Edwina: Spirit will win the day
COMMUNITY spirit forged during the winter floods is being harnessed to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, says former Tory minister Edwina Currie.
Ms Currie, 73, recently filmed a BBC documentary, Pilgrimage: The Road To Istanbul, which she says has also helped her prepare for the next few months of lockdown.
She spent two weeks trekking from Serbia through Bulgaria to Istanbul with celebrities from different religious or atheist backgrounds, including Dom Joly, Adrian Chiles and Fatimawhitbread.
And she says the two experiences both at home and abroad will help in getting through the difficult months to come.
Edwina, who lives with husband John Jones near the Derbyshire dam that was almost breached during floods in December last year, said: “We live in Whaley Bridge, so when the dam nearly breached, 1,500 people were evacuated, police were everywhere, the whole town shut down. We were scared but also hugely proud of the response of the community and it recovered quickly afterwards.”
The former junior health minister says that everyone around them is now pulling together in the face of the pandemic.
“One of the things about the Whaley Bridge crisis is the astonishing community spirit. We’ve already had a note through the door from our neighbours saying anything you need here’s the mobile number, we’ll fetch it for you.”
Now, after a pilgrimage which saw her trekking around six miles a day through rough terrain with her co-stars, Edwina is getting set for the next few weeks of isolation with John with the help of some good books, good walks and good TV.
“Thank goodness for Netflix. I’ll do a bit more cooking than I normally do and pottering around the garden. I might read Hilary Mantel’s latest.”
The key to surviving boredom is setting a target, she says. “I’m going to pace myself. Each week there will be a different target – it keeps boredom at bay, it gives you something to do and it will create good memories for when all this is over.
“And it will be over.we will see you all on the other side.”
● Pilgrimage: The Road To Istanbul starts Friday, 9pm, BBC Two.