20th JULY - 31st AUGUST 2020
MEET THE TEAM
JON RUSSELL
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Hi my name is Jon Russell. I helped start the Mutual Aid group with Lisa Hartley. Before lockdown I felt disconnected from the community and really wanted to get involved and help. This came at the right time for me having suffered anxiety for a long time and feeling the need to connect in a community sense. I live in Berkhamsted with 2 girls and my lovely wife. I’m looking forward to this next chapter with the front garden festival and am excited to see how people interpret it and what lockdown has meant for them. I’m really interested in photography and if anyone wants to share how they have felt in lockdown and want it documented for the website. Please get in touch. Jon
HILARY ARMSTRONG
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Hi. I’m Hilary Armstrong and I became involved with the Mutual Aid group in the first couple of weeks, helping out with the admin. I’ve lived in Berkhamsted for 20 years with my husband and 3 kids. It’s been amazing to see our community coming together to support each other through this difficult time. I hope we can keep that spirit alive as we move forward. I’m really looking forward to seeing the varied submissions for the front garden festival. We’ve all had such different experiences in the last few months and it will be great to represent them.
LISA HARTLEY
Hi I'm Lisa. I have lived in Berkhamsted for the majority of my life and have 3 children, two of whom are now adults! At the begining of March I was moved to set up the Berko Community group (formally known as the covid 19 mutual aid group for Berkhamsted) with the hope of getting together a support network so that no one would be in a situation where they became isolated and left without the help they needed during the Coronavirus crisis. The aim was to ensure that every one of the 309+ roads in Berkhamsted was covered by a volunteer; a reality that was achieved by 250+ volunteers within only 7 days! Jon Russell came alongside me within the first few hours and together we set the group up. We were joined shortly after by Hilary Armstrong, Debs Tilley and Lydia Ragoonanan, a group of 5 of us who had never met! Our community pulled together in an incredible way to support one another, its been amazing to hear so many heartwarming stories of love, care, compassion and connection. The Front Garden Festival is an opportunity to connect further and to celebrate our community, to reflect upon and share the good and bad of our lockdown experiences and explore how we move forward in the best way to keep the community spirit going.
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ABOUT THE FRONT GARDEN FESTIVAL
Here in the UK we love gathering at the many festivals that are usually available to us at this time of year. They are our way of celebrating something that we enjoy, whether music, culture, film or arts, or to mark an important occasion whether it is related to a historic event, religion or tradition, getting involved often brings happiness and a sense of togetherness.
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Things have been very different this year with the pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Not just because of being unable to meet on mass but because of the significant changes many of us have faced both good and bad. As a nation we have changed, our environment has changed, for many of us our security whether health, financial, or other has been shaken. We do not know at this time how things will go and what is to come.
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Despite the uncertainty and challenges that we have faced, one thing that has shined so brightly during this time is the power of people and of community. That includes our frontliner's, friends, neighbours and families, those who have helped and supported us, and also ourselves for making it through this despite the challenges.
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The front garden festival gives us an opportunity to celebrate our community, to express through music, culture, arts, food or other ways our experience of lockdown whether positive, negative or mixed and what has helped us during this time. It allows us to communicate and express ourselves to others and perhaps even to offer something back to the community.
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Between the 20th July to the 31st August we invite you into your front garden, or if you don’t have one to your doorstep, balcony or window in order to display, present or offer something. You could do this alone or along side neighbours. Perhaps you’d like to invite others to watch, just make sure this is done safely and in accordance with the law regarding social distancing. Then send us a photo or video with a description so that we can display your contribution on this website and social media. We will provide a final showcase or presentation at the end of the festival. If anyone wants to help us make a short film let us know!