26.05.20 Newsletter no.9

Lissenden Gardens – let’s give it up one last time for our NHS and front-line workers!  We can end our Clap for Carers this Thursday with some thunderous noise

In line with communities across the country we’ll be pausing our organised ‘Clap for Carers’ after this Thursday, so we’re asking you to help us round off our show of support with some amazing Lissenden clapping and cheering. 

Our balconies have been bursting with applause since we first started our Clap for Carers on the 26thMarch. Do you remember those pitch-black nights when it seemed every household across the street was silhouetted, clapping and cheering our NHS heroes? 

Building our community spirit 

While many communities across the country have been unable to maintain their Thursday applause, Lissenden Gardens has kept it going magnificently with the support of music and singing. Healthcare workers on the estate have described it as ‘beautiful’, ‘full of love’ and ‘sensational’, and it’s become a weekly focal point for many of us. 

The UK’s Clap for Carers founder, Annemarie Plas, last week suggested that it would be ‘beautiful’ to end the Clap for Carers after its 10th week and make it an annual event. She said the public had ‘shown our appreciation’ and it was now up to Ministers to ‘reward key workers and give them the respect they deserve’. 

Having sought advice from all residential blocks in Lissenden Gardens, we are, in line with most of the country, going to end the formal organising of the Clap for Carers after this Thursday. We’re also going to pause the weekly musical support (see the following story). As individuals we can all, of course, continue to stand on our balconies and clap.

The feeling was that we should pause our Clap for Carers when it’s on a high, because we don’t know if we’ll be back in the same situation soon, with healthcare workers and front-line staff again needing our support if there is a second Covid-19 spike. Also, it was felt it would be safer to end music on the streets before the movement of cars returns to pre-coronavirus levels . It doesn’t mean that we’ve stopped supporting our NHS and front-line workers, and it doesn’t mean that we love them any less. So our message is:

Please try your best to be on your balconies on Thursday at 8pm

There will be extra music and some words of appreciation from front-line staff who live on our estate. And we’ll be walking round singing and playing after the Clap for Carers, so please be patient, don’t come down to the street, we’ll get round to you soon.

And can you film each other?

To capture the best of our final Clap for Carers, it would be great if you would film 10-second videos of people clapping on the opposite balconies to you or responding to the music. Our resident director, Paul Mitchell, will put together a small video if there are enough clips. Please send your short videos by email to pmitchell26@googlemail.com

The Bear necessities

We hope that the mystery bears will present prizes to the winners of the story-writing competition on Thursday immediately after the Clap for Carers.

The music continues

The demand for back garden concerts during the Coronavirus crisis has continued. Last Sunday Lissenden musicians played a concert at the back of Haddo House, the large white block of flats next to the traffic lights. The concert celebrated the victory of Haddo House tenants, supported by Lissenden Gardens Tenants’ Association, in defeating plans to construct 5G telecom masts on the top of their council building. One of the Haddo House organisers said the concert was ‘lovely, uplifting and perfect’.  

If you’d like a back-garden concert, contact Frank on 07757 706419.

How do we protect ourselves during the easing of Coronavirus restrictions?

As this newsletter was being printed, the government was still planning to re-open schools in England, to open non-essential shops and to further relax restrictions imposed to combat the spread of Coronavirus.  

This suggests that the next few weeks could be crucial in determining whether or not the number of people infected by Covid-19 continues to fall or starts to rise again. 

Please continue to observe strict social distancing when you encounter anyone outside your own household, and please continue to clean the bannisters, door-handles and letterboxes. If you are doing this already, you are providing an indispensable service to our community.

The Government has recommended wearing face masks in enclosed spaces such as shops or busses. Over the next few days we will be looking at how we might be able to make face masks more easily available for those of us living on the estate.

Please remember to:

·      Stay two metres away from other people if you have to go out.

·      Wash your hands for 20 seconds regularly during the day.

·      Try not to touch your face.

·      Wear a face mask if you are in an enclosed space.

Would you prefer to get this newsletter electronically?

We’re going to continue to post the newsletter through people’s doors, but if you’d prefer to get it electronically, email: newsletter.lgta@gmail.com

Thanks to Nicky for printing the newsletter.

Thanks to Sophie for making the brilliant flags we use to maintain social distancing on the musicians’ promenade.

If you have any suggestions for the next newsletter, contact Frank: 07757 706419.