Where is the lockdown community spirit

I don’t need assistance but no one has offered no notes through the door or anything like that Would have been nice

I live in a small Cul de Sac , elderly and disabled. But I have have a letter offering help from a group set up in the town,
the town councillors have offered help. Age Cymru telephone
every morning to check if I need help, two local charities the same. We are very fortunate here.

Community spirit us alive and well in our village and has been for a long while. We have a very active community association which has come into it's own since lockdown and we have volunteer shoppers, people doing pharmacy runs, a food bank and hot meal service. Wr have people leaving books and toys outside their gates with notes saying 'please help youself'. Vounteers have been making mask, ppe and knitting hearts etc.

I live in a large village with lots of new building round the edges and I am thrilled to say that the new comers have joined in with enthusiasm.

We live n our High Road, lots of Community Spirit, if someone gets a delivery slot we/they ask if anyone wants anything to be added in to the order.

Week one of lockdown my neighbour rang my doorbell and said if I needed milk or anything to let him know and by the way could he use my garden waste bin.

Third week same neighbour arrived and handed me the menu for take away which the local pub was doing - and by the way could he use my garden waste bin (are you spotting a pattern here?).

Third week my gardener arrived and now comes regularly so garden waste bin is always full - not seen hide or hair of the neighbour since

They are pretty good here. At start of lock down notes were put through doors from a few lovely local families asking people to let them know if anyone was vulnerable or shielding and needed help.
We also have a local covid 19 Facebook based support group which will run errands for people such as shopping, and the council have set up a hotline for help. I have used this service as we were struggling to get medication for my type 1 Diabetic daughter, due to Boots not picking up phones! and the doctors being shut except for phone consults! In the end we managed to resolve it ok thankfully.
Our local food bank is also delivering parcels to shielding people, and to others on low incomes, and the council are helping them to get the parcels out.

I volunteered with our local church, residents association, borough council and Age Concern. It appears they’ve got more volunteers than they need as I’ve heard nothing from any of them!

Pretty good here too.

I don't need anything, but our local FB page has a spin-off for people on their own or those who care for isolated people. I think the (county) council sorts out deliveries and so on for those who need them, and the local (town) councillors are doing things, too.

There are so many people here who are very quick to shout 'What part of lockdown do they not get?' though, that I for one would be very reluctant to knock on the door of someone I didn't know in case I got squirted with sanitiser for my trouble.

Pizza deliverers have been reported for being too near the door when the customer opened it, supermarket staff must wonder why they bother going to work, and every other thread on the local FB page is criticising someone for 'breaking the rules' when what we have is, on the whole, advice. That sort of thing doesn't foster a 'we're all in this together' feeling.

I have been indoors since the start of this, as has my daughter in another area. She is also vulnerable (although she is on the list and I am not), and despite the fact that she is only 26, she has had regular calls asking if she needs help with her shopping. She has said no - her boyfriend does it or they get a delivery - and that it would be fine to take her off the list, but it hasn't happened. She is working from home, and managing fine, so there must be others who need help more than she does, but the council seems determined to keep an eye on her.

I think your sister in law’s experience is the exception rather than the norm.

Up and down the country there have been reports of neighbourhoods looking out for each other, shopping for the elderly and generally keeping an eye on the vulnerable.

One of the few advantages of this virus is the very way it has brought communities together.

Does your relative make an effort to be friendly and pass the time of day with her neighbours when she sees them?

I think your sister is unfortunate, Ginster.

Although had they all just moved into the new houses and no-one had a chance to get to know their neighbours before lockdown?
We had a note through the door right at the beginning offering help from a community group and the neighbours have been extremely helpful with offers of shopping too.

Anniebach I'm relieved to hear that you have several offers of help.

It's a two way thing. Our shielding neighbour checked whether the girls needed school work printed as they have a printer.

We asked if they need errands.

If you keep yourself to yourself people take the hint and stay away.

Lockdown is happening to EVERYONE. Sitting there expecting others to check in on you if you arent checking in on them may leave you disappointed but really thats nobody elses fault.

You may be shielding. They may be keyworkers doing over time. Or home schooling parents. All have crosses to bear. All need to look out for each other. Its reciprocal not a one way street.

Also if the assumption is that families are "safe" to go running around after others. Shes wrong again. Several officially shielding people I know are young families either because a parent is at risk or a child is. Has she checked if they are managing to get everything they need?

kittylester
My area is filled with activity to help, very much like your neighbourhood.
I have also found Nextdoor, a localised app in which you can ask about or offer anything or give warnings about dodgy work or recommends. It's invaluable.

I think it’s very different if you live in a village or small town or even a cul de sac or similar I live on a main road with lots of flats and multi occupancy houses dotted around and a more transient population I am a very cheerful person who talks to anyone and everyone in the street so no I don’t keep to myself (Perhaps it’s a complement and I look so young and
fit) I ve seen my next door neighbours (who I do talk to I ve given them plants in the past and they ve taken in parcels for me) pop to the nearby shop but they ve never asked if I want anything
There have been lots of help with groups springing up on Facebook

What about the army of NHS Volunteers that the government set up at the start of the pandemic? Thousands signed up, but in the News quite recently one lady volunteer said after completing all her paperwork, she hadn’t been approached in the last month to do anything.
It seemed a great idea, but have heard very little since.

I think the 'community spirit' is a myth here. No near neighbours have been in contact.

The exception to the rule have been fellow dog walkers, (three different ones) who live further away, offering help with shopping or anything I might need. They've given phone numbers in case I want help.

There are local volunteer groups who've put up posters, too, yet many elderly neighbours still trot into the Co-op every single day!

I think the NHS volunteers were a good idea but the government didnt realise that communities would all rise to the challenge. And that is fabulous.

Our village group is called Helping Hands and is on the village 'Spotted' fb group which is very active.

Our village is not pretty but it is lovely.

Maybe they think she has family to help and they genuinely think that. I asked a neighbour if he wanted anything weeks ago as he is in his eighties. I seem to be the treat run, trifles, hot x buns, chocolate etc. I thought he had no help but gets the community council help and daughters help wink shock

Emojis didn’t work.

He has more treats in than me I’ll be doing it for weeks thing is I pay up front two weeks at a time. 😏So maybe they don’t want to get too involved

Kittylester We could be living in the same village....

Masses of the same support here , including a hardship fund set up with a very healthy donation pot that is rising daily .

We've had nothing through the door, and no one has knocked to see if we need help - but the local magazine published numbers to ring if you wanted help and all the local food shops are delivering. The bread shop is now delivering milk too and the butchers will pop into Tesco if you need a couple of things added to your meat order. Can't complain.