Covid-19 in Banstead

An account for future generations compiled by Gary Walker

This is a contemporary account written by a local resident.

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I had never really imagined that a crisis like this would occur in my lifetime. I had thought that the most likely such scenario would be a Nuclear War; this seemed a possibility in the 1980's. However, I did not expect in these modern times, that a new virus would be affecting all of our lives and would become the greatest disaster since World War II.

I, like everyone else, started hearing about COVID-19, in January 2020, but it was still far off, and the Government told us that it was unlikely that it would become a serious issue in the UK. 

The first signs that I saw in Banstead about COVID-19, were around the end of February  2020, with shops such as Boots, and other chemists with notices on their front entrances either advertising hand sanitisers, or else saying that they had run out of them. 

We were advised to wash our hands after going out, in March, but did not have to wear face masks, then. 

I used the Banstead Library, frequently, for internet access, and in March, I sometimes caught snatches of conversations between the librarians about what would happen. 

I remember looking at some of the free magazines in there, advertising local events and I realised that NONE of these were going to take place. 

The schools all closed down, and more frustrating for me, so did the Banstead Library, on March 20th. 

Waitrose was out of flour for weeks as mothers stuck at home with the kids started to do more baking.

The next sign of the coming crisis, and indeed, throughout it, was the new, but soon to be familiar ritual of "social distancing" where people had to keep two metres apart!

There would be queues (often quite long) outside shops and supermarkets such as Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, and Banstead Fruiterers. 

I first saw such a queue, outside Banstead Fruiterers, as early as March 21st, two days before Lockdown One. 

Lockdown One was announced by Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, on the evening of March 23rd 2020, and in his address to the nation, he told us that we must stay home, and only go out, once a day, for exercise, or to do shopping for essential items. 

Unusually, the front entrance of Waitrose was closed and all customers had to enter through the car park to the back entrance.

 Also, the number of people allowed in any one shop at one time was strictly limited. The security guards were busy sanitising and issuing trolleys. 

In the early days of Lockdown One, the queue at Waitrose extended all the way to the back of the car park then snaked three times along the back then round to the gated vehicle entrance and into the High Street, outside the Tesco store.

It took an hour just to get into the supermarket. Even when you got to do your shopping, you would find long empty shelves where the toilet rolls used to be, and the same with hand cleanser.

Of course we had the obligatory signs on the floor.

Many times you had to wait while another shopper obstructed the very shelf you wanted to get to, then proceeded to pick up every single item, then put them all back having finally chose just the right one.

NHS staff were allowed to skip the queues in recognition of the long hours they were working.

Happily, the very long queues reduced to something more reasonable after the initial phase of panic buying was over. 

Of course, all shop staff also had to wear face masks or shields, and in Boots, I saw people sometimes washing the floor, etc. 

Couples were not allowed to shop together in Waitrose as the extra person stopped another shopper being allowed in.

This first lockdown was the most frightening for me and everyone else, even more so, as it was unprecedented in our time.  All non-essential shops closed down, for nearly three months, until June 15th. The essential shops such as Boots, Chemists, supermarkets, and newsagents stayed open. 

When I did go up to Banstead High Street, it was noticeably empty of people. 

However, throughout Lockdown One, and indeed, the entire period, the buses kept on running. Passengers had to wear face masks. 

When out, anywhere, one had to keep two metres apart from other people. This, became a  bit awkward when I walked up or down Woodmansterne Lane, which is narrow anyway. Inevitably, I would meet other people and they were ALWAYS coming the opposite way to me! This meant that either me, or them, would have to either step out into the road, or else back into somebody's front entrance, in order to keep clear of them.

One was never sure, when dealing with oncoming walkers, of who should give way i.e. who should go out into the road, me, or them? I always thanked those who moved aside for me, but it was irritating when people did not thank me for going on the road (no small thing, with all the cars).  Often, I had literally only started walking up the lane, only to encounter the first of many people. 

I noticed that far more people were walking along Woodmansterne Lane than usual, as local exercise was allowed but also, people needed to go out to help with their mental well-being. Social distancing extended to the Lady Neville Recreation ground too.
 

