Tower and Town, June 2020

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Lockdown Scrapbook - Our Community's Positive Response

Rainbows
For many the rainbow is a sign of hope - of sunshine through the rain as the storm passes. In the Christian world God put a rainbow in the sky after he had sent the flood as his promise that he would never again destroy the earth. My favourite story is from the Chinese for whom the rainbow represents a slit in the sky which was sealed by the goddess Nuwa using stones of the seven different colours. All around Marlborough we see images of rainbows - many in windows, and many more painted on stones lining the route of one of our favourite walks.

Plus ca change.....
If it's of any comfort, it's not the first time lockdown has happened, as Hilary Mantel noted in "The Mirror and the Light" on the birth of the future Edward VI:

“Now all the lords of the kingdom gallop to share the glory. They head to Hampton Court for the christening, but they must leave their retainers at home. The plague is in Kingston and Windsor. Movements are restricted. Strangers are barred. Delivery men must quit the precincts as soon as they have dropped off their loads, and the royal nursery be scrubbed out twice a day.”

And Samuel Pepys writing in his diary in 1664 noted something that might sound familiar:

“On hearing ill rumour that Londoners may soon be urged into their lodgings by Her Majesty’s men, I looked upon the street to see a gaggle of striplings making fair merry, and no doubt spreading the plague well about. Not a care had those rogues for the health of their elders!”

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Good Neighbours
We're so much more thankful for simple pleasures, like a bag of flour, than in 'normal' times. A friend from church left a bag of flour on our doorstep. Another family took a bag of flour with them on their cycle ride up the old railway line, to give to a family in Ogbourne St George.  Some of us round here have developed a good habit of exchanging food. For example one neighbour who is still shopping in Waitrose often finds interesting bargains, particularly fish and meat, and I might find smoked trout on my doorstep, or a joint of beef under our adjoining beech hedge. The same neighbour also arrives with bundles of rhubarb, leeks, or lettuce from her garden. * * * * * * * * * * * * I was confined to barracks about two weeks before the lockdown, and, dismal though it is, I have also experienced the most wonderful kindness during this period. One kind neighbour shops for me twice a week; another checks on me every morning and each evening, and that all is well with me.  And my medication is delivered each month. Yes I hate the lockdown - or at least the reason for it - but I am staggered at people's kindness and concern.  Thank you one and all!

The wonderful world around us Home Thoughts from Abroad 2020 - with apologies to Robert Browning

Oh to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees lockdown everywhere
They stay at home in silent towns
While nature romps o’er dales and downs
And birds still sing on orchard bough
In England - now!

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My visits into Marlborough now are restricted to a once-a-week outing to shop. Starting out soon after 7 is the most peaceful time of the morning, little traffic and great birdsong. Such enjoyment derived from this sortie through the Forest, with the windows open, and the fresh air in my face. Before lockdown who would have believed that this short journey could have given me so much pleasure, that I do not want it to end? Until next week….!

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There is a noticeable difference each week in the flora, with early Spring becoming early Summer. In the first week, the trees were bare; another, there’s a hint of early leaf; now, a verdant hue, leaves in tight bud. After the cold and wind of March, now April has arrived, and the warmth of the sun has caused the wild cherry to bloom - the trees in their own time are bursting forth, and latterly, the horse chestnuts are in full-leaf and now, with blossom.

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How blessed we are here in Marlborough, surrounded by beautiful scenery in every direction! From early morning walks on The Common to afternoons wandering along the River Kennet, or up in the forest, the variety, peace, birdsong and luscious greenery has been stunning. Then back home to sit in the garden reading a good book in the sunshine.

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"Blue skies, smiling at me, Nothing but blue skies do I see." Irving Berlin had it right, particularly in Wiltshire, for we have lived under blue skies for almost two months since lockdown started. Is this pure coincidence due to unusual seasonal weather, a blessing of the Lord to help us through, or could it be a direct result of lockdown? The photograph shows high clouds, generated by an aircraft flying across the wind (mid left to mid bottom) its polluting condensation trail teased out sideways. Imagine if the usual procession of aircraft had flown across - there would be little, if any, blue to see. I'm sure those of us who 'played out' in the '50s will recall those blue summer days, now so rare. Maybe this wonderful blue is not God's blessing but his wake up call to stop us polluting our atmosphere.

Lots of positives

Yes, we have found several advantages: clear skies and no aeroplanes - peaceful! Being able to run straight across the road (with only the swiftest of checks); more friendly smiles, nods and waves when out for my exercise runs; making a new sawing bench - been meaning to do this for years! The garden has been cleared out and the worms on the compost heap think it’s Christmas!

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I have been baking more than usual and like to share my offerings locally where practical! My garden has never been so lovingly tended and vegetables all planted in anticipation of a bumper harvest. I have managed to keep up my yoga practice (perhaps not quite daily) but regrettably cannot remember the sequence of Tai Chi moves so look forward to resuming.

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Lockdown has pushed many of us technophobes to discover that we can do more and get such pleasure from ‘new to us’ technology, and in particular face time and zoom. We have Sunday night gatherings with our children and grandchildren; we join the Quakers on Sunday mornings; we chat and share thoughts with our regular social groups such as our book club; we join classes, we do quizzes and play games.

