By Jim Cannon, Chair of the York Older People’s Assembly

2020 will be the year of perfect vision – with hindsight that is.

We started the year with a new government committed to “getting Brexit done” and on January 31, the UK left the EU.

During January, the initial signs of coronavirus 19 (COVID19) spreading across the world were evident with the very first UK case in York on January 29.

Yet life carried on as normal until, on March 23, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a national lockdown, with pubs and restaurants shut, church services cancelled, sporting events abandoned.

Deserted streets, social distancing in queues for supermarkets, and self-isolation have followed.

The daily government press conference started off with journalists asking questions of the PM and two experts. But this soon became a remote activity with limited follow-through on questions.

I don’t know about you, but I began to watch these hoping to find out what was going on but now find them so unhelpful that I catch up with the highlights on the news.

So where are we now?

There are lots of numbers talked about and references to scientific guidance. Recently the Financial Times published a report which estimated the number of UK deaths in the UK as a consequence of COVID19 at 41,000.

This compared with the 17,337 deaths in hospitals reported up to that point.

The difference in these numbers was because there are large numbers dying in care homes, at home and in the community. Sadly, all of these reflect individual families and stories.

There are stories about the lack of personal protective equipment and of UK companies making these for export.

There are lots of stories about testing capacity, but meeting Matt Hancock’s target of 100,000 tests per day by the end of the month will be a real challenge.

All these issues will continue to be discussed and debated over the coming weeks and possibly months – hindsight will really come to the fore then!

On a personal level, I miss seeing our family and cuddling the grandchildren, and playing football and cricket with them.

I missed the home Easter egg hunts although we managed a virtual one.

I miss regular drinks in the pub and our 'putting the world to rights' conversations.

I miss the other meetings and chats, the chance to go to church, to travel and meet friends, and sporting events be it on TV or live.

I was also planning to start a walking football course (at least the intention was there!)

I miss our York Older People's Assembly open meetings every other month - we had Johnny Hayes talking about York’s independent shops in January with David Casswell telling us about York Neighbours. We now have real pressures on our independent shops and York Neighbours is now really coming into its own.

Our March meeting was cancelled but we were looking forward to hearing about classes at York College and from York Learning for older people – we like to encourage people to be active.

Our future programme is suspended, and we will be considering the options open to us, as and when there is clarity on the next stages.

What I have learned is that Zoom offers a good chance to watch our grandchildren pull faces and tell us about their Joe Wicks workouts and their school work at home.

WhatsApp has been great for keeping in touch, and I really enjoy the funny videos and jokes that have been circulated.

It is interesting the way something like 99-year-old Captain Tom Moore walking up and down captures the imagination and raises over £25m for NHS charities.

The weekly clapping shows how much people value the NHS and the dedication of the workers.

Hopefully, the longer term lesson will be acted upon, and in particular a more integrated health and social care offering will improve the lot of people who need the support, as well as our care workers.

Finally, a little poem to to cheer you up...

No, I don’t want a funeral plan!

I am not a considerate gran!

If there’s any spare cash

I’ll go out on the lash

And enjoy it all while I still can!