The internet came into its own, then, with many events moving online. Groups could join together to form Zoom meetings, and even schools had to move all education online, too. 

The National "Clap for Carers" phenomenon on Thursday evenings at 8pm, started by May, for a few months, whereupon I saw neighbours standing at their front gates, for about two minutes to clap, bang saucepans, etc, and inevitably, some would always let off fireworks, or play music; one house around the back of my block, in Chalmers Road always played the song, "You'll never walk alone". 

Inevitably, any social meetings as well as larger fairs and festivals were cancelled. In Banstead, the usual May Queen Fayre, was cancelled, as was  Banstead Village Day, in July. 

However, in the case of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe on May 8th, people got around this, by having individual family celebrations, in their front gardens. I walked around my block down Woodmansterne Lane, Chalmers Road, and Kenneth Road, and down to Chipstead Way, and I saw that virtually every front garden had these celebrations going on. These looked very pretty, with Union Jacks, and bunting, everywhere. 

This was helped, considerably, by a freakishly long spell, of gloriously sunny and hot weather from about the start of the Lockdown and lasting for several months. At least, I had a big back garden, so I could sit out in the glorious weather. 

I was delighted when Lockdown One was lifted on June 15th, and non-essential shops could re-open. 

However, some institutions took longer to re-open, such as barbers, and hairdressers which opened in early July, and Banstead Library which only re-opened after mid-August, but only in a limited way, with a hand sanitiser placed on a desk, just inside the entrance.

In the later lockdowns, one had to book online, or by phone, e.g. to go on one of the computers. We were each given a keyboard which we had to take down to the computer, and when we'd finished, we had to return it to the front desk for it to be sanitised for the next customer! 

There was the bizarre situation of returned books having to be 'quarantined' for seventy-two hours before somebody else could borrow them! 

Inevitably, we all had "lockdown hairdos", and mine was a mess, too.

Ironically,  six weeks after the end of Lockdown One, as from July 24th, everybody was required to wear face masks in shops, and any enclosed spaces. We had not had to do this before, even during Lockdown One. 

I saw people either wearing the light blue medical masks, or flowery fabric ones, whilst others, such as myself, wore clear, transparent face shields. Some people wore them all the time, whilst others such as myself only wore them when required to do so. Even wearing the face shield, felt stuffy, and glasses had a tendency to immediately steam up. 

The internet was full of instructions on how to make your own reusable mask and suggestions for stopping glasses steaming up.

With a depressing sense of inevitably, it was common to see face masks dumped on the ground, or in parks, etc. 

During the summer and autumn of 2020, restrictions were eased as Coronavirus levels dropped, but unfortunately social distancing continued, so any physical social, or other meetings were still cancelled "for the foreseeable future". 

A shorter version of the normal service was held on Remembrance Sunday. No parade of course, and the small number of attendees had to keep their distance. Wreaths were laid by two members of the Royal British Legion on behalf of the twenty or so local organisations. 
Even the military man had to wear a mask.

The TV News was constantly full of Coronavirus news and it often became very depressing to even watch it. Every night we were told how many people were admitted to hospital and how many had died the day before. The grim headlines on 26 Jan 2021 told us deaths had exceeded 100,000, but worse, the numbers were still climbing at over 1,000 a day.

In the same news bulletin we were told that other places such as Australia had closed down a whole city because they had three cases of Coronavirus!

On the pavements in the High Street were sticky arrows telling people to keep left! There were bright yellow disks on the pavements all along saying "Shop Safe Shop Local". These started to look a bit grubby after a while.

Every lamp post in the High Street seemed to have two signs attached, one facing one way and one the other. They were place quite high up.

Shop counters had plastic, transparent screens erected between them and the customers. 

In "Goldings News", a wooden barrier was erected to create a one way system, too. 

Even the church had social distancing signs.

In the later lockdowns, there were far more people about than in the first lockdown, but once again, non-essential shops such as barbers, Lorimers, and charity shops were closed.

The government instructed that people who could should work from home again. Others, such as postmen, supermarket workers, nurses and builders, to mention just a few, worked as normal. Ironically, the first three of these were even busier than normal.

