Messages of support for boy, 7, who moved house before the lockdown
A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD left isolated after moving house to Yorkshire just before the UK lockdown has received messages from across the world after a social media appeal.
Harley Glen moved 200 miles from Edinburgh to Harrogate on Saturday March 21, the day before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the UK-wide lockdown.
The family moved a week earlier than planned because they felt they risked becoming stuck with nowhere to live as the contract at their old house was coming to an end.
Harley was due to start year two at Western Primary School on Tuesday, but the coronavirus outbreak meant he was unable to say goodbye to family and friends in Scotland or meet new people in Yorkshire.
“That affected Harley a lot ... it was a very surreal move,” said Mrs Glen, a 33-year-old personal trainer. “When you move and can’t say bye to anyone or meet anyone new, that’s when I really thought I had to see if I can try and connect.”
Mrs Glen sent an appeal on a local Facebook group asking for pen pals to get in touch with “terribly lonely” Harley, either by messaging her on Instagram or sending a written letter to his new school. The post was seen by a BBC journalist who wrote an article about the appeal, which has, in turn, caused people from across the globe to get in touch.
“We have had Instagram messages from a family in Osaka, Japan, two families from New Zealand and a lot from around here, it’s crazy,” Mrs Glen said yesterday.