The 23rd March saw a National Day of Reflection to mark the beginning of the first Covid lockdown last year. The Westway Community Cafe and Centre which has in recent months been our local vaccination centre, marked the occasion by creating a flower wall on its front gates.
The day was created to give people nationwide the opportunity to reflect on the past year, their family, people they've lost, people who have helped them and possibly carers and shop workers who’ve continued to be supportive throughout the lockdown, as well as our NHS team and local GPs who have been working tirelessly at the centre to administer the vaccine.
The centre invited local residents to stop by and add a fresh, silk or homemade flower to the pots which had
been secured to the wall. Lots of beautiful flowers were received and so the decision was made for the wonderful meals on wheels drivers to hand them out while making their deliveries. Older residents, those who are isolating and members of the vaccine teams received beautiful bunches of flowers along with their meals.
We spoke to Claire Richards. manager at The Westway who said "The idea of marking the National Day of Reflection with flowers came from one of our volunteers. It felt important to stop and take a moment to think about the astonishing year we’ve all just lived through. Chats with people dropping flowers at our gates highlighted that the day meant different things to different people. It was an opportunity to think about loved ones, those that have died and, for some adding flowers, it was a way of thanking the organisations big and small that have worked so hard to make life a bit easier. On a day our when our NHS colleagues were vaccinating we wanted the flower wall to be positive, it was lovely to share the day with others and then to pass on sprays of flowers to those isolating at home."
