Town’s cautious sense of optimism for brighter days
FAMILY barbecues, outdoor meetings and Easter egg hunts are on the agenda for Mansfield families this week as more lockdown restrictions are eased.
And people in Mansfield have revealed their plans this week as well as their optimism for the future.
Sue Evans, 39, who works for an events company, was out in Mansfield town centre with her two-year-old daughter Lucy on the first day of the loosened restrictions.
She told the Post: “It’s not changing a lot for us, but we are hoping to do an Easter egg hunt in my parent’s garden this weekend.
“I guess I’m feeling slightly more optimistic about everything, and I have had my first jab of the vaccine.
“I work for an events company so we are hoping to start up again in late summer.
“I’m still a bit on edge about the next few months, and what else is happening around the world.
“So I’m feeling cautiously optimistic. Today is the first time we have been to Mansfield for months, Lucy had never been on a bus so we came out for an adventure.”
Alan Litchfield, 68, who is retired, was out for a walk in the town’s Titchfield Park and said he has already got a schedule planned with his family this week.
He said: “We’ve got this week planned out, my granddaughter is coming tomorrow, my son is coming on Friday and my other son is coming on Thursday.
“It is fantastic, we’ve managed to book a couple of days away in Bath in June permitting everything goes to plan.
“I don’t think we can take anything for granted, and I wouldn’t book a foreign holiday yet.
“But it’s fantastic, you’ve got to be optimistic about everything.”
Walter Davies, 64, is also planning to have family around and was excited about today’s warm weather forecast.
Temperatures were forecast to soar to 21C in Mansfield and Mr Davies says the warm weather will help.
He said: “It’s all very exciting, I think the weather forecast for today and tomorrow really helps.
“We’re having a small family barbecue tomorrow, it’s the perfect way to be able to get back together.
“It’s definitely going to be different to the last time we all saw each other, which was Christmas.
“It was dark and cold then and tomorrow it’s going to be warm, sunny and will get dark later.
“Being able to do stuff like this makes you feel like it’s more normal, and hopefully it’s only going to get better from here.”