EDITOR’S LETTER
As your fabulous emails and wonderful feedback have continued to pour in at unprecedented levels over the past month, many of you have given me and the rest of the GH team a great big helping of happiness. Knowing that you’re getting even an hour or two of pleasure from reading this magazine has spurred us on, and I really do feel all of us are finding a way through this challenging time together. As Jo, a nurse, wrote to tell me: ‘While flicking through the articles after a stressful and busy shift in a London hospital, I really did switch off from work – it totally lifted my spirits on a day when I really needed it.’ Meanwhile, Jane emailed with the message: ‘How refreshing to hear about some of the acts of kindness during this incredibly difficult period in all our lives. Having to live practically isolated for the past 11 weeks, although the weather has helped enormously, it has been horrible every day hearing depressing news on both the TV and radio. So it was a pleasure to pick up your magazine and read your soul-nourishing pages of positivity.’ And Susan said: ‘I have never subscribed to a magazine before, but at the beginning of lockdown, I thought, damn it, I am going to do that, and I love it! When it drops through the letterbox, it makes me feel so happy. I can honestly say I read it from cover to cover.’
All this got us thinking about how we could involve you in filling our pages with more powerful and positive stories in the months ahead. So, we’re now calling on you to tell us about those people you’ve come across in recent months who you feel deserve some recognition as being our real National Treasures – you know, those brilliant and selfless individuals who are hardwired to help others. Whether it’s in the line of work (nurses, doctors, teachers, bus drivers, supermarket staff…) or in the community (volunteering at food banks, helping elderly neighbours with shopping, making phone calls to the lonely…), we want to hear about the people you’ve met who you’d like us to celebrate. Do turn to page 7 to find out more, and please write to tell us about your heroes.
On the subject of heroes, I think we’ve all been blown away by recently knighted Captain Sir Tom Moore and his extraordinary fundraising challenge – it just goes to prove how much of a difference one person really can make, even in the run-up to their 100th birthday! I’m so proud that his daughter Hannah Ingram-moore has chosen to talk to our magazine about her amazing dad and his life story. I’m sure that reading this will give you some moments of pleasure and I think you’ll find more helpings of happiness elsewhere, too, including getting to know cover star Clare Balding a little better. Clare’s year has worked out entirely differently to how she imagined, but she’s remarkably upbeat: ‘Simple things bring joy, such as a gorgeous day, or even the sun coming out on a rotten day. Watching flowers bloom, animals, talking to my family online… all those things bring me joy.’ Hear, hear to that!