It was interesting to get a lovely email from Mary Archer, a resident in Lords Bridge Court. She had just enjoyed reading the May Shepperton Matters online and wanted to tell me a little about how life under lockdown was for her.
“Since lock down began we have not been able to socialise at all and mostly stick to our flats except when we go on an exciting trip to take the rubbish to the refuse room.
Brigitte, our manager and Pat our volunteer organised a fish and chip supper all delivered to our front doors by two masked, gloved and aproned waitresses. Then we had our usual 3 monthly quiz. Quiz sheets were put through letter boxes and we had until the next day to hand them in. After that the meal of jacket potato, various toppings and salad arrived with a ring on the doorbell and in boxes placed on the floor outside.
The following week we had a puzzle with cake and coffee or tea presented in the same way. How creative of those two wonderful people! “Shielding is difficult but we are managing our daily walks around the two gardens. The atmosphere within the flats is still cheerful and mostly upbeat, after all our mothers had far more to cope with during the war. At least we have food and there are no bombs falling on us. In many ways we have a lot to be grateful for.
Lords Bridge Court went to a great effort to mark VE Day’s 75th anniversary. “We had our coffee morning delivered to our door by Brigitte our manager and Pat our volunteer. They arrived at 10.15 and sang “We’ll meet again” which we joined in with. There was a display in the foyer complete with cut out Queen and many contributions from residents on display too. VE Day was of course marked with a Bank Holiday this year and therefore a day off for manager Brigitte, so residents felt very lucky. Lords Bridge Court is a block of retirement flats and NOT a care home as some people in Shepperton seem to think so Brigitte and volunteers went beyond the call of duty. She is a sociable person who goes out of her way to put on entertainment, quizzes and so on to keep residents in good spirits.
Residents observed the two minutes silence at 11am then later join in the singing on TV.
Many of my friends are widows living alone in their family home which makes the lockdown difficult. So we do appreciate our situation”.
If you want to share your lockdown world please email monica@villagematters.co.uk.