My Year: Tough time for young footballers in and after lockdown

Richard Foster is a youth team manager and coach at Harrogate Railway FC and also acts as the club’s child welfare officer. He writes about the psychological effects of the two lockdowns on the club’s youngsters.

Early 2020 seems so long ago now. After travelling to Bedale, Catterick and a few others, we started to see some progress and as a team we were pleased with the performances and the results.

But as the weeks went by we could see and hear the chatter around covid growing. At board level, we were speculating and hypothesising what this meant for football, but generally we were relaxed. Then bang… we thought it might not be all over, but it most certainly was.

Boris signalling the first national lockdown triggered a catastrophic ripple effect through the grassroots football community which we are still suffering from today.

Before we could return we had many Zoom calls, fallings out, healthy debates, changes to policy and insurance, and a huge amount of red tape to negotiate along the way. It’s been truly stressful for all involved.

‘Social and psychological regression’

When we had the all-clear, we had all the sanitiser a club needed, buckets of disinfectant for the balls and our own apps for track and trace. Three months out, that’s all it was ,and if you’d asked me before “what would happen if you locked children up for three months with their games console?”, I’d have said they would have loved it and been in their element.

What I actually found on a large scale was social and psychological regression. This was massive as the two areas are 50% of a player’s game and, if I’m being completely honest, I was stumped. I had spent over a year coaching a team that played up a year and drew little significance from our results: they were more focused on the objectives, communication and improving their game.

What I got back was a team that had interactions limited to a microphone on a headset and a need to win that I’d never seen from them before. Essentially, the result has become emotive, as it is with gaming on a console.

These are challenges I’ve never faced and it has been interesting to coach these things out of them, but I can say that as we enter 2021, the team are back to their best and have been challenging some of the best teams a year above them. So the short-term effects of the lockdown were obvious on the players, but the long term effect of grassroots football is yet to be determined.

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Focusing on the positives

The positives are that as a club we are in a better position financially and asset-wise than we were pre-covid. We have a progressive chairman in James Loundoun who has worked tirelessly, along with our secretary Dave Martin.

The first team have seen an uplift in fortunes too: Mick, Josh and Ryan have been a breath of fresh air and have helped keep the relationship between the juniors and the seniors strong.

I would like to say thanks to all involved in the grassroots community. This has been an extremely difficult year and we have pulled together to keep it going. I wouldn’t be here still if it wasn’t for the parents and players!

I wish them all good luck for 2021.

My year: Zero Carbon Harrogate on hope for the environment

One of the few positives taken from the coronavirus lockdowns has been a focus on the environment and a recognition of how our actions impact on climate change, writes Jemima Parker, chair of Zero Carbon Harrogate.

“Can you hear me? Am I on mute?” have been some of the most uttered words of 2020.

For me, however, it was a year when the climate adaptation message has come off “mute” and a more meaningful conversation began about how we move to become a thriving zero-carbon society.

Perhaps it’s because covid has reminded us all that humanity is still vulnerable to natural forces. If a tiny virus can take down a global society then global heating, leading to sea level rise, extreme weather and the collapse of ecosystems, has to be taken seriously.

If you have truly looked at the impact of climate change you will have felt that vulnerability. It is something I have grappled with for years but felt alone.

However, as we come to the start of a new year, I am more hopeful about the future. The pandemic has given us a painful insight into what it is like to live in an emergency, but it has also shown us how our local culture and economy can rapidly adjust to deal with a new reality.

A vision of Harrogate in a zero-carbon future. Credit – James McKay.

What brings me hope is the ingenuity and resilience that has been seen across the district. Pop-up neighbourhood support groups, repurposing of businesses, cafes, charities and Harrogate Borough Council’s services and financial support taken to a new level.

It is this creativity and determination that we will need to enable Yorkshire to transition effectively to a low carbon economy, ensuring no one is left behind. Earlier this year it gave me great pleasure to publish the Zero Carbon Harrogate vision and strategy document, Becoming a Net Zero Carbon District by 2030, which sets out what a flourishing Harrogate District could look like, if we do it right. We could see cleaner air, new jobs, lower energy bill and a resilient local economy.

