6 Positive Stories To Come Out Of The Lockdown: From Online Dance Sessions And Band Rehearsals, To Grans Making Masks!

With the UK (and most of the world) on lockdown and most of us self-isolating, we take a look at the women bringing some much-needed positivity to the world right now…

By Rachel Tompkins

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‘I started the Rainbow Trail’

Crystal Stanley, 31, from Ipswich, Suffolk

On March 18 I was at home. After putting my daughter, Ariana, age three, to bed I was watching the news and hearing all the doom and gloom because of Covid-19.

I wanted to do something to cheer myself up and promote positivity in my town of Ipswich, and all around the world.

So the next day Ariana and I created our first rainbow. She loved talking about the colours. We sang ‘I Can Sing a Rainbow’ and did the Makaton sign language signs.

Then I thought about how bright and colourful rainbows are and I started a Facebook group called The Rainbow Trail, designed to be about creating rainbow pictures and putting them in the window for everyone to see. Its aim is to promote positivity, hope and togetherness, even though we are not together physically.

I hoped it would bring communities together with a bit of fun and that even if it made just one person smile it would be worth it.

But within just a few weeks the group amassed 100k members! It means so much to a lot of people and is helping them with mental health issues. It’s not just for children either it’s for adults, too.

My partner, Allan, and I are admins of the page and it’s grown so fast we now have 52 other admins and moderators too. They all do it in their spare time and are all incredible people.

It’s a small thing in the grand scheme of things but seeing everyone’s rainbows shared on Facebook certainly makes a lot of people smile.

‘I’m making facemasks from old sheets’

Ursula von Fluegge, 83, lives in Oakland, California

Inspiration came after I heard there was a shortage of masks that could help protect people from the coronavirus. Any masks available I felt should go to medical staff who are in hospital taking care of the sick.

Then my eldest daughter, Nicole, sent me a link to a website that posted free patterns for masks [see below] and on March 21 I got started.

I decided to use old bed sheets for the lining and then whatever fabric I had for the rest. I cut up old clothes – anything that was machine washable. It was trial and error but after adjusting the pattern, making it a bit higher here, a bit wider there, I managed.

The trickiest part was the elastic straps because the mask should fit snugly and cover both nose and mouth. Everyone has a different head size, so I decided to leave the straps open on one end. This way people can shorten the straps themselves with a simple stitch.

I love sewing – I used to sew all my own clothes in the 1950s – and it’s such a fun way to pass the time while in self-isolation. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t even had time to do any sports, such as lifting weights in my home gym that I set up after my fitness club closed.

So far I’ve made ten masks. But I’ve had so many requests from family and friends, I have to keep sewing. My granddaughter, Izzy, just rang to tell me she wants one in pink.

The masks are not medically certified nor will they completely protect anyone against the virus, but they help prevent particles coughed out from an infected person landing on your mouth or nose.

Making masks is now filling my days and I like to think I’m promoting kindness and positivity in my own way.

Visit https://freesewing.org/docs/patterns/fu/instructions/ for how to make your own mask.

‘We ran a virtual brass band rehearsal!’

 Tabby Kerwin 42, from Halifax, West Yorkshire

 

Brass bands across the country have, like other music groups and clubs, been told not to meet for the foreseeable future. Although they’re considered ‘non-essential’, for some they are a lifeline.

As the UK’s most loved form of amateur music making, music offers wellbeing benefits and, for many, their only social connection of a week. A brass band is like a family and to be cut off from it can have serious impacts on mental health.

So, as a mental health advocate, professional musician and business owner I decided to do something about it. Last week I hosted an online brass band rehearsal, via Zoom – the first of its kind I believe.

Chaos and lots of fun!

More than 70 musicians across the UK joined in and despite being chaos it was wonderful fun, an opportunity for music making and we stayed online to have a good chat afterwards.

All the music was provided for free by my business, Mode for. I will be hosting the rehearsal each week as well as an online open house to chat about mental health as part of my ‘Brass on the Mind’ project, which supports better mental health for people in brass bands.

Furthermore I am hosting daily online drop-ins for people to chat, socialise and vent, workshops around anxiety, and other supportive online events to help people with overwhelm, anxiety and mental health.

Find details at facebook.com/modefor

‘Our Côr-ona’ singing group has gone viral!”

