Everybody’s talking about…
ALL TOGETHER NOW
left: Exeter City Football Club fans are the best; below: Jamie Vittles, chief exec of CITY Community Trust
The impact of this pandemic has been that many have felt – or worried that others have felt – isolated and lonely; no easy problem to solve, especially during a national lockdown. But the Exeter community rallied forming a plethora of projects, reach-out programmes and collaborations to bring people together. Here are just two.
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© DARREN SHADDICK
ockdown Blues is a project where members of the community were invited to share their creative responses to loneliness during lockdown, which then got turned into an online scrapbook. The result is a huge, and very touching, collection of poems, art, photos, videos, short bits of writing, and songs. This creative sharing space came about through a collaboration between academics Charlotte Jones, Frederick Cooper, Olly Clabburn, all at the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health at the University of Exeter, Exeter Phoenix, Devon Libraries and UNESCO Exeter city of Literature. “The project started as a way of letting people express how they’re feeling, primarily through writing or making art,” says Frederick. “We also wanted people to be able to see these and (hopefully) identify with them in some way, or realise that other people are going through similar things.” Anybody is welcome to send in their contributions. For more: www. lockdownblues.co.uk Darren Shaddick’s art shows people’s experiences
Standing tall, Cygnet Theatre
Charity
SAVE IT
Theatres are facing a very uncertain future at the moment; one such is Exeter’s Cygnet Theatre who is reaching out to the community with the launching of #SaveOurTheatres Crowdfunder as part of a national campaign, with backing from the Theatres Trust and its Ambassador Jude Law. Cygnet Theatre was created as a charity to train the next generation of repertory actors and bring communities together; it is a place to come together, to be entertained and to be inspired and has a legion of fans, notably Sir Ian McKellen who said after a visit to the theatre, “In future, when I am asked what an aspiring actor can do to advance their hopes of a career in live theatre, I shall recommend applying for a place at the Cygnet.” For more: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-cygnet-theatre
6 I EXETER LIVING I www.mediaclash.co.uk
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econd up is health and wellbeing charity Exeter CITY Community Trust who have developed a unique programme designed for older people living in Exeter. The programme, called Tackling Loneliness Together, provides lots of opportunities for interaction, from telephone and ‘garden gate’ chats, to free activity packs and special Zoom sessions which offer sports talks, bakes and chat and even some beginners’ IT training. Of the activities on offer, one of the most special is the pen pals initiative. Youngsters in the city are being linked up with an older person to embrace letter writing. You can choose to write about anything you like, or you can join the Grecian pen pals which links older and younger fans of Exeter City Football Club. Already signed up to the programme is 22-yearold University of Exeter student Ellie Doherr. “When I read about this initiative it just appealed to me and I felt motivated to get involved,” she says. “If writing some letters could brighten someone’s day or just make a difference to a person who is isolated, it seems like a really lovely thing to do.” If you would like to be involved, please contact Jack Watts at jack.watts@ecfc.co.uk For more: www.exetercct.org
