Regional papers across the country have provided coverage on the unique challenges and experiences faced by individual communities during the 100 days of the Covid-19 lockdown.
The Yorkshire Post has today published a special 16-page supplement entitled Life in Lockdown: 100 days in 100 pictures. The cover photo shows children taking some time off from home-schooling to enjoy fresh air in a field near their home in Tadcaster.
The Post’s editor James Mitchinson has praised the work of the paper’s photographers to capture life throughout the crisis.
“Throughout the whole period of lockdown our photographers have been putting themselves on the front line to document life in Yorkshire,” Mitchinson told the SoE.
“Even when there were no official assignments to cover, they hit the streets and came back with striking photos from across the patch, depicting deserted streets or picturesque landscapes.”
Mitchinson says the supplement came about from the idea of creating photo packages of more uplifting stories to give readers a balance from the serious nature of Covid.
“We covered an 82 year old lawnmower collector from Filey, a Punch and Judy entertainer in Richmond, flour being produced at our local windmill near York, and maintenance on the Vulcan Bomber in a hanger at Doncaster Airport, among many more.”
“All assignments were shot at a safe distance and professionally by the team so as not to put our subjects or themselves at risk.”
He adds, “None of my team ever moaned about being sent into the field, they just cracked on like true professionals and kept me in front page pictures throughout.”
An editorial by the paper, reflects on what it says are two priceless traits – common sense and co-operation – that have served the Yorkshire region so well during the Covid lockdown. It adds these traits are “recurring themes which define the album of pictures collated by this newspaper’s photographers for a special supplement today that charts the region’s response for posterity.”
Elsewhere in the UK, Archant has published an extraordinary seven-minute video for readers to reflect on how a small outbreak became a frightening new reality.
Appearing on news sites such as East Devon’s Midweek Herald and Norfolk’s Eastern Daily Press, the video by Neil Didsbury follows the political decisions from the very start of the Covid-19 crisis right to the present moment to reflect on the spread of the virus and the lives lost.
The Worthing Herald acknowledged the passing of time with a photoblog, starting with the eerily deserted high streets of Worthing, Adur and Littlehampton in March.
The piece adds, “Lockdown has been an emotional rollercoaster and unlike anything the vast majority of us have experienced in our lifetimes.
“Whichever way you look at it, we are all living through a hugely significant piece of history that will be studied and discussed for generations.”
Sites published by regional group Reach also chose to mark the day by creating an online timeline of the lockdown such as that of the Manchester Evening News’ photo timeline here.
And for readers in Scotland, the Press and Journal has evaluated how its country’s special lockdown measures have affected the lives of readers.