Honouring the NHS staff …….. through Covid

Now I am fully aware that Covid has not gone away, but it does also now feature as a piece of history with historians, and the media exploring the outbreak, the measure taken to combat it and of course the human tragedy.

And quite rightly the work of NHS staff has been recognized in many different ways.

 Like many we stood on the doorstep and clapped along with our neighbours, had family members receive special treatment in supermarkets, but remain dismayed that NHS pay has not really been upped to reflect that contribution.

 So I was interested at this medal which has been acquired by David Harrop.

 I am not sure who the medal was issued to and anyway would not want to include a name.

 I know that it was awarded by the MidYorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust who have written it has given “staff members a medal to thank them for their service during COVID-19.

 All staff received £100 and four hours additional annual leave. Stephen Southern, senior consultants at the hospital worked with a local company to commission and produce the design.

 The design has been done in such a way that it could be adapted for other trusts and organisations. 

They determined a set of criteria for who qualified to receive a medal (essentially all staff on their payroll and working in post between March 2020 and April 2021), including volunteers and specific agency staff who worked with them during the pandemic.

 To help the trust roll this out, everyone was asked to make sure their address details were up to date on the self-service HR system. 

They communicated this with teaser posts on social media, creating a hashtag and encouraging as many people as possible to post. 

The medals have been very well received by staff and the trust has had enquires from a number of other trusts and public sector organisations”. *

 Location; Yorkshire

 Picture; the Covid 19 medal and citation, courtesy of David Harrop

*NHS Employers, https://www.nhsemployers.org/case-studies/rewarding-and-recognising-throughout-covid-19-pandemic

 

In Our Times ……. observing social distancing September 2021

Masks my not be compulsory but keeping social distance is still a good idea.

The image which will soon be history.

Location; St Peter’s Square

Picture; observing social distancing September 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Varese on a sunny day in September …… no. 2 ….."face masks will be worn"

Varese is a fine Italian town, north of Milan, and close to the Lakes.

Location; Varese

Picture; Varese on a sunny day in September, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

When not following the science is easier than thinking things through

Who says everyone carefully weighs up the evidence, before making a judgement?

Location; Stockport

Pictures; the unthinking response to the science, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Taking back the streets ………………

It was the Saturday, before the May Bank Holiday and the sun came out.

So what better way to celebrate the return to near normal.

We had planned just a quick saunter on to Edge Street to take a few pictures for a story.

But the crowds were out, more than I remember for a normal May Saturday, and we decided to stay.

With no particular plans we ended up eating at La Collina on Tariff Street, which advertises itself as “Laid -back Tuscan-style coffee and drinks in the Northern Quarter”, which was just what it said it was.

And from there we wandered across the city to Edge Street, falling across Stevenson Square which was packed and looked the best it has done for a century and a bit.

Everywhere you went streets had been blocked off and tables and diners filled the void.

And along the way, there was a chap doing press up on the street.

All of which I think confirmed that simple observation that we are taking back the streets.

Location; the Norther Quarter

Pictures; Taking back the streets, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Fun in the garden centre ……………

It was the week that garden centres reopened with of course suitable social distancing, masks, and the expectation that we were turning another corner.

The place was full, and while the restaurant remained closed, no one seemed to bother.

Instead, there was lots of interest in the plants on offer, and more than a few people walked away with heaps of green things, from small bedding specimens to tall and stately climbing ones along with baby bushes which had the promise of taking over the garden.

And while we wandered the aisles, I was attracted to a series of animal figures lurking in the undergrowth, which I instantly took to.

There were lots of them.

They came in different shapes and sizes, and all were brightly coloured.

If I could I would have bought the lot, transporting them home and creating  a menagerie of metal animals spread out across the garden with some tucked away in half hidden places and others proudly standing as centre pieces.

But then, we only have a pocket of a garden, which is already dominated by four fruit trees, a large overgrown patch of grass which was to be joined by Tina’s purchases.

So reluctantly with more than a few backward stares I left them amongst the foliage, confident in the knowledge that some of them would eventually adorn back gardens across south Manchester.

And since that visit the plants have come along, joining those we bought online.

All of which leaves just to reveal that the very first time I bought online from Parkers the said plants didn’t arrive by return of order.  

I toyed with sending a stern email, but was saved by the realization that being plants they would be dispatched at the appropriate time for planting, confirming my total ignorance of gardening, and why I suppose I was attracted to the metal animals and not the flowers.