To help make this happen I’ve been working, with others from Zero Carbon Harrogate, to support the Harrogate District Climate Change Coalition, bringing together businesses, community groups and the Council to form an independent body to coordinate this transition.

We were unprepared for the pandemic, which resulted in a response that has been a disorderly stop-start sprint, trying to understand the science, assess the risks and implement appropriate mitigation measures.

In contrast, decarbonising our district will be a marathon but the science is clear, the risks are clear and we know what action to take to mitigate them. Now I’m excited about how we take things forward here in Harrogate.

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My Year: Harrogate pub landlord on a ‘horrible’ year

Coronavirus restrictions have been brutal on Harrogate’s hospitality sector. Marik Scatchard, the landlord of Christies Bar on Kings Road, explains what it has been like running one of the town’s most popular pubs.

New Year’s Eve last year was a busy night and at that point, we had no idea how the year would turn out.

It was terrible when we got locked down in March. We had to throw about £2,000 or £3,000 worth of beer down the drain. That didn’t feel good.

We got the £25,000 grant which the government thought would see us through, but the pub company we are with charged full rent during the closure. It didn’t help us – it just helped the pub company.

I was in favour of the lockdown because nobody knew what was going to happen. The virus is not great for some people.

Because I’ve got three children in school, I’ve had two lots of having to isolate for 14 days, and we all got covid at one point. We were all alright after two or three days. I didn’t really have any symptoms. My partner was rough for three or four days. My little lad, you wouldn’t have known he had it if he didn’t have a test.

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During the lockdown, I went into the pub to collect post and make sure it was secure. I’ve been a landlord at Christies for 13 years but it was horrible seeing the pub empty. It’s worse now seeing it empty because, before, everywhere was closed, so you took it on the chin.

When the last lockdown happened in November, everywhere was open except hospitality. It feels like we’ve been unfairly treated compared to other sectors. All these shops are rammed but you can’t come into a pub and sit at a distance, it doesn’t make any sense.

Christies Bar, Kings Road.

But when we reopened in July, we spent a lot of money to make sure it was covid safe. We’ve had no cases in the pub and we were very busy in summer. We thought, ‘if it carries on like this, we’ll be alright for Christmas’.

We very much depend on conference trade. There are massive ones in July and September. The British and International Golf Greenkeeping Association conference is usually in January and we can take about £30,000 in just three days. That will be gone next year.

You can’t see an end to it and I don’t think we’ll be open properly until Easter. But I think trade will be good again.

My Year: Peter Banks recalls confusion, poor communication and curfews in hospitality

In the latest in our series of personal reflections, Peter Banks, managing director of Rudding Park, takes us through the radical changes of his year.

January

Reports of an Epidemic in China. We seemed to think it was a purely Chinese problem.

I attend the Hotel General Managers conference in London on January 20-21; the key note speaker was a futurologist, some bloke who is supposed to be able to tell us what the trends and issues are coming in the future. Not ONE mention of a global pandemic – some futurologist he was. I wonder if I’d get my money back……..

February

Italy suffers really badly with overflowing hospitals and whole towns shut down. We still allow our population to go skiing to Italy. We watch in horrified fascination, a sort of voyeuristic “rubber-necking” at a crash on the motorway. We still refuse to believe it will happen to us.

March

Spain and France are the next countries to suffer and impose severe lockdown and curfews. We follow the “herd immunity” theory and allow Cheltenham races and European football matches to go ahead.

March 16 – Boris throws the hospitality industry under the bus when he tells the population not to go to pubs, restaurants or hotels. 500,000 hospitality jobs lost in one week as a tsunami of cancellations hits us. I convince all of my team to take a 40% pay cut to see us through to the end of June.

March 20 – Guests are leaving on the Friday night, in tears, telling me I should be shut now. The feeling is of a country on the verge of a war.

March 21 – I close the gates of Rudding and the hard work really starts as we try to contact every guest and alter their arrival dates. We try to move dates rather than refund as we are not sure how long we will stay cash liquid.

