“You Must Stay at Home”: Recalling Covid-19 Restrictions on Daily Life

Although only six years have passed, the Government restrictions imposed on everyday life in 2020–21 to control the coronavirus pandemic already seem much more distant. This became clear while I was reviewing what the High Country History Group did during lockdown for the website, trivial though that task may sound. Despite uncertainty, we were determined to stay in contact and continue meeting however we could, so our plans had to change. I have reconstructed the events of 2020 and 2021 from Journals, Committee minutes, emails and notes on daily events in my diary.

The year started as it normally would. The Executive Committee had already met on Thursday 13 February 2020 to arrange the details for the AGM on 26 March, at which it would propose an updated Constitution to members – what we would do in the event of closure or merger – and elect a new Treasurer. Journal No. 75 was almost ready to go to the printers. On Thursday 27 February the Group met as usual at Toot Hill Village Hall to hear Tony Tuckwell talk about ‘Tudor Education in Essex’.

I had left my workplace that day (I had resigned) ahead of a holiday in the Canary Islands, knowing that a virus had been discovered in China little thinking that it would spread across Europe. It was clear something was the matter as my wife and I watched the pictures on television though not understanding fluent Spanish. We returned home on 9 March to find local residents going about their daily lives as usual and not remotely concerned about Covid. I recall Spain locked down on 13 March: people taking holidays were told to go home. My diary notes for Sunday 15 March that Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, saying that over 70s would be asked to “self-isolate within weeks”. The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, confirmed on Monday 16 March that over 70s would need to “social distance from the weekend” requesting that pubs, restaurants, clubs etc close and weekend breaks be cancelled. “What a difference a day makes”, I wrote. Tuesday: the Church of England closed its doors for Services and all meetings until further notice, and by Wednesday, at the end of a three-day course in Stratford, I was only one of three passengers boarding the 0916 12-carriage train from Ingatestone. “It seems that the whole world is shutting down” I recorded on my phone.

As Secretary of the Group I emailed on Thursday morning, 19 March:

“Dear members

You will all be aware by now of the need for social distancing in light of the coronavirus pandemic to prevent a peak in demand from our health service. We have seen within the last couple of days the closure of public buildings, including museums, and postponement of events such as Concerts. Church buildings are also closed for Public Worship (although many church communities are being creative and doing things differently).

So sadly, you will not be surprised to learn that for the time being the High Country History Group will not be meeting. Our AGM and talk for next week, 26 March, is therefore postponed. Our meetings are therefore suspended “for the duration”, referencing the words used in 1939.

I will remain Secretary and Acting Treasurer until we hold an AGM, and Martyn [Lockwood] will remain Chairman. Our Committee will meet online by email as necessary.

We will continue to produce The Journal quarterly. The March edition will be posted to you.

.....

My intention is to keep in contact with you as a Group. If you do have a need please contact me.

With kind regards.

Andrew Smith, Secretary. High Country History Group.”

Later that day the Prime Minister announced the closure of schools etc, from Friday evening. apart “key workers’ children”. The Government published a list of key workers. On Friday the PM “told” pubs, clubs etc to close if they had not already from “tonight”. Those unable to work because of the restrictions would have 80% of their salary paid by the Government. A word re-entered common parlance, “furlough”. The inevitable was now expected and people panic-bought booze and toilet rolls from supermarkets. Slots for online delivery of food became unavailable: we ordered three vegetable boxes delivered from a farm instead, sharing the things we did not like with friends and family – e.g., sprouts.

I kept the transcript of Boris Johnson’s address to the nation at 8.30pm on Monday 23 March. There was “a very simple instruction – you must stay at home”. The only exceptions were “shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible; one form of exercise a day ... alone or with members of your household; any medical need ... ; travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home”.

It was the day that changed office working, perhaps, forever. All knew that technological advances over the last two decades meant that the need to go anywhere for anything had diminished. The mass social experiment began on 23 March 2020, whether workplaces were ready or not, or whether families had the technology to teach children at home. It was the day from when the suit and tie ceased to be daily uniform. Marks and Spencer have ceased to stock these garments.

Within a couple of days my local church discovered an online meeting platform called Zoom, and I joined its course to learn how to use it and host meetings.

Back in the High Country our plans changed and evolved as did life throughout the pandemic. On 1 April I wrote to members sending an electronic version of Journal No.75 because “non-essential services are closed at the present time, and this includes the Diocesan Print Unit which produces for us the Quarterly Journal” adding, “those members who are not online will have a version printed at my home and posted to them”.

On 16 April, I wrote in my diary, “The Govt. announces a further lockdown of ‘at least’ three weeks in their Press Briefing at 5pm”.

