Tales of the Lockdown ….. Episode 11

November saw us embracing Zoom… With all the changing regulations & advice, as Covid-19 continued to spread, there was no other way for us to meet up.  So we experimented with a Committee meeting… then a ‘Coffee & Chat’ session… & then finally, a scheduled Zoom meeting for us all.  What a giggle!  It took us 45 minutes to all log in, wave & natter – well, we are a friendly lot & hadn’t seen a lot of our fellow ‘Ridware WI Ladies’ for months.  There was a lot to catch up on.  The focus for our get together was a ‘Craft along with Gaye’ session.  Kits had been distributed & we all learnt the ‘Scrappy Strip’ technique, resulting in a handmade Christmas card.  The results were very impressive.

With no ‘Tinsel & Trimmings’ community event able to take place this year,  that did not mean that we were ‘forgetting’ Christmas.  Christmas was not going to be ‘cancelled’ in Hill Ridware!  Karen organised the donation of the Christmas tree for outside the village hall as usual.   The garden area was festooned with a wonderful garland & Alan W, Bob & Alan G helped decorate the tree.  Santas also formed part of the decor – part of a community initiative to display Santas in gardens, windows etc around the village for children to count as they went on their ‘daily walk’.

  Our December Zoom meeting centred around Karen showing us how to decorate a wreath for our front doors, as well as creating a table centrepiece & a grave memorial.  Phew!  So inspiring – pens whizzed across notebooks with relish.  Again, a lot of laughs ensured.

The year ended with another Zoom ‘coffee & chat’ session.  2020 has been an unusual year – the first time in our lives that we have shared in the impact of a global pandemic which has upended all our lives.  ‘Hope’ seems to be the theme for 2021 – still in ‘lockdown’, but with the promise of so much more.  Happy New Year!