Location; J Parkers, Flixton

Pictures; having fun in the garden centre, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*J Parkers, https://www.jparkers.co.uk/about Flixton Garden Centre, Carrington Road, Flixton,, Manchester, M41 6HT.

Writing the history of Covid ............ remembering the loss

It is of course far too soon to write the history of the Pandemic.

We are still in the midst of the thing, and the full story with all its twists and turns, along with much that still sits in the shadows await historians of the future.

They may have the distance and the perspective to pass a judgement on how it came about, the degree to which national governments and international agencies responded in an effective way and the long term impact of this terrible year.

So I won't attempt any such account, instead I will fall back on another of those occasional series which looks to chronicle the pandemic moments.

These have included the pictures taken by people on their lockdown  “essential walks” and examples of how we have started to commemorate those who have died.

A few week ago it was the Covid Wall on the south bank of the River Thames, which was recorded by Paula Griffin.*

And today there are two pictures from David Harrop.

The first is of the memorial tree in Southern Cemetery, and the second is David’s own contribution which can be seen in the Remembrance Lodge of the cemetery, and which includes not only a reference to the present pandemic but to the work of nurses during the last two World Wars.

And there is more which includes medals, photographs, and other memorabilia from both of those conflicts, some of which relate directly to people who are buried in the cemetery.

Location; Southern Cemetery

Pictures; Pictures from the Pandemic, 2021, from the collection of David Harrop.

* The Covid Memorial Wall …………. London ….. today, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-covid-memorial-wall-london-today.html

Saying goodbye to lockdown ………… contributions welcome

Now, the blog has chronicled the last year, from inviting people to contribute lockdown pictures, to stories of essential walks and adventures.*

So, as we move towards the next big relaxation of Covid restrictions here are the first pictures of the preparations being made on Barlow Moor Road on that strip of bars, restaurants and cafes opposite Chorlton Office.

Nor were the businesses on Barlow Moor Road alone in shaping up for customers.  On Wilbraham Road, there was the smell of new paint on one premises and outside another there was a delivery man offloading beer in steel casks and crates.

They were taken yesterday.

I make no claims that they are the best of pictures, but they offer up a record of how things were heading back to something we can remember.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Saying goodbye to lockdown, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Coronavirus, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Coronavirus

The Covid Memorial Wall …………. London ….. today

I sometimes think those powerful words “Lest We Forget” are used too lightly.

So often they are the response to a picture or story about the sacrifices of those who fought or were just caught up in the wars this country has fought in the last two centuries.

And while I don’t criticize those who post the lines, sometimes the image or the account of one person’s experience demands more.

That said I found Paula Griffin’s  pictures of The Covid Memorial Wall very moving.  

The wall Paula writes "is on the Lambeth side of the Thames by St Thomas’s facing the Houses of Parliament... Really difficult to convey the size of this with hearts representing all of those who have died after contracting this disease just to say it stretches all the way from Westminster Bridge to Lambeth Palace.”

And for those of us who are Londoners or live in the city that is a significant distance.

In all Paula recorded 24 images which are on that excellent site All Things Photographic, where they can all be seen.*

I would just like to thank Paula for allowing me to use some of the pictures.

Location; London

Pictures; The Covid Memorial Wall, London, 2021, from the collection of Paula Griffin

*All things Photographic, https://www.facebook.com/groups/331565394411795

Easter Sunday ……. Dinner will be taken at home this year

Beech Road.

Location; Beech Road

Picture; outside the Lead, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Stories from the Rec ……. no. 1 …..the Saturday after the Friday holiday……. tales from our times

The sun was out, and so were the visitors to the Rec.

The responsible visitors used the bins.

The less responsible visitors discarded their rubbish where they sat.

Happily, the man in the high viz yellow shirt and black shorts was out by 7 picking the bits no one wanted to take home.

Location; the Rec

Picture; bins on Beech Road, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

The bits of Chorlton ….. waiting to reopen …… part 2

Now, I know it is stating the obvious, and pretty soon the idea behind the series will be a thing of the past.

But until then here, collected on a walk through Chorlton are pictures of the closed shops, along Wilbraham Road, just past the Post Office.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Wilbraham Road, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Reflecting on the National Health Service .......... in the age of Covid

 Yesterday I was vaccinated.

It was the upshot  of my health and my age.

At which point the story could also reflect on those “anti vacs” who sit out there peddling all sorts of bizarre, misleading, and dangerous assertions.

