Younger and Older Londoners’ Stories of COVID-19

In 2020, soon after London went into its first lockdown, communities, arts and cultural, and heritage organisations began projects to start to gather people’s experiences of the pandemic. 

Collections of films, poems, photographs, diaries, and much more were created, focusing on lived experience and generating a wealth of collections that could be tapped into by those responding to the crisis. 

Whilst collecting projects were occurring policy and decision makers were researching the impact of COVID on London’s diverse communities. The Mayor's London Community Story programme aimed to connect policy makers to the communities generating these creative responses to COVID.

With the closure of many in person services and the instruction to stay at home, many younger and older communities have been feeling more isolated than ever during the pandemic. This has caused and worsened many mental health issues and feelings of loneliness and uncertainty.

However, many organisations have provided socially-distanced activities and virtual services to improve wellbeing and equip younger and older people with new skills.

Recovery must support younger and older communities who have been badly affected by COVID. For younger Londoners, the Mayor is on a mission to ensure all individuals in need are entitled to a personal mentor and that all have access to quality local youth activities by 2024.

Jazanne Arts place older people at the heart of their work, using creative arts and reminiscence to improve resilience, wellbeing and quality of life. The organisation focuses on Caribbean older people and those living with dementia.

For the 'Through My Window' project, Jazanne Arts ran online creative writing and performance workshops for 16 isolated older people aged 60-96 who primarily come from Caribbean communities. As a result, they produced a series of audio plays and book about life in the pandemic. 

This zine entry documents the work of Wapping Youth during the pandemic, including providing free meals to vulnerable community members, virtual exercise sessions and free sports summer camps for local children.

LMF is a global not-for-profit that educates and empowers women and marginalised communities in technology and entrepreneurship. This zine entry describes their work during COVID-19, including establishing mentoring and scholarships programmes.

Tower Hamlets Homes manages over 22,000 homes in Tower Hamlets. This zine entry explains how they supported the community during the pandemic, including providing food shopping, medicine drops, befriending phone calls and COVID-19 safety materials.