100 Letters from Lockdown: A Book from Childhood

During the January 2021 COVID pandemic lockdown, I asked local schoolchildren to write letters to care home residents, telling the isolated members of society about their lives. Initially the project was a competition, with the young, winning scribes receiving £200-worth of books and tickets to local performances.

Reading through these well-crafted, poignant, wonderful letters, I shed a tear, laughed out loud and was heartened by the young writers' hard work. Now it's time to share these amazing Letters from Lockdown with everyone - and so they are set to go on display in a special exhibition at The Brewhouse Arts Centre in Burton-on-Trent from 19th July - 6th August, 2021. 

The letters have historic significance, and stand as a testament to all those primary-aged children who battled through a very confusing, strange time. 

And so they are now going to be published in a special book entitled 'Dear Resident... Childhood Letters from Lockdown'. All the money from the sales of the book will go to the National Memorial Arboretum in East Staffordshire near Burton, which recently announced the creation of a COVID Memorial Woodland. 

To maximise the funds raised for this worthy cause, I will be publishing the book via the existing Raring2go magazine printing route. If published on demand by an online service such as Amazon, much of the funds would disappear in fees. 

So now I'm asking for anyone to donate as much or as little as they can, to help showcase the amazing efforts of our young people. Copies will be sold direct from Raring2go! Burton & Ashby (www.raring2go.co.uk/burton-and-ashby) and some copies will be distributed to local care home, libraries and community spaces. 

Donate at least £8 to the fund and you will receive a copy of the book. Click through here to download an order form, or send me a message or email ([email protected]) to pre-order.

Thank you for your support,
Alice

Editor, Raring2go! Magazine, Burton & Ashby & Letters from Lockdown Project Manager. 

Crowdfunder is waiving their platform fees for crowdfunding projects during the coronavirus crisis. The Covid-19 epidemic could affect millions of people in the next few weeks.

These are unprecedented times but together, we are stronger, and the response is coming from communities across the country.