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Our new next door neighbours put on a VE party yesterday outside their house - all at a safe distance of course! The wonderful thing was meeting people we had never met before, even though they only lived two or three houses away. It was great fun getting to know each other and enjoying each other's company. It certainly felt that in this wretched virus, we are all in it together.

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The Limerick Lady of Beckhampton

..... "on March 13th she started writing a daily limerick detailing various aspects of Covid-19 as they unfolded. Like Captain Tom she won’t give up until it’s all over" - all can be found on Twitter (and the Swindon Choral Society website) @AnnaQuarendon

A lockdown lim’rick a day
Won’t keep the doctor away
But tho I’m no Ovid
Some rhymes about Covid
Might help to keep boredom at bay

In gardening shorts and a vest
No make-up and hair  like a nest
She feels there’s some doubt
That when she's let out
She’ll remember quite how to get dressed

Enterprise
The Marlborough LINK scheme’s volunteers normally spend most of their time driving clients round. Now trips with passengers became trips alone with only long client shopping lists for company. But what about payment?

Enter the hand-held credit-card reader. Within days, LINK had purchased three iZettle card readers, enabling the client to pay on the doorstep through the volunteer’s smart phone. The success of this initiative has led to a booming volunteer shopping ‘industry’ – actually a pretty exhausting exercise when you are running round Tesco and Waitrose juggling three long lists from different clients!

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After requests for 15 sets of cotton scrubs, a couple of extremely competent sewers got to work organising their manufacture, ably assisted by a master pattern-cutter. We put out a call for volunteers and after a great response from people I was able to deliver many sets of cotton scrubs to Savernake Hospital (from Cotswold Ward at Savernake: "Thank you so much, they are great and much appreciated") and local Care Homes. And just got a request from Prospect Hospice, so we'll be starting on those very soon!

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U3A is about learning, socialising and friendship for those who have finished full time work, but coronavirus has stopped face-to-face meetings and group events outdoors.  However, many of the interest groups have restarted using video calls, phone calls and emails.  We have also set up an "email buddy" system so that those without email get key messages passed on by someone local who does.

Members are thinking laterally.  Our Walking Groups cannot continue at the moment but one of them is not letting that get in the way of a weekly "catch up".  Instead of meeting in the pub after a walk, they are now meeting virtually for a Zoom coffee, and sharing stories and pictures of walks done individually.

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Unexpected consequences
As a vulnerable household it’s certainly a time to be grateful for help. Our son has taken on the role of delivery driver, and this week there was the additional frisson of a gift of self-raising flour. Amongst the bags I noticed a tub of “Heroes”, and after a moment of salivating and thinking “Oh how lovely!”, I quickly returned it to his car. Later I had an e-mail from him. “I see that you sent your self-raising flour back to us again by accident this morning - it was in the 'Heroes' plastic tub!”

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When I was about 10 years old I was given a small book containing maps of every county in the UK. This gift kindled in me a life-long love of maps. Recently I have noted, with some apprehension, the ever increasing availability of GPS data on mobile devices, to the detriment of an appreciation of maps amongst the young. My children and grandchildren recently went on a family cycle ride for a considerable distance over downland tracks south of Salisbury. Afterwards my son sent me a photo of my grandson intensely inspecting a map! Dare I hope…?!

On Palm Sunday I began to make up some Messy Church bags for a couple of local families from the resources I had gathered for our cancelled event. When I went to deliver them, I met some other children who also came to Messy Church and who I hadn’t realised lived near us. Soon news of the bags spread.

I ended up making up 10 bags to deliver to local families, and it felt like a special surprise to meet these new people - as if God orchestrated meetings that Sunday and changed what had felt like a sad Holy Week into a kind of new community. I thought lockdown would mean not meeting old friends - I hadn’t expected it to be a chance to make new ones.

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New resolutions
I have taken the opportunity of lockdown to do something I've meant to do for many years: get to know the names of some wildflowers. It's more complicated than I thought because you almost need to become an amateur botanist to be sure you've got the identification right. But I've made a start!

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One positive outcome from the current situation is that I have got back on my bike.  It has lain unloved in our shed for the past two years, as I somehow never found the right time to ride it, but after a week or so of lockdown we decided to pump up the tyres and hit the road. The highlight has been riding through West Woods with the fresh green of the new leaves and the bluebells in all their glory.  I must try and keep riding when and if we return to a more normal existence!

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Strangely, while lockdown has been very confining, for me it has also been quite liberating! No longer the distractions of the pub, so I have turned my attention to my bookshelves and those dusty volumes which have been waiting for this moment. I have just embarked on the seven volumes of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Given pubs appear unlikely to open before July at the earliest, I have a fighting chance!

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In 1910 John O'Regan fulfilled his ambition to recreate a Roman style house complete with an atrium and hypocaust. Later the fourth generation, Jane and Mike’s daughter Cordelia Alice, played on the mosaic floor. Thirty three years later, this April in the midst of lockdown, the fifth generation of Marlborough O’Regans made an entrance when Cory’s daughter Georgie spent the first month of her new life in Killycoonagh.