl. How sweet of her; it was much enjoyed.

All the time we have been in lockdown unwanted goods and bric a brac have been offered on Helmdon Facebook, usually free, sometimes at a price, or for charity. Ella, Isabella and Lily from Lukes Close have so far raised £65 by putting bits to sell, with a target of £100, in aid of the NHS.

We had the usual clapping for the NHS and every week it gets louder.

It is the week end. I’m not so up-beat at the moment. I have resigned myself to not going to the café each week, not to go to the regular meetings, the coffee mornings et al, that are normal daily life, but … today! I feel very low. My tooth is aching, my hair is looking appalling, and with a painful knee I can’t get out in the garden for exercise. My mobility is not good and I don’t get out for walks, just exercise by gardening. This is a shame because Helmdon has some lovely walks, presented in leaflets, and for two or three weeks on Helmdon Facebook Phillip Ward has been urging villagers to go on their hour of exercise over the countryside, rather than pound the pavement. To this end he has put up a map showing some examples. I just wish I could still walk that far.

Still not my usual positive self. I woke up with a headache. Everything is getting to me, partly, I think and hope, at this moment because I have no lady coming in to hoover through the house, as she does once a month, and that chore has been on my mind. So perhaps my worry is close to home. We shall see… … All hands to the pump today – I will have to get some of the hated housework done, heavy hoover notwithstanding.

Hintons Close are talking of having a “party” to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War this coming Friday, May 8th. I wonder whether any other parts of the village will celebrate?

Strange to see on Helmdon Facebook that someone is offering to sell face masks in bulk! Oh dear, that is a prospect not worth thinking about.

Another day, the sun is out, I’ve been in the garden, and I am feeling positive again. I also think my spirits have lifted because webmaster Danny Moody and I have managed to get fifteen contributions of reminiscences on www.helmdonhistory.com. The history project we announced three or four weeks ago has been very successful and there are more articles in the pipeline. As we thought, lockdown was an ideal time to ask for these since it gave people something to concentrate upon when they had caught up on household and garden tasks, and were bored with “clearing out”.

It seems that although deaths in care homes have continued to rise, although deaths in the country have reached their peak and are coming down. Given the amount of care that has to be given to the elderly and vulnerable in residential care, I think there should have been very much earlier emphasis given to the provision of masks and testing for the virus in these institutions, but hindsight is a marvellous thing.

Another clap for the NHS this week, more saucepan banging than before and someone is ringing a bell. A NHS flag has gone up on the flagpole at the bottom of Wappenham Road in celebration, replacing the Northamptonshire flag for the time being.

The VE celebrations took place on Saturday May 8th in sunny weather and the village stepped up to the plate. I went to a gathering just down the road, staying an hour or two, but, as I saw from my window (!) , it was a good three hours before the gossiping stopped. There was a lot to say after being in lockdown for so long. Social distancing was maintained at all times!

By all accounts – and from pictures from Helmdon Facebook shown here – there was great celebration round the village too.

The Forgham family had a Zoom quiz this on Saturday. Two teams, one of whom “moos” if he or she thinks they have got an answer right, and the other team “quacks”! I’ve opted out (I’m not so quick on the general know ledge these days) and have been appointed the “official scorer”, for which honour I shall make a pin-on badge.

Caroline King emailed me today, would I like a cake? She was filling in her time baking and would like to find someone else to give a cake to. I accepted gladly and have portioned it for the freezer to eat it up sparingly. I won’t feel so guilty eating it piece by piece! I corresponded with Caroline years ago over the gardening club and we haven’t emailed or seen each other since. I had to get in touch with her over the reminiscences project and lo, we are in touch again.

The pub has continued with its takeaway meals and great they have been for many people. It is to be hoped that Ian and Lisa have had enough business to just jog along through this desperate time for pubs and restaurants – indeed all businesses. You may be sure The Fat Landlord will be well supported again once this is all over

Helmdon Facebook continues to throw up images of walks round Helmdon and there is no doubt that villagers who had never left the village roads for exercise are now learning that there is pleasure to be had in a country walk. I wish I could take advantage of all this. Forgetting the pandemic for a moment, when I came to the village thirty years ago it was difficult to walk far without finding obstacles like locked gates, broken stiles, signs suddenly leaving one floundering as to where to go, but over the years, Mike Barnes, Roger Miles, Phillip Ward and others have made our footpaths accessible and a pleasure to use.

On the national front there is controversy over whether some school children should begin to go back to school in June. As a former teacher I know that this is lost time that may never be recovered, especially at infant level since school does so much in the way of socialising, and I do hope that a way will be found to get them back there soon.

The history website has just had a contribution from Lee Alfandary who has written a poem which succinctly sums up our feelings.

Helmdon 2020

It was early January we first heard
An infectious disease had occurred
We read in the news the virus began
In a region of China called Wuhan

The virus spread across the world
It’s deadly tentacles already unfurled
Our government warned us not to ignore
As the pandemic reached our UK shores

The advice from Boris “stay safe, stay at home”
You may exercise daily not far to roam
And for 20 seconds wash your hands
Not too difficult to understand

In Helmdon we look forward to reopen our school and clubs
The Tuesday cafe, luncheon and of course the pub
As friends and neighbours at last we meet
And together this virus we will defeat.