Rudding Park closes its gates as the coronavirus lockdown approaches

March 23 – Rishi comes to the rescue with the incredibly generous furlough scheme that saves millions of hospitality jobs and means that my team only need to take a 20% cut.

April

We have a skeleton team staying in the hotel for security, grass cutting and fire. I stay one week and start feeling like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Less “Here’s Johnny!”, more “Here’s Banksy!”. Two of my team start a 100-day stint staying in the hotel. Respect.

We start talking with the bank for CBILS loans and overdrafts. I redo the budget four times before it is satisfactory. Frankly it’s all guesswork anyway as we have no clarity, no plan and no communication from the government. I imagine they are even more up to their necks in it than I am. The daily briefings become a depressing tally of cases and deaths, but there seems to be no clear planned escape route.

The weather is amazing, we would have been heaving at the golf, spa and terrace if we had been open. Heartbreaking. We start taking bets that when we reopen it will start raining.

May

I start going a little crazy as I am not shaving, polishing my shoes or ironing a shirt. This way lies madness so I start coming in to work every morning – in my suit, polished Oxfords and clean-shaven.

We reopen the golf on the May 14, and are given 24 hours to get the course open. Boris announces this in a sort of “off the cuff” manner on Sunday night. Great planning and great communication. Not.

June

Four balls allowed, I have my first contact from the EHO about the external bar at the golf. Apparently guests can bring their own beer from Sainsbury’s and drink it in the car park, or I can sell them beer and they can drink it on the side of the road. I can’t however sell them beer and they drink it on our terrace, or spread all over the estate. Social distance is possible over 200 acres, surely? Apparently not. Them’s the rules.

We try to keep our team engaged with volunteering for Ripon Walled Garden and the “Rudding Pop-up Litter Pick”. We collect over a tonne of rubbish from around Harrogate by hand.

Rudding Park staff went out litter-picking in the summer

July

Hallelujah!!!! We are open!!!

July 4 – Holiday Park reopens.

July 14 – Hotel reopens.

July 25 – Spa reopens.

We have planned and implemented so many Covid secure ways of operating: masks, visors, temperature checkers, apps, sterile cutlery bags, staggered dining times, online check in and out – the list is endless.

Staff return to work in a panic. They don’t know what they are allowed to do, are afraid of talking to guests – daily tears are the order of the day.

Guests are delighted to be back, and are very understanding. I (foolishly) hope that this will be a sea change in guest behaviour towards staff. This good behaviour lasts about two weeks before usual service is resumed. Silly old me, ever the optimist.

August

Steam rooms and saunas are still closed by law. This apparently is our fault and guests get really annoyed. I suggest that they write to Mr B Johnson, 10 Downing St, London WC1.

The world goes mad with the “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme. A month ago we weren’t allowed to see each other, now we are encouraging restaurants and pubs to be full. The irony! Still, we have to join in as we have to take the opportunity to make some money as the bank still needs paying.

Rishi announces a 5% VAT rate on food and accommodation. Tremendously generous and is the difference between many hospitality businesses being solvent or going bust.

September and October

The incredible demand continues and we are so busy. Some guests are Covid deniers and swear and shout at staff when we ask them to wear a mask or tell them what the “rule of six” means. Guests book two separate tables of six and then push the tables together.

The ridiculous curfew starts. Most guests behave and go to bed, some bend the rules by ordering room service drinks, then walking out of their bedroom and sitting in public areas in the hotel. Guests complain, swear and shout when we try to enforce the curfew. Again, a lack of clarity. I wonder whether the government actually asked an hospitality operator how these rules would work in practice. Somehow I doubt it.

November

Here we go again. Closed on November 4. This lockdown is not a real lockdown however – more of a just hospitality and retail closed. We use the time to refurbish the Clocktower restaurant – we can make as much noise as we want and not disturb guests.

December

The impenetrable tier system starts. Guests in Tier 3 are “advised” not to travel, but it is not illegal. This creates great confusion for guests: are they allowed to stay or not? We tell guests that they are “advised” not to travel, but we are open. The Government needs to make some unpopular decisions, that’s what leadership is about sometimes – you can’t always be everyone’s mate.

