The longer this thing goes on the more people will be turning to different hobbies and ideas to fill their time.
I have no problems filling my time due to a number of interests that are computer-based. Firstly there's the Hethersett Herald which takes up a large number of hours each month and, with very little going on in the village at the moment, we are going to have to be super creative for next month's edition.
Then I have my own website which I am trying to populate with various information, poetry, writings from the past when I find them, photographs etc etc. One of my current projects is to track down all the songs written by Jimmy Webb (who I hear you cry). There are literally hundreds and there are also thousands of recordings of his songs by hundreds of artists. Yet he remains relatively unknown. Many people will have heard of songs like Galveston, Wichita Lineman, By The Time I get to Phoenix, MacArthur Park - the list is endless. So I'm trying to track them down and when I'm finished with Jimmy I will do some other artists such as The Beatles. I think you can see from this how much of an anorak I am. My website is at www.peterowensteward.weebly.com.
Later today I will post a gallery of some of the photos I have taken since we went into semi-lockdown. I know from comments received that many people have enjoyed looking at these and I am hugely grateful for all the kind words. Who knows I might turn them into a talk for groups once this is all over.
I already do a talk entitled "Hethersett Heroes and Heroines and a Horse" which I have given to Hethersett Mothers' Union and Hethersett Pensioners. I am working on a second part to this which will be entitled "Hethersett Heroes and Heroines Part Two and a Tree." I am always happy to talk to groups for a small donation to charity.
Then I have a very close involvement with a site on a massacre in the Second World War at Le Paradis in Northern France. On 27th May, 1940, 99 members of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, the Royal Scots and a number of other regiments surrendered to a German SS unit in the small French hamlet of Le Paradis which is about an hour's drive from Calais. They were marched along a road and into a farmyard and machine gunned. Ninety seven of them died but two survived. Our website is dedicated to the memory of the 97 and is also the story of their families, their descendants and those who also fought in the area.
After the war the man who gave the order to shoot was found, tried and hanged for war crimes. I am one of five members of the Le Paradis Commemoration Group and also a trustee of a group looking to have a lasting memorial put up in Norfolk to the 97. Plans for this are well advanced to have the memorial in a prominent place in the county (I'm not at liberty to say exactly where at the moment but it is somewhere that will be accessible to everyone).
Over the course of the past two or so years we have interviewed a good number of people and the website is now accepted as the go to place for information on the massacre. Being in lockdown will also give me the chance to work on a book about the massacre, looking at the situation from a people rather than military aspect.
Finally I am a trustee of the Norfolk Family History Society and write and edit their quarterly magazine The Norfolk Ancestor. Many people will be using the time during lockdown to either do more or start their family history. It is a fascinating hobby and I will be working on my own tree. Membership of the society is very low (£15 for UK residents) and includes four magazines a year and access to the members only section of the website which has millions of Norfolk records. A couple of years ago I launched a Facebook site for the NFHS, expecting a couple of hundred members to join. Today we have 2,453 members and counting. On this site you can exchange views and help others with their research and I know a number of people have "broken down brick walls" through the Facebook page. If you are interested in genealogy and family research why not join the Facebook page. It's free and you never know where it might take you.
I feel very fortunate in the fact that being retired in these difficult times I have no real financial pressures and that gives me time to pursue the interests above from home. I just feel desperate for the people struggling on small budgets. My thoughts go out to them.
Now off for my Gove Gander and will post some more photos when I get back.