Exeter Community Wellbeing – Sometimes it’s the little things…
Published: 5 June 2020
“You must stay at home” was the announcement from the government on 23 March 2020. Exeter Community Wellbeing, the new service set up in response to this coronavirus crisis, was launched within 48 hours.
The role of the helpline has been to connect people with support that reflects their unique situations and give volunteers the opportunity to reach out to local groups and coordinators.
As some government guidelines are relaxed, we find ourselves in a shifting landscape. Amongst all this change, and the uncertainty that is a continuous background noise, people in our city are showing us something remarkable: ‘social distancing’ may be bringing us even closer together.
It’s not just the huge, society changing things that make a difference to our way of being. In the face of the biggest disruption in our lifestyles in our generation, a global crisis that six months ago we couldn’t imagine we would need to adapt to, we are re-discovering that seemingly little things can make our world a better place.
Creative gestures
Nikki from the Duryard area of the city has found time during the ‘lockdown’ to finish a rainbow coloured crochet blanket. She describes it as her “Lockdown project for a sweet lockdown baby”. Not far away in St James, two young brothers decided to cheer their neighbours up with some street art.
One neighbour said: “It was lovely to come home this evening to find an apple tree painted outside our house. I wondered who that might have been.”
There are special moments to be found all around us. It’s documented around the world that nature is flourishing despite our current predicament.
We may not have herds of mountain goats or kangaroos joining our public highways in Exeter, but that’s not to say our wildlife isn’t being noticed and appreciated. We were sent a photo of some hedgehogs by an Exeter resident. “Two sightings around midnight, scuffling down the road by the hedge opposite us. So sweet. I think I’ll get our boys to make a sign saying ‘Watch out, hedgehogs about!’ for when the traffic and taxis increase again.”
Community activities
It’s not just our noble British wildlife that is taking some exercise in Exeter. Wellingtonia Park residents have been enjoying the ‘Wellingtonia Estate Mystery trail’. The creator, Josh Hamilton, was inspired by the mystery treasure trails popping up around the country and set up clues to guide his neighbours around the area on their own adventure.
Residents have thoroughly enjoyed the fun and have left comments for Josh, “We did this yesterday, we all had so much fun! Thank you for taking the time to put it together”. One trail detective said, "We know who you are. We know what you’ve done. We know where you live... Thank you very much for the mystery trail!”
Josh told us: “Sometimes you come across great ideas online or while travelling and you think: well that'd be really cool to see here where I live! Then comes the difficult part, taking the first step towards doing that thing yourself, and then another, and then somehow once you're moving forward, it's done!
“It's made me smile every time seeing families with their clues in hand looking around. That made it worthwhile for me. After hearing back from folks, it seems to have been one little thing that's brightened up a day for many families.”
There are other uplifting community led exercise opportunities, too. St Leonards resident Brian Eddies has been teaching outdoor, socially distanced Qigong sessions and meditation to residents of his building. Brian decided to train to teach Qigong after attending sessions at Newtown Community Centre in Belmont Park.
He says that having a visual impairment has been part of what motivated him to succeed and he hoped to inspire others by showing that obstacles can be overcome. Residents enjoy the chance to socialise safely and look forward to the sessions, finding them positive and relaxing.
Wendy Carter, an active member of the Heavitree Runners, believes that age is no impediment to living life to the full. She told us: “Until recently I’ve been more artistic than active but about a year ago I rediscovered yoga along with swimming and a new activity, the gym.
“Lockdown has suppressed the latter, but I’ve found a great combination between yoga and running, two activities that are still open to me. I’m fortunate that at 74 I’m still able to take on new exciting activities. I believe that it’s never too late to start something new. There is no goal. I’ll go just as far as I can.”
This philosophy is rather apt at the moment. It’s difficult to know what the world we were used to is going to look like in a week or a month or more. It can be demoralising to look into the future and wonder if our goals are going to be achievable in the way we thought just weeks ago.
This is a good time to relieve the pressure a little, look around at what really matters to our wellbeing - as individuals and as a community - and face each day with the inspiration to ‘just go as far as we can’.
To volunteer your time or to request support, as an individual or a community group, get in touch with Exeter Community Wellbeing:
Phone: 01392 265000
Lines open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
https://exeter.gov.uk/clean-safe-city/community-safety/coronavirus/exeter-community-wellbeing/
Exeter Community Wellbeing is co-ordinated by a newly formed team including Wellbeing Exeter partners led by Devon Community Foundation, Exeter Community Initiatives and Exeter City Council. Funding partners include Exeter City Council, Devon County Council and Sport England.