16th October covid and its effects

​George Ledger (ARPS, DPAGB) has visited CCC numerous times over the years as both a judge and a speaker. We now consider him to be one of our friends. He is a long-standing member of both Consett and Hexham photography clubs, a former policeman and a former professional Sports Photographer.  When Covid, at first generally referred to as a Corona virus, and lockdown struck George was no longer able to continue his work in sports photography and so decided to take on a project recording images of how the virus and lockdown affected his local community. The project eventually became so extensive that George had to be supported by other local photographers. George's talk to us and his photographs covered the period from when the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced the lockdown starting on 23rd March 2020 until we started to return to normality, albeit a changed normality, in June 2021. His talk followed a monthly progression as circumstances and the regulations unfolded.
 
George recorded how people began to adapt to the new lockdown situation, with some people setting up their own gym equipment and training regimes. People pursued a great variety of interests and a whole army of volunteers sprung up to help the vulnerable within society. We were all strongly told to limit our time outdoors and contact with each other. People were allowed to establish their own very limited social bubbles which, themselves, created issues for those who were excluded. George was able to gain access, always following the current guidelines (which often involved photographing through windows), to a range of NHS, care home, funeral and other key workers. These images showed the anguish, as well as the community spirit, which was awakened. Clapping for carers became a common communal activity. George was able to gain access to a school where the children of emergency and key workers were educated under very strict regimes, often involving hazard marking tape in classrooms, toilets and other parts of the building. Communications between individuals and groups were often via Zoom calls, which were used by educators and many camera clubs, including CCC.  Home shopping deliveries and arrangements for collecting shopping became the norm. As strict regulations were gradually relaxed, one-way systems were operated in retail outlets and people had to sign in before attending their local pubs (often naming themselves Donald Duck or other such cartoon characters, George observed) and following the rules on social distancing. Even as society returned to normal, it was a new normal. Home shopping deliveries, working from home, the use of face masks etc have become much more common features of our society.
 
Even though it is only a relatively short time since CCC members had, as mature adults, experienced Covid and lockdown, we were struck by how weird and surreal the experience already seemed to us. Did we all really live like that for many months? We reflected on how the experience will be viewed by people in 10, 20, 30 etc years' time and how George's project represented and captured a unique piece of social and cultural history for our country. We felt that at least one organisation in the country should take ownership of George's body of work on the project and retain it for future generations. Accordingly, one of our members is to contact a local museum who have in the past asked CCC for copies of local images. 
 
Our members were very appreciative of George's talk which transported us back to a fairly recent but very strange time for us all. 
 
Ray Barnes
CCC Programme Secretary