When the government announced a lockdown in March, it meant that our Papworth Trust customers were not allowed to visit the day centres and many of them were separated from their friends and family.

A lot of the usual day centre activities quickly moved to online Zoom sessions including the popular PapMag Voices: Lockdown Journal. Over the weeks the customers became journalists and wrote stories about experiences that they had taken part in to help keep them feeling healthy, active and well during this period. With the help of Janice Oliver (Activities Facilitator) they have created the first edition of their Lockdown Journal. “Every week it has been really exciting and interesting to find out what we do to keep our spirits up through Lockdown. We’ve been learning how to be Papworth journalists, asking questions, writing and designing pages and taking photographs”.

Sammy, a customer who has been attending the weekly sessions on a Monday stated “it’s been most exhilarating at times. It’s been good for our mental health. I’d never written a poem in my life and now I’ve gone onto write two more”. You can view Sammy’s fantastic poem ‘A Storm is A Brewing’ in this edition.

They are about to begin working on the second edition of Lockdown Journals and would love others to join in. If you’re a Papworth Trust customer and would like to get involved you can join them on Zoom every Monday at 1:30pm.