English county takes part in socially distant dancing

LONDON: While the nation gets to grips with life in lockdown, some people may find it difficult feeling motivated and energised in the morning.

One street in Cheshire came up with a fun solution to this dilemma while simultaneously forging a strong sense of community spirit.

Elsa Williams, 23, shared a video on Twitter of her street joining each other for a session of “socially distant dancing“, which she said takes place every day on their road at 11am.

In the video, residents stand outside their front doors dancing along to Tom Jones “It’s Not Unusual”, including children, young people, adults and elderly individuals alike.

The daily dances, Williams explained, are led by a local fitness instructor called Janet Woodcock and lasts around 10 minutes so as to cause “minimal disturbance”.

Before the sessions began just over a week ago, many of the street’s neighbours did not speak to one another, Williams added.

“Most people are dancing in their drives. Anybody who looks a bit too close together live at the same residence. People’s health is paramount, so of course 2m+ distancing is maintained at all times,” she tweeted.

“Mostly our road is kids and elderly residents who are self isolating, so they look forward to it.” Williams said that the dance was initially only supposed to be “a one time thing”.

However, “it lifted people round here up a bit and they wanted more”.

“It’s also worth noting that our road hardly spoke to each other before all this!” Williams stated.

“Nobody is dancing in time. We know we’re not very good. Ultimately, it changes nothing. But for a few minutes every day, our little corner of the universe feels a bit less alone. That’s something.” Actor Sheridan Smith tweeted in response to the video, saying: “I want to live on this road.” Another person commented: “When this madness is all over it will be these moments which will live longest in our memories.” A group of neighbours in London have been working out together on their doorsteps in a bid to keep fit and build community spirit amid the coronavirus lockdown.

The classes were launched by fitness enthusiast Simon Garner and are open to residents of all ages on his street in Kennington, South London.

Garner also created an Instagram account called On The Step to document the sessions, which sees his neighbours perform a range of exercises including aerobics.

“Crazy times call for kind actions with Simon’s motivational and movement mornings,” the Instagram’s bio reads.

In one video shared on the account, the neighbours can be seen using brooms and tins of baked beans as weights alongside motivational captions such as “Safely grab your sweeping brushes and stretch” and “Get those beans up!!!”.

Elsewhere photos show the residents, young and old, stretching on their doorsteps with Garner sharing words of encouragement and reminding his neighbours to “Keep on your step and away from others”.

In another post, Garner described the sessions as “social distancing in a community that is growing”.

The classes have proved a hit with social media users as well as with the street’s local residents, with many praising Garner for keeping spirits high during times of uncertainty.

“This is amazing”, one person commented, while a second person wrote: “Leading the world in bringing a community together here in SMG. Bravo Simon, just fabulous (again!). X.” Another person added: “How wonderful”, followed by a series of red heart emojis.

The workout sessions come at a time when UK residents have been asked to stay at home, except for a limited number of reasons including shopping for basic necessities, one exercise outing a day, for medical needs and travelling to and from work, but only if this is absolutely necessary.

The nationwide lockdown has brought out the spirit of community and camaraderie among many, with supermarkets introducing dedicated shopping hours for elderly and NHS workers, people offering to run errands for vulnerable neighbours and strangers delivering books from their own collections to anyone self-isolating.

Boris Johnson has not said how long the UK can expect to be under lockdown but has advised that the situation would be reviewed every three weeks.

The vast majority of police officers did not know that Johnson was going to announce a nationwide lockdown in response to the coronavirus outbreak, and learned about it at the same time as the public, a senior officer has said.

While national police leaders were informed of the impending measures shortly before the prime minister’s address to the nation on 23 March, there was no time to pass the message down to the rank and file.

Johnson told the public that if they did not follow the rules, “the police will have the powers to enforce them”, but the law did not yet exist.

Kerrin Wilson, assistant chief constable of Lincolnshire Police, told reporters: “We were in the dark and waiting for that [announcement] as the rest of the country were.