December 20 – The new variant is announced and the Government is finally forced into making an unpopular decision. At last he acts like a real leader. We have 45 rooms cancel for Christmas, but at least it’s clear. At last the communication is getting better.

We planned a different New Year’s Eve at Rudding. Because of the curfew we decide to be creative and change time! We will give every guest a watch with the time set two hours forward so that 10pm GMT is 12pm RPT (Rudding Park Time)!!! Therefore Champagne and pipers can happen within the rules at Rudding!

December 30 – Well this really is the icing on the cake. Nine hours’ notice to close as we go into Tier 3 at Midnight tonight. New Year’s Eve we should have been full. All of the food (turbot, venison fillet, lobster) all wasted, the time spent preparing the dishes, the administration of New Year’s Eve, The watches, the recovery packs, the marketing collateral for our Rudding Park Time – all wasted. They must have known this was going to happen, but to give us nine hours’ notice? I understand the danger of the virus – but a little more notice would have been appreciated. Nine hours? Really? If I ran a company like this – I would be out of a job – pronto. For a year of poor planning and poor communication this has got to be the absolute gold star award. No wonder the Prime Minister got Matt Hancock to deliver the news. Poor old Matt – always Boris’s Stooge…….

We decide to have New Year’s Eve on December 30, rather than 31. They might have cancelled New Year’s Eve, but not at Rudding!!!!! Music, balloons, time change, smoke machines, Champagne – this is our Dunkirk, I reckon.

 

Overall, a chastening year – battered, but still standing. Still trying to look after our guests, trying to understand the impenetrable fog of directives coming from government and trying to tread the thin line between financial success and failure.

What a year. Leadership, Communication and Resilience have been the watchwords of the hospitality industry.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in 35 years at the sharp end of hospitality, it’s that no matter how bad today has been – the world will continue to turn, the sun will come up. The key is how we frame tomorrow. As leaders that is our responsibility – let’s kick 2020 into touch and frame 2021 with energy, enthusiasm and positivity.

Bring it on.

My Year: Harrogate student’s ‘distant light at the end of the tunnel’

The challenges of 2020 were faced by young people, too, including year 13 student Matt Roberts. Harrogate Grammar School’s head student, studying photography, economics and English language, reflects on his experiences in the last year.

I think it is safe to say this year has been a strange one. If you had told me at the start of year 12 that I would spend half of it at home, being required to not go out, I am not quite sure how I would have responded.

But here I am. Thinking back, just like you might be. Wondering what a crazy year 2020 has been, whilst also thinking about how far we have come. For me, one of the biggest challenges was adapting to remote learning. We were not allowed in school, and as a result we had to learn from home.

It started off incredibly challenging but as time progressed, we adapted. We learned how to do online lessons on Microsoft Teams through our school iPads, and as students, we quickly became proactive, wanting to stay on top of the work to put ourselves in the best position we could for our exams this coming summer. We are in a fortunate position that our full timetable of lessons can be held remotely, setting us up for our final year of school.

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However, things do remain challenging with some students across the country having to face repeated isolations. I myself had finished my third lockdown, and was hoping to come to school the next day. But unfortunately, due to rising cases in my year, on the eve I was set to return, we were all sent home until after Christmas.

Despite all of this, there have been lots of positives we can take from this year.

At school we have shown that we are able to adapt to change, and that we can pull together when we need to, and across the country this has been illustrated perfectly by the NHS. We were also fortunate enough to have Captain Sir Tom Moore to help us through those initial months, showing that there can always be something to smile about, while raising £32 million!

Although the light at the end of the tunnel may be distant, it is there, and getting nearer.

On behalf of the Harrogate Grammar School community, I want to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year. Stay safe, and keep smiling!

My Year: ’10 months of hell’ for Boroughbridge travel agent boss

Peter Cookson, owner of Spear Travels in Boroughbridge, reflects on the way the covid pandemic undermined the business he had spent 30 years building up – and looks forward to the start of a new year.

We were in Singapore last Christmas meeting our two-month-old grandchildren for the first time. That was when we saw the first indications of the new infection. Fears were rising of a ‘SARS-like’ epidemic coming again.