Having become a “zoomologist” (the word coined by our church), Martyn and I decided to hold HCHG meetings online. Each Zoom ‘free of charge’ session was limited to 40 minutes, which was enough time to gather people and give a short talk. Our first, on 23 April: “Evening Zoom HCHG meeting – six participants” was general wellbeing chat and wartime posters (published in Journal No. 76, with a hope that all would be over by the autumn).

On Thursday 28 May “HCHG at 8.15pm at which I present ‘Rogationtide at Stondon Massey’”, a PowerPoint film I had made on one of my daily walks. We were blessed with warm and sunny weather, and I heard the cuckoo for the first time in many years.

Martyn and I agreed that we would alternate presentations – paying a speaker was not feasible. We would also meet every month, not breaking for summer. Little did we know that Zoom meetings would continue until July 2021.

That same day, 28 May, the Prime Minister continued to lift restrictions – “up to six people can meet outside from Monday”. ‘Super Saturday’ came on 4 July “when, in England, pubs, restaurants, hotels, camp sites, guest houses can reopen – and some leisure facilities. But all subject to 2 metre social distancing”. (Churches were allowed to recommence worship.) The Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, though had said at the public briefing the day before that “Coronavirus won’t be gone for a very long time”.

There was huge optimism in the media around the return to normality.

Obeying Government rules, the Committee met in the garden of Repentance Cottage on Thursday 6 August to plan an online AGM and “proxy voting” for all who could not attend. I remember that it was the day the field in my village I had so frequently walked across and photographed was harvested. I remember also the lovely weather we all enjoyed that afternoon. Following the meeting I wrote to members, “Current restrictions prevent us all from meeting at the Toot Hill Village Hall, and it seems that even when we will be allowed to do so there will be restrictions on numbers attending as well as a need to complete a detailed Risk Assessment. ... The Committee has decided therefore not to meet at Toot Hill Village Hall until February 2021 at the earliest”.

As autumn set in the Government was forced to amend restrictions because of the obstinacy of the pandemic. The Times ran an article ‘PM fears threat to Christmas’ on 10 September. There was a second lockdown which did not lead to the reduction in cases desired. A new strain of the virus became evident. On the evening of Saturday 19 December, the Prime Minister announced detailed new restrictions saying, “we cannot continue with Christmas as planned” instructing for most in England, including Essex, that people “should not mix with anyone outside their own household at Christmas, though support bubbles will remain in place for those at particular risk of loneliness or isolation”. The restrictions took effect from the following morning. (The live ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ Final was delayed on BBC One. The whole cast formed an isolated group to entertain the nation. The comedian Bill Bailey won.)

Churches were closed with immediate effect and remained so, in Blackmore, until Easter. This was a very different Christmas, and New Year. The number of Covid deaths passed 100,000 on 26 January.

If there was any good news it was the hurried development and rollout of a vaccination to millions of people. On 14 February 2021 I noted “Government achieves target of 15 million vaccinations offering appointments to all over 70 and the clinically vulnerable”.

The HCHG Committee met on Zoom on 11 February 2021: the minutes record, “we remain hopeful that we may be able to meet at the Village Hall later this year, possibly April / May, but that will be dependent on the mass vaccination programme and Government guidelines that will be in place”. Plans were made for the AGM to take place on Zoom on 25 March. At that meeting the minutes recorded, “that plans are currently in place to resume face to face meetings ... on 24th June”.

Many people voiced frustration when the Prime Minister announced on 22 February a ‘Road Map’, a staged release from restrictions, the penultimate stage being pubs etc to open indoors from 17 May and the end of social distancing from 21 June.

As things became clearer. Journal No. 80 (June 2021) included an insert giving notice of “in person” meetings and programme of speakers from August.

Government restrictions were finally lifted on 19 July, dubbed ‘Freedom Day’. The HCHG Committee began planning a return with two additional monthly meetings in August and September. Draft Guidance was put together which was discussed and agreed at the Committee meeting at Repentance Cottage on 11 August. We knew the guidance to be unenforceable but sensible for those who had not met face to face for a long while. My letter to members, dated 14 August, began:

“With the lifting of Government Covid restrictions, we look forward to welcoming you back to our first face to face meeting for 18 months. On Thursday 26 August Neil Wiffen, a popular speaker, will be giving a talk on the subject of ‘The Home Guard’”.

At the AGM the following March Martyn Lockwood reported of the resumption of meetings that “whilst we recognise that there was a reluctance of some members to mix, they were in the main well attended”.

This, then, is the account of the Group during the pandemic. Looking again at all the paperwork made me realise the unusual times we lived through and maybe have forgotten.

I need to conclude that we were all affected by these events, either in the short or longer term, and some lost loved ones. Around 1⁄4 million people died of Covid in the UK. Maybe we all learned how connections with like-minded people are important, and to value nature in the way we might have not done before.