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It's definitely important to feel connected to your community at all ages as this helps prevent isolation particularly as we get older. The sense of connection and belonging is so key to our mental health too.

I think it is very important to feel connected to your community. I am fortunate to live in a community which has always been very active mainly thanks to many volunteers and I feel the village has really pulled together during the lockdown.

We all have something to contribute to our community - not matter age or education or gender or proclivities. The great melting pot is our strength. We should all be connected.

Everyone should be connected to the community

It’s very important to feel part and keep in touch with the community as much as family we should all help and look out for each other especially in these tense times

All ages and generations can learn from each other, broaden their minds, learn respect and tolerance.

So Important, I feel as though people have come together more since this crisis, I now know more people on my street and feel so much more connected, everyone helping everyone. Staying connected is the key to happiness, its not always easy

It's very important for people of all ages to feel connected to their community, even more so now and especially for those who live alone or do not have family.

It’s incredibly important to feel connected and part of a community. It’s life enhancing.

The connections that we make at all ages are invaluable, now more so than ever. In these strange times I am grateful that technology allows us to continue our existing connections and make new ones as we all find ways of thriving whilst in lockdown. It is heartening to see that people are reaching out to their neighbours whom they may have only rarely spoken to in the past. Communities, whether geographical or interest driven remain central to our well-being.

It is very important, especially so for those who live alone or don't have family around.

It is very important to feel connected to the community. Different people have different needs and some need very little connection whilst others need lots. Everyone's wishes should be treated with respect and we should all be there for each other.

very important, we are a sociable species and like touch and conversation

Community is very important for all ages. If young people grow up with a sense of community then they will instil it in their children. We need community more than ever in these difficult times.

You can only feel connected to your community if you have a community. - Achieving a community is the vital thing, even if you live in a bustling city.

Perhaps it depends very much on the person and how much anyone is dependent on external acceptance and/or a need to belong.

It is very important that people feel connected as a community to ensure we work together to combat loneliness and give people somewhere/someone to come to with problems. Children without grandparents and vice versa can enjoy each others company and experiences and learn from each other. We can share and exchange skills and help people feel valued through sharing and volunteering.

In the current covid climate more important than ever - the older community members need the younger ones to help them through this time. I have spoken to more people who live in our lane than in 7 years of living here, exchanged numbers, seen kindness from virtual strangers. It's lovely to see our community coming together!

It’s more important than ever to keep in touch, with friends, family and our neighbours. I hope we all continue to care for everyone around us when these uncertain times are over

It's vitally important to feel connected to everyone in your community, from the miserable woman with two dogs who treated me like a leper because I dared to walk without one, to the lovely people who've been sharing the 'free book library' I started in our nearest bus shelter. When I saw the 'Thank You' Rainbow poster pinned inside, I cried. Missing seeing my family of course, but so grateful for the technology which allows us all to keep in touch.

I suppose one of the good things to come out of the lockdown is a growing sense of community across all ages - just a few stragglers we need to get caught up.

It is so important for staying in touch with family as well as keeping up to date with news and information about work, news and the local community, particularly at such a challenging time

Paramount. I’m caring for my elderly father who lives alone, my husband and two teenagers. I see how much they rely on friends, neighbours, family and every aspect of community life. We take these most simple levels of connections for granted. Without these connections I’ve seen loneliness, frustration, sadness, confusion, depression and upset over recent weeks. Never again to be taken for granted but appreciated.

Even more important now with lockdown than ever before. Something good had come from something terrible, people are focusing on others rather than just themselves.

Communities are vital - no one should feel isolated and alone