News at the end of the week that the lockdown measures are going to be relaxed in response to the falling number of deaths and cases. As part of the easing, for instance, the under seventies are now being encouraged to go to work if they cannot possibly do it at home, they can exercise twice a day instead of once and use their car to go somewhere to exercise. Not that this will impinge on my life very much the moment, for the vulerable elderly, and the extremely vulnerable elderly, will have to continue their self-isolation. However, we are going to be allowed to see one friend or one relative in the open air as long as we self-distance. So I am going to welcome David Brookhouse today (he has some fine old photographs of the Bell in the 1960s and 70s, including the Dance Hall) and he is going to dictate his reminiscences to me. Later on Niki Phillips, my neighbour, and I, are going to make our own drinks and self-distance in my garden. I am also going to self-distance with Denise Powell who is going to contribute reminiscences of the Millennium party in Cross lane. Three diary dates for a change!

A group of teachers from Helmdon Primary School have recorded a version of a High School musical hit. They donned fancy dress costumes and sang their hearts out to “We’re All in his Together” to send a powerful message to their students. The four minute video was the brainchild of Year 5 teacher Mrs Harvey and teaching assistant Mrs Leitelmayer. A stirring rendition, the piece was sent out to all students since the school is only open for a small group of children of key workers.

A little more relief in that the R rate, the rate of infection, is below 1, which is what the scientists were striving for, and the lockdown restrictions are easing for the majority of the population. People can spend time outdoors in groups of six, for instance (whilst still self- distancing), visit garden centres, car showrooms and outdoor markets, and send children of some age groups to school. Not so much luck for me yet and my contemporaries and the rest of the oldies, and certainly not for the vulnerable oldies, but I can social-distance with a group of 6 now in the open air, and there are various other concessions.

The NHS clapping ended last week. Just at the right time, I think, before the event loses its enthusiasm.

Also ended are Rosie Moffat’s humorous settings of a group of dolls outside her home in Church Street. I have not been there to see them but she has put out a scene every day for many weeks of the lockdown to the amusement of walkers and her neighbours. Her efforts were widely appreciated as shown by the number of comments on Hemdon Facebook. For instance:

“Rosie thank you so much, you have made Steve and I laugh out loud many times over breakfast…… The bears, Dolly and Tony have been a welcome relief and will definitely figure in my Coronavirus memories.”

“Thank you Rosie for all your effort and imagination! You really have brought some cheer at a strange time. We will really miss them. I have always looked forward to seeing what they are up to each morning. I don’t think we have ever met but I have loved sharing all of the adventures of Tony, Dolly and friends. Thank you for daily lockdown smiles…the team will be sadly missed xx”

And I thought Rosie’s reply to all those who had thanked her for her efforts so very true –

It has been announced that masks are to be worn on public transport and I hope that it will be followed by instructions to use them in shops and in other situations. I don’t think we are out of the woods yet, and it is to be regretted that in the wider world people are taking liberties and not respecting self distancing rules.

The primary school is now open to reception and years 1 and 6, as well as a small group of children of key workers from all age groups, with strict hygiene measures and self-distancing in place.

Children self-distancing in the playing field…

…and in The Learning
Lodge.

Another telephone call today, asking if I am alright, from the Volunteer car bureau which I use from time to time, and Dennis, a volunteer driver who has taken me to the dentist in Buckingham for many years, also contacted me. The doctor’s surgery has also phoned twice. People have been so kind and caring all through this bizarre time. Nationally shops will now open (but not restaurants or bars) still with strict self-distancing rules of 2 metres apart. Oldies over 70, although not the extremely vulnerable, will be allowed to “bubble” with one couple and even stay the night. Gradually restrictions are lifting but they will come back, no doubt, if people flout them and there is a risk of the pandemic returning.

All our Benefice Churches are now open for Private Prayer only
Helmdon: Sundays 10am – 12 noon and Wednesdays 12 noon – 2pm
All other churches: Sundays 10am – 12 noon
(Please make sure that you observe all social distancing and sanitizing instructions)

My grandson and his wife visited me yesterday. We self-distanced in the garden, and had a good catch-up of news, and today I self-distanced again with my neighbour.

So, people are beginning to circulate again. Non-essential shops are beginning to open, churches are opening (albeit only for private prayer), and more children are back at school. There is still a long way to go (when oh when will my hairdresser return to cut my hair!) but gradually services are starting to open up again, pubs and restaurants will soon re-open and holidays dreamed of become a reality.

Thus, I feel it is time to end this pandemic diary. However, before I do so I must emphasise that this is my experience and mine alone. I realise that to start with I am in a caring village with caring neighbours and have a positive outlook, and so I have been very fortunate. There are many elderly people who have had a difficult time, who perhaps have not been able to have their carers, could have been in trouble with their shopping, not have gardens to go out in, or maybe are not connected to the internet to keep in touch with family, and so, all in all, have felt lonely, neglected or abandoned.

We are all coming on to a new phase in our lives. The new normal might not be the same as the old but in spite of all the worry, the fear for the future (if not for ourselves, for our families), I think Covid-19 may have been the catalyst for change. There have been positives; the community has come together more strongly. There is no doubt that after all this is over Helmdon villagers will know their neighbours better through helping them out, writing about problems and triumphs on Facebook, whilst offering goods and services to make the lockdown more comfortable, and they will hopefully appreciate the walks in the countryside that they hadn’t ever explored before. In short, I think village life will be fuller, better, and above all, more appreciated, and although we mourn the many deaths in the British Isles as a whole, something good will have come out of the utter disaster of this devastating coronavirus outbreak.

Audrey Forgham
June 2020