Team North Yorkshire: How Leyburn’s Arts and Community Centre has stepped up during the Covid pandemic

The enormity of the crisis became clear in the February, and the centre was forced to close down with the building repurposed as one of North Yorkshire’s network of 23 Community Support Organisation hubs, set up by the county council to help residents look after each other as unprecedented restrictions were imposed on everyday life.

Eighteen months later and as society is gradually returning to normal, Leyburn Arts and Community Centre is once again hosting its familiar activities, group and clubs – for now at least alongside the Leyburn and District Community Support Organisation hub.

It is recognised that coronavirus is still in the community and that some people are more hesitant than others about returning to social mixing, so the centre is maintaining simple but effective precautions like the use of hand sanitisers and a one way system.

Visitors who want to maintain higher levels of personal protection, like wearing face masks, can be confident in the knowledge their decisions will be understood and accepted.

When the centre first switched to become a Community Support Organisation hub, its eight trained volunteers acted to help the volunteers of 27 parish support groups across the district, and proved highly effective in ensuring needs were met, with the hub volunteers taking on tasks which proved too complex for the more localised response.

The Tuesday Club meets at a safe distance

Through the worst of the pandemic, the parish support group volunteers helped with tasks such as shopping and transport for medical appointments, while a team with authority to collect and distribute medication from pharmacies ensured no-one was left without the supplies they needed.

David Poole, who leads the hub, says: “As all this was going on it soon became obvious that people were beginning to suffer from social isolation and needed some form of companionship and at the hub we needed to know if domestic problems or health issues were coming up, so we could deal with them as quickly as possible.

“As a result, we decided to set up a community befriending programme with three volunteers to help combat the challenges of loneliness and isolation.

“More than 20 people in Leyburn alone were getting fortnightly calls and they were encouraged to chat. As people got to rely on the calls, conversations got longer and longer and we had to recruit additional volunteers."

Today, circumstances have changed markedly and although coronavirus is still present in society, widespread vaccination means it is less of a threat to life. Organisations have begun to resume activities closer to "normal" as many residents want to get back to closer social contact.

David says: “Now, instead of having to chat on the phone people are coming back into the community and we are able to see them face to face at activities like the Lunch Club and Tuesday Club."

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Volunteer Anne Cranston, who leads on the community befriending programme, has been involved in Leyburn’s twice-monthly Tuesday Club from its start four years ago, and realised early on that isolation problems could emerge.

“I started ringing members once a fortnight, but found it was a bit much for me on my own, so commandeered some volunteers and there were five of us,” she says.

“It meant a lot to those involved and when I said we were stopping calls, they were all really appreciative of what had been done. It has been wonderful."

Anne is an advocate of taking wider precautions than the Government’s recommendations and wears her mask outdoors on trips to town. She stresses that those attending group activities are free to take whatever personal precautions they think necessary.

Tuesday Club member Joyce Burden says all those involved were disappointed when the Leyburn Arts and Community Centre had to close, but all had found the regular telephone calls a great benefit. “Getting a phone call with a friendly voice was lovely,” she adds.

“We have now had a few meetings again and are enjoying it. I think some people were a bit frightened of going out into company but the helpers do everything they can to make sure we are sitting distanced apart and use hand sanitiser going in and going out. It is done very professionally.

“I am sure our little club has done an enormous amount in getting people more confident about going out. Having something to look forwards to gives you a lift."

The befriending programme has been maintained for those who are still vulnerable to health issues, and for those who have returned to social mixing, measures are still in place to ensure their safety.

David says: “At the Leyburn Arts and Community Centre, the message is still that we have a pandemic and we still need to watch ourselves. People should still follow the procedures they feel comfortable with.”

There is a one way system for entering and leaving, and people generally still wear their masks but social distancing has gradually reduced and people are now sitting together and chatting.

David adds: “What has become obvious is that some people are still a little scared of going out and they didn’t realise the number of activities that are now again available in the area.

“To overcome this, we started a community restart programme and got parish councils, churches and all the other organisations we could think of to advertise every event to show people there was a lot going on and they should not be scared to go out.

"A business restart programme was also set up by the Lower Wensleydale Business Network to help businesses which needed support to get up and running again, but we found that businesses quickly adapted and got going well very on their own.”

Further work is also being done by the Lower Wensleydale Business Network to re-establish the partnership between the business community and the Wensleydale School and Sixth Form with the focus on apprenticeships.

Today the Leyburn and District Community Support Organisation hub is still providing seven days a week cover.

Some people are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill from Covid-19 and not everyone is confident about being out and about as restrictions ease. We can all help to respect and protect each other by:

•being considerate and making space;

•wearing a face covering in crowded public places;

•keeping up with home testing twice a week; and

•being aware of the symptoms and self-isolating when you need to.

If you’re older than 18, please make sure you get both doses of the vaccination

Thank you for being part of Team North Yorkshire, you’re helping to keep our communities safe.