Unfortunately, whilst we were there, I had picked something up on the plane. I ended up in hospital with pneumonia. I was given a test for “’flu” and I now wonder what that test really was for and what I actually had? Either way, the test was negative.

‘Radically different’

We returned to Singapore a couple of weeks later to help with their house move and the twins. We were due to be at our second home in Corfu in February to check it out, so we flew from the UK to Athens and onwards to Singapore.

This is when the potential of this new disease was obvious. Leaflets in our seat pockets on the plane dated early December 2019 advised us of the risks of the new “flu-like” symptoms and to make sure we reported them. The cabin crew were masked and mask wearing was advised but not mandatory.

The atmosphere in Singapore this time, even though it was only two weeks later, was radically different. We stayed for two weeks to help them move and were glad to leave. It was obvious that this infection was going to spread more easily than SARS.

In hindsight, as things panned out, we were incredibly lucky to have been able to go and see our grandchildren but, like so many others now, we haven’t seen them since. Zoom is great, but no substitute.

On our arrival back in the UK in mid-February, panic had set in as to what covid would mean for our country. It was difficult to separate our concerns for our personal welfare from those selfish concerns for our 12-strong travel agency business which we had spent nearly 30 years building up.

We realised it was going to be a tough summer, but none of us thought we would still be talking about this now. With the impact of covid and Brexit still unknown, our worries will continue well into 2021.

Without furlough pay, CBILS loans and various grants, it would have been difficult to continue.  I often “joke” about “30 years of hard work being written off in 30 days”, but that’s what it felt like by the end of March.

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Our company had always been financially successful, which stood us in good stead with our cash reserves. But can you imagine a business where you are giving back nearly all your revenue for the previous year, because of cancelled bookings, and for what you had done in 2020, with no new business coming in?

It was 10 months of hell, but everyone is in the same boat and none of it is our fault. Our aims were always to protect jobs, and with furlough and CBILS loans, we have been able to do that.

I don’t usually celebrate New Year’s Eve but this year I will make an exception and be glad to welcome in 2021 with open arms!

My Year: Harrogate estate agent ‘luckier than most’ amid pandemic

For businesses, it has been a challenging and worrying year, in many different ways. Tim Waring, leading estate agent and chartered surveyor at Lister Haigh, reflects on what started as a normal year but soon began to change.

Looking back over the past year, one of my happier times was a fabulous day during a group ski trip to France. We’d just had a day with blue sky and sunshine in Val D’Isere, and then the Saturday night dinner is our dining highlight of the trip.

But this tranquil setting came to an abrupt end. After the first course, we were told everything was closing that night.

It was a real wake up call given I guess we had been in our world for three or four days beforehand. My other half had ironically told me I was in a bubble and didn’t appreciate how difficult things were becoming.

It proved to be a prophetic turn of phrase. It all seems such a long time ago given everything that has happened since.

I was lucky my estate agency was only closed for two months. Since reopening, the property market has been a hive of activity, helped, in no small part, by the stamp duty incentive offered by the Chancellor.

Meanwhile, I have friends in the retail and hospitality sectors who have seen their businesses decimated after two national lockdowns and ongoing tier restrictions. Some may well not re-open in 2021.

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So I cannot consider myself hard done to, when one of the things I missed out on this year was celebrating a big birthday with friends in April.

Lockdown has fast tracked my relationship with the aforementioned girlfriend to the point that I now consider we are partners, and happily in a support bubble.

But yet, one friend has died from this awful virus, and at least two others have had hard times in hospital because of it.

I might have not seen my son who lives in London for many months, but fortunately technology has allowed us to keep in contact in a way that wouldn’t have been possible just a few years ago.

My grandson, Arthur, was only five months old when this wretched thing started. Now he is walking and already proving to be a typical toddler. He lives in Harrogate, so I have been able to see him regularly.

I love re-watching a video of him trying to walk and instead falling over in the leaves. Yet another reason to feel I have been luckier than most in 2020.

So that’s why, all things considered, I think I’ve been luckier than most of late. What happens next year – who knows?