Catrin Jones, 31, Anglesey, Wales

I started as a choir conductor when I was just 17 and am now a singer and a choir conductor for my local singing group, Côr-ona’ – côr being the Welsh word for “choir”. There are about 25 members in my male group, aged 20-40. We sing Welsh folk songs, tunes from musicals like Bring Me Home from Les Misérables, and classical pieces.

We had to cancel our weekly practise about two weeks ago. I knew a lot of the boys would be OK because they’re farmers, so they would be busy lambing, when Boris Johnson announced that the over 70s and vulnerable shouldn’t go out, I was so worried about some of my singers. I knew it would be such blow for these people who value their weekly choir sessions as a reason to get out of the house, to socialise and to lift their spirits.

After racking my brains to think of a way I could help them, I decided to record myself singing a song and post it on social media so that they could watch it and sing along at home.

A small group initially

So initially I did this, adding a few musicians and soon there were six of us including a tenor and a harpist, all recording songs and posting the videos on Facebook for people to sing along to.

I invited all the elderly people I knew to be friends with me on Facebook so that they could see my posts and soon word began to spread and the feedback started coming in.

There was such a positive response, with them all saying it was just what they needed to cheer them up.

People told me they were petrified of spending 12 weeks at home alone, but thanks to our virtual choir they didn’t feel so anxious or scared. It was so emotional.

We’ll be singing on Welsh TV!

Before we knew it we had nearly 30,000 members for our Facebook, page called Côr-ona, and hundreds of people posting videos.

Now the group has become so popular it has members of all ages and all walks of life all over the world, from New Zealand and Australia to Wales and Patagonia!

A lot of people have told me the page is helping their mental health at this time of social isolation.

Next we’re arranging to all sing a famous Welsh hymn, Calon Lan, which means “pure heart”. A famous arranger is sorting out the backing track and we will all sing along from our homes – plus it’s being broadcast on Welsh television channel S4C.

 ‘We shipped 18,000 drinks to NHS workers!’

Megan Jones, 24, from Bristol.

I was sitting in the office of the company I co-founded, XITE Energy discussing with my team how terrible the situation was, due to the pandemic. We thought about the NHS staff and the long shifts they must be putting in and we decided that we wanted to do something to help.

So we started a campaign called ‘Spreading Good Energy’ in which we reached out to NHS staff and offered them free energy drinks to keep them going.

To begin with we contacted people via LinkedIn explaining the campaign and what we wanted to do and the response was amazing.

Then on March 18, myself and a small team went out in our delivery vans and started delivering drinks to Bristol BMI, Gloucester Hospital, Bath Royal United Hospital, St Michael’s Hill. The following day we visited Bristol police stations to drop off cases of our drink and do our bit.

The reaction from all the NHS workers and the police was incredible. They were all extremely grateful and loved the drink! We also sent out cases via courier to further-away locations such as Southport, Manchester and Swansea.

To date we’ve given away more than 18,000 cans to NHS staff including doctors, nurses, police and support staff, and shop staff. We will be giving away more pallets as long as we can do so safely!

Giving someone a drink might not seem like much, but it’s a small gesture that we hope will help to increase morale and give these amazing people an energy boost when they need it most.

‘We’re breaking out into song and dance!’

Claudia Colvin, 31, from London

 

As the founder of Nobody’s Watching, I organise sober silent disco events for people who love to dance but don’t want to do it in a nightclub.

Ahead of the Government recommendations, two weeks ago I decided to cancel all my studio events to keep the public safe. But I wanted to continue creating spaces for people to break out into song and dance. We need those feel-good endorphins now more than ever!

So I put together online dance parties, which are now twice a week, to keep people connected and improve their physical and mental health. The first one happened on Friday March 20 and more than 100 people from all over the world joined in.

We used zoom.us, which is an incredibly user-friendly videoconferencing tool that allows anyone with the app and a meeting link to join. Once they’ve logged in, everyone online can see each other. There’s also the option to scroll through the images to search for friends.

Connecting people around the world through dance

As we belted out ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor I asked everyone to grab a household object and pretend it was a microphone! We were all in stitches as people danced along with bananas, dusters and even a trophy!

Each party has a different theme, for example Sunday 22 was Mother’s Day, then on Mar 25 the theme was Freedom and we recreated the music video of I Want To Break Free by Queen.

The parties are currently every Wednesday 6.30pm and Sunday, 5.30pm BST.

People can join in all over the world by following us on Facebook or our website, Nobody’s Watching.co