But I won’t other than to say a recent Radio 4 documentary, offered up a historical perspective and set the correct correct.*

So, instead I shall reflect on my visit to the Jain Community Centre in Levenshulme.

The call from the GP had come at the beginning of the week and after being offered several appointments from the following day onwards I opted for Saturday.

I arrived early, waited my turn, and went through the procedure in less than half an hour, from walking through the door, being checked in, vaccinated, and resting for the obligatory 15 minutes.

Everyone from the volunteers through to the medical teams were helpful, reassuring and above all mindful that some at least of those receiving the jab might be a bit nervous.  There was plenty of humour mixed with the caring professionalism which marks the NHS out.

James Gillray, 1802

So that is it……. for once no great historical piece of research or interesting sets of maps and pictures, just a comment on  how the National Health Service continues to do what it was set up to do …. caring for all of us at the point of need in a way that would not surprise Nye Bevan or all those who advocated and ushered the NHS over 80 years ago.

And of course also a thank you.

Leaving me just to add those cartoons, from the anti vac James Gilray and Cruikshank’s balanced and more accurate comment on vaccination.

 George Cruikshank, 1808

Picture; The Cow-Pock—or—the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation!—vide. the Publications of ye Anti-Vaccine Society, James Gillray, published June 12, 1802 by H. Humphrey, St. James's Street, and Jenner and his two colleagues seeing off three anti-vaccination opponents, the dead are littered at their feet. Coloured etching by George Cruikshank, 1808, Welcome Collection, https://wellcomecollection.org/works?query=x7kbxaef&search=images

*The Long View of the Anti-Vaccination Movement, The Long View, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000pffk

Reflections on masks in the Age of the Virus ……. no.2 ..... on the street where they walk

An occasional short series featuring a mask and the irresponsible  use of the said garment.

Perhaps it is my age but I can't understand why people just discard their masks as they walk.

It ranks with that increasingly common practice of spitting in the street, and seems totally unnecessary, risks spreading contamination and are so anti social.

But the discarded masks are in their way part of the history of the virus.

Enough said.

Location; Eltham

Picture; the mask of Eltham, 2021, from the collection of John King

Reflections on masks in the Age of the Virus ……. No.1 at the traffic lights

An occasional short series featuring a mask and the irresponsible  use of the said garment.

Taken by John King who writes, “seen in Eltham today, at Westhorne Avenue where it joins Rochester Way. Cobbett Road in the background".

Location; Eltham

Picture; the mask in Eltham, 2021, from the collection of John King

Shop windows in a time of Tier Three …………..

Just the picture …… no more no less.

Wilbraham Road on the day we learned we were to stay in Tier Three.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; shop window, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Hospitality in a time of Tier Three …….

I guess when the dust settles and we are finally out of Tier Three, and finished with the virus, there will be more than a few books on the pandemic and its effects on how we lived through it.

 

And in time these will roll into history books.

 For now, it is all a little too close for comfort.

 So, I shall just content myself with a series of pictures.

 Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

 

Picture; Barlow Moor Road, 2020 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Signs for a Covid December …….. Beech Road today

There will come a time when these signs look as dated and divorced from reality as those wartime ones “Lose talk Costs Lives”, “Make and Mend”, and Dig For Victory”.

But for now they have a relevance to everyday lives, and are here on the blog because of that, and also because they will become a piece of history.

And as such will reappear on tee shirts, tea towels and posters, along with mugs and greetings cards.

Such are the crisis moments of the present, revisited as novelty in the future.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; signs for a Covid December, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Retail in a time of Tier Three ……………….

Beech Road in November, in the last days of lockdown.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Mcqueen, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

And in other news ....this Christmas in Italy ... from la Repubblica

Tommaso Ciriaco reports that "Forbidden to leave the cities at Christmas and New Year

Covid, no exceptions to reach distant relatives. Save the lunches at the restaurant on the 25th and 26th. Conte insists on the reopening of high schools on December 14th. Hope: penalty or the third wave will be worse

ROME - You will not be able to move from your Municipality of residence on 25 and 26 December, and not even on 1 January. This is how Giuseppe Conte and the majority heads of delegation established a long summit at Palazzo Chigi. It is evening when the government meets to resolve the most delicate issue of the "Christmas decree".  ...

Location; Varese

Picture; the Corso Mateoti 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* "Forbidden to leave the cities at Christmas and New Year, Tommaso Ciriaco, la Repubblica, December 2nd, 2020