A FATHER and son from Kidderminster have both been hailed as Lockdown Heroes after receiving separate nominations for our awards.
Mark Harvey was nominated by his dad Eric for his work building visitor pods for local homes to allow elderly residents to be reunited with their loves ones after months apart due to the pandemic.
The builder began making the Covid-safe pods, which are made out of wood with a perspex window, after seeing a segment on the news about a woman who wasn't allowed to see her mum due to coronavirus restrictions.
The father-of-four paid for the first three pods out of his own pocket, at a cost of around £200 per booth, before a member of the public set up a Go Fund Me page to help pay for the materials.
Mark said: "Back in November, I was asked by a friend who works in a care home to build an isolation booth so residents could safely be visited by family. Being a builder, I had materials around to construct one and on delivery I saw how pleased the residents were that they could see family, especially with the Christmas period upon us, and spoke to a few carers about how the residents were deteriorating rapidly without anything to look forward to, so I took to Facebook and offered to build anybody who needed one for free.
"A very kind young lady Lana Harvey - no relation - even set up a Go Fund Me page to help towards costs - just under £1,000 - which helped a lot.
"I had to fit them in for construction and delivery around work which took its toll a little, but was so rewarding after seeing them in use.
"One resident actually stopped me on my way out, thanking me so much that I had made it possible for her to see her brother on Christmas day for the first time since lockdown."
Mark's dad Eric was nominated for a Lockdown Heroes award by a reader who had followed his Facebook blog posts about life in lockdown.
Eric shares his Diary of a Self-isolator blog posts on social media every Sunday. The tongue in cheek accounts of lockdown life are read by hundreds of followers each week and many have commented to say the posts have helped them to feel more positive and not feel alone.
On receiving the award, Eric said: "When I was contacted last week and told that I had been nominated for this prestigious award, I was truly overwhelmed. I had originally sent in a nomination for my son Mark Harvey who before Christmas had been making and fitting special pods for local care homes.
"So, yes I was expecting a call but to discuss my nomination, I certainly didn’t expect to get a nomination myself!
"I had been working part time for Screwfix up until last March 14, when the coronavirus epidemic started to become serious. I was forced to leave work as I was categorised as extremely vulnerable due to asthma and other respiratory problems.
"Initially it was for three months. I wondered what I was going to do with myself, so that week I started writing my Diary of a Self-isolator.
"I started to post it on a few sites just for fun, but within a few weeks, I seemed to have a lot of followers, so I kept it going.
"It was designed to cheer people up, so coronavirus figures were only ever mentioned in a couple of lines at the end of each day, otherwise the diary was about everyday life and some of the things my wife and I got up to during the week.
"The wife - or Mrs H as she has become affectionately known – plays a big part in the diary.
"I estimate that I have around 2,000 followers to date as I post on around 10 different sites..
"This week I have started my 49th blog. I now have followers all over the world in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, America and lots of places I have never heard of.
"It will soon be a year since my initial lockdown and we have only left the house on two occasions - one was for my jab!
Read more:
- Kidderminster theatre group makes a 'wheel difference' to disabled lives in lockdown
- Award for unsung lockdown heroes at Kidderminster care home
"So, I am overjoyed to be receiving an award for something that I love doing anyway – writing, and I’d like to thank all those devoted followers for their brilliant support over the last twelve months, also everyone involved in putting all this together."
Since November, The Shuttle and Wyre Forest Rotary have been searching for the heroic individuals, community groups, charities and businesses that have kept people safe and well throughout the lockdowns.
Nominations for the awards have now closed but we will be publishing stories about our winners in the paper each week.
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