Burton Mail

Look at how we made it this far through pandemic

POIGNANT PROSE, DANCING AND INTERVIEWS MAKE FOR A THOUGHT-PROVOKING PROGRAMME

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POET Laureate Simon Armitage narrates this film with his pandemic poem, which begins: “There was a world once… where did it go?”

The poem charts the progressio­n of the pandemic, from the early “rumours and ripples” arriving from Wuhan to the roll out of the vaccines and easing of lockdown. It’s all very thought-provoking and poignant as the poetry is read alongside dance sequences.

But the nuts and bolts of the film are the interviews with people from across the country, each of whom give their personal testimony about living through the past 18 months.

Bobby Laviniere, identical twin of longest-running Covid patient Steve, tells how they both contracted the virus in March, 2020.

“I texted my wife and said ‘I can’t breathe, you need to take me to hospital’,” he says.

Later, visiting Steve, who remains incapacita­ted in hospital, Bobby says: “I believe Steve is going to come back to us.”

Meanwhile, Matthew Ridgway talks about the collapse of his 200-year-old family business, Newton Abbot shoe shop Ridgways. Tearing up as he recalls the “horrendous” day he had to make everyone redundant, he says: “Sales dropped and I knew we were pretty much doomed.”

We also meet Andy Macdonald, a pub landlord who fed thousands of people in Preston for 1p per meal, and Comfort Adeyami, an asylum seeker who struggled with her mental health during lockdown.

Then there’s young mum Victoria Stedeford, who paints a picture of the trials and hilarities of looking after young children all day and every day.

“The days were very long,” she says.

 ??  ?? Poet Laureate Simon Armitage
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage

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