When the Bank of England says things are “unusually uncertain”, maybe that says it all.

The Latin phrase carpe diem, “seize the day”, comes to mind when one reflects on the last 12 months.

My Year: Health boss on ‘sobering’ loss and ‘inspirational’ community action

Richard Webb, director of health and adult services for North Yorkshire County Council, led the authority’s covid response through the year. He tells the Stray Ferret he has not forgotten those lost to the coronavirus pandemic.

’Tis the season to be… jolly? Maybe it’s more about being careful and kind?!

What a year!

The Harrogate district, like the rest of North Yorkshire and the world, has spent much of the last 12 months wrapped in the nightmare of covid-19.

Sadly, too many of our fellow residents will be mourning loved ones taken by the virus. Empty chairs around festive tables will denote a loss that is only too real. Behind every number is a human being; someone with a life story and loved ones. We must, and will, remember them.

It has been a sobering year for those of us working in public health and adult social care. In March, we were supporting NHS colleagues who were converting Harrogate Convention Centre into the Yorkshire and Humber Nightingale Hospital.

I remember one particularly poignant Friday afternoon call with the Bishop of Ripon, talking about the projected huge numbers of deaths, how we would ensure ethical and personalised decision-making; and how we could support grieving families and communities.

The first wave was not as bad as initial fears, but it took its toll: at least 600 people across North Yorkshire have died from Covid and there have been more non-Covid deaths because people may have been reluctant to get the treatment they needed for cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. Mental health continues to be a major concern for us all.

At the same time, the response from the community has been inspirational. In spring, as everyone came out onto our streets to clap key workers, and the cheers rang out across Harrogate’s rooftops, my thoughts were with public health and social care teams, volunteers, supermarket workers, farmers, as well as NHS colleagues… the list goes on because so many people have worked so hard.

Harrogate Grammar School has been producing visors for the NHS and other key workers

Harrogate Grammar School was among those to make and donate visors during the first lockdown

Local businesses did all they could to help with PPE when we couldn’t get supplies. People made face masks. The Harrogate Bus Company featured pictures of nurses, social workers and care workers on their buses, in tribute to their work. Major Tom’s delivered pizzas to care homes to say thank you. Dementia Forward developed the “Café in a Box” to support people with dementia and their carers. North Yorkshire Sport delivered activity packs to keep people fit. Harrogate Festivals cheered and stimulated us by moving a year of events online. Harrogate Town won a well-deserved promotion and, for a time, did better than my beloved ‘Boro!

Personally, I have learned much about myself and others. There have been great highs and a few lows. I have been moved by people’s stories, courage and willingness to help others. I have been inspired by my conversations with people who use health and social care services: they have played a vital role in helping each other and coming up with new ideas as to how we could support them better.

And I have been grateful that people have come together to ensure we have kept ahead of the national situation wherever possible: whether that’s getting more testing available locally, tapping into the massive effort of volunteers, or supporting care homes to re-open to visitors where safe to do so.

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Apologies to my family and friends, because I have been so focused on work this year. Even more than usual! To those who wanted to do an evening Zoom beer or Zoom quiz, sorry: I have become Zoomed-out! However, I am grateful to have spent lockdown in one of the most beautiful parts of England. There is something about making the most of what’s on your doorstep: walking, cycling, running, breathing.

Even as the vaccine moves us towards “living with covid”, it is likely, although not inevitable, that we will face a third wave of the pandemic. Right now, we are at the toughest part before the dawn: needing to keep each other safe; to drive down infection rates; and to look to the future.

It is also an opportunity. We can look, with different eyes, at where we live, and what we do and build something new and different. I am optimistic about our potential and about the triumph of hope, humanity and innovation.

Looking ahead, and learning from the past 12 months, I am reminded of a line from Robert Frost’s poem, Birches, which I learned at school: “earth’s the right place for love”.

My Year: Harrogate student learns how rapidly the world can change

Former Harrogate Ladies’ College student India Taylor, 19, was one of those caught up in the A level results fiasco in the summer. Throughout this year, she has learnt to expect the unexpected, as she tells the Stray Ferret.

