I remember the 23rd of March so clearly. There was a lot of speculation as Boris took to the podium to make his announcement. He delivered the news that none of us wanted to hear. England was going into lockdown. Our world changed that day. Suddenly the staff were wearing masks and aprons; all family visits were cancelled, and we had no idea how long it would last.
I won’t say it wasn’t unsettling, it was. Our time with our families is precious and it seemed unthinkable that we wouldn’t be able to see them. Timken were quick to act, they replaced face to face visits with Facetime calls. It felt quite empowering to be learning how to use an iPad at my age. I’d heard the term silver surfer, but I never thought that I’d be one.
As the pandemic raged on, we continued to enjoy life in our little bubble. We have our own bar, hairdressing salon and tearoom and ours remained open. Our activities continued albeit in a modified form to ensure that we kept our distance.
Days become weeks and weeks became months: Facetime calls became pod visits; pod visits became garden visits and this week we were finally able to invite our families to take part in an event. 
On 29th August the circus pulled into Timken Grange and so to did our families. There was a stilt walker, a ring master, clowns, jesters and mime artists. There was also a rather portly ballerina who was a little out of practice. There was a delicious barbecue, there was live music, there was singing and dancing, there was tears and hugs but most of all there was laughter and love and lots of it.
It has been a long year and a half, but all the worry just faded away. The sun was shining, the punch was flowing, and we were together again, and it felt so good.
Many thanks to the lifestyle and care teams for making this happen and thank you to the Academy of Movement for the very talented stilt walker and to Lesley Ann & Katie Rose for the entertainment. We are told that the team will arrange another family event before the weather changes and I for one cannot wait.