Where do I start? This year has been one surprise after another.

I started the year coming back to school and hearing the usual “this is the time to start knuckling down and working hard” lecture that every student knows too well.

At this point, I still had my hopes set on studying Psychology with Criminology at Loughborough but that was about to change. Around mid-March, I chose to reapply to Leeds Beckett so I could stay close to home.

That same week was the first time I realised coronavirus would be sticking around. I went to two amazing gigs in Leeds but both bands were unsure whether they’d be able to finish their tour because of the spreading virus.

Within a week, my exams were cancelled and it was announced that schools would be closing on Friday. It all happened so quickly.

The atmosphere in my all-girls sixth form was dead. On our last day of school, we all sat in the common room and watched as Boris Johnson announced a full lockdown. We couldn’t believe what we were hearing: this was history in the making.

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During the next few months we all gave up hope and our online learning became pointless. By late May, that was it, we had officially finished our secondary education… It couldn’t have been any further form what we planned.

I took up running during the summer and focussed on looking for the positives in the world, even when it all seemed impossible.

Then came results day, a day I’d spent years working hard for. I opened my laptop the next morning and I saw B, C, E. I became another victim of the government’s algorithm.

I was distraught, but I channelled my energy into standing up for myself. I emailed my local MP as well as any media sources I could find contact details for.

I’m so proud of my generation for putting pressure on the government to make a U-turn just four days later. I now had BBB and was absolutely thrilled.

I deferred my place at Leeds Beckett as I knew I would miss out on so much due to the virus.

Harrogate Ladies College

The final term at Harrogate Ladies’ College was not what anyone was expecting

Covid became even more real in September when I tested positive. It started with a tight chest and left me without my sense of smell for a month.

I wasn’t breaking any rules – I was simply babysitting a child for a working mother who needed to go to work.

In the new year, I am hoping to go to Munich to be an au pair for an Irish family, but as I am writing this, more and more travel bans are being introduced.

If 2020 has taught me anything, it’s that the entire world can change in just a matter of hours.

My Year: Harrogate covid group founder’s hope for community in 2021

Susie Little set up the Facebook group Covid Co-Operation, Harrogate, as the first lockdown began, and has spent the year co-ordinating community support in all sorts of ways. She tells the Stray Ferret about the insight that has given her into the realities of people’s lives.

I was asked the other day what have I missed the most since the start of the pandemic and, without question, it’s hugs.

Not just hugs from the people I love, but the ability to hug all the amazing, kind and generous people I’ve met this year through the Facebook group, Covid Co-Operation, Harrogate, which I started in March, just before the first lockdown started.

If someone had told us before Christmas last year what December 2020 would look like, I don’t think anyone would’ve believed such a year could actually happen.

When creating the group, I thought we might end up with 100 or so people who wanted to help, and seeing it turn into a group with nearly 11k members at its peak, has been quite an experience. The wonderful group admin team and members have helped hundreds, maybe thousands, of Harrogate people over the last 10 months, with everything from shopping to buddy phone calls to furnishing new homes for homeless people who have nothing.

We raised over £11,000 for six very local charities during the first lockdown, and nearly £2,500 for Christmas presents for disadvantaged children during the second. Over and over again, people have stepped up and given their time and money to solve the problems and needs of others without hesitation.

Vaccinations are being given against covid-19

The arrival of the vaccine has given Susie Little hope for the future

News of the vaccine approval earlier this month has had a profound effect, certainly for me, on mental health going into the new year.

2020 has been so difficult mentally for everyone, irrespective of financial status or domestic set-up. Those who live alone crave company; those who don’t crave solitude! Already vulnerable families have become more so, families doing OK previously have dropped into the vulnerable category without warning, and domestic abuse has seen a truly horrific increase.

The vaccine, with enough take-up, gives us freedom to improve living conditions for the most vulnerable in our area. It gives hope and light; a belief that one day soon this will be behind us.

Personally, 2020 has given me an insight into just how difficult everyday life is for so many people, and it has been a privilege to play a small part in alleviating some of that hardship during a year which every single one of us fervently hopes never ever happens again.

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