Those who were not allowed to work i.e. in non-essential shops, were put on something called “furlough” a government scheme which ensured they did get a proportion of their normal pay.

Some of the numerous coffee shops along Banstead High Street started offering a take-away service which was still allowed. 

Heaps of donations appeared outside the charity shops again despite notices to the contrary.

Meanwhile, the virus was spreading even faster with new variants starting to appear.

By early February 2021 a huge vaccination programme was well under way. The first ever injections started on December 3rd 2020, and naturally, the oldest and most vulnerable were vaccinated first. 

Mass Vaccination Centres were set up at the Epsom Downs Grandstand and at Nonsuch Mansion, too, but soon a number of smaller venues also offered the vaccine.  Maybe at last, we there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

The inspirational Captain Sir Tom Moore, died on February 2nd, and on the next evening there was a "clap for Captain Tom" at 6pm. Just like the "clap for the carers" the neighbours came out on both sides to their front gates to clap! One passing car was bibbing his horn all the way down the Lane, and one or two other cars also beeped! I heard some very distant fireworks.

At the same time, a jogger came down the lane, and it may have seemed to him as though they were cheering him on!

My Mum and Dad, spent virtually all of their lives in Banstead, living first in Lambert Road, and then in a prefab in Lakers Rise, off Chipstead Way, where I spent the first two years of my life. Then we moved to Woodmansterne Lane, in the early 1960's, where I still live today. 

I miss them still, but I am glad that I don't have to worry about them getting ill with the Coronavirus, as they, would, of course, be very vulnerable. They would have probably not been able to go out at all, which they would have hated, as they always went out shopping locally right up to the end of their lives! 

As I am classed as extremely clinically vulnerable due to having a big heart operation a few years ago, I had my first jab, as early as January 30th 2021,  at Arundel House in Garratts Lane, Banstead. 

I am writing this article in the hope it will be of interest to the Banstead History Research Group, and this group, will then archive it for future generations.

Gary Walker 
February 2021

PART TWO

In early March 2021,  I had an unpleasant surprise when trying to enter Waitrose, as they no longer accepted people just wearing a  face sheild, as I had done (as I got too panicky wearing a surgical face mask!). This was when the new Delta variant was starting, and the rules in Waitrose had suddenly been changed about 2-3 weeks earlier - that would have been in February. 

Before March 21st 2021, I noticed that the bright yellow stickers on the pavements of Banstead High Street had been removed, as they were becoming tatty, and just black circles, and rectangles were left behind for months! 

On March 29th, Lockdown No. 3, was eased, and "The Rule of 6" was re-introduced. Outdoor sports were permitted again. 

On April 4th, I saw a large crowd leaving the Banstead "Christchurch" (formally known as  the Baptists Church) and they were coming out in two different ways, some straight out of the front door, and others, by the side of the former police station, no doubt to cut down on too big a gathering. 

The pandemic had left its unique contribution to the rubbish left on the ground - the dreaded discarded face-mask.  Indeed, one lady I know, counted a total of no less than 13 of them, on one day, alone, near her home in The Drive. 

On April 12th, non-essential shops could re-open, such as the long awaited barbers and hairdressers.  As expected, queues  formed outside some of them, at first. 

I got rid of my "Lockdown" hairstyle on April 20th, and, boy, did it need it! 

One very noticeable phenomenon observed, after April 12th, was dining " Al fresco"  outside the cafes and coffee shops in the High Street, when people were allowed to sit outside, but not inside them. 

At one cafe, people were originally just sitting on tables and chairs set out on the pavement, but later, a wooden area was set up, fencing it off from the High Street, itself. 

One or two cafes, had balloon displays up to celebrate their reopening. 

On May 9th, a nice sunny day, I saw a long queue waiting to get into "Cafe Italia"; it stretched quite some way down the High Street. 

I had my 2nd jab on April 21st. 

On May 17th, indoor venues could reopen, such as pubs. 

On the same day, the Epsom Grandstand Vaccination Centre closed, due to the upcoming Derby Race, and relocated to Sandown Race Course. 

It was the 100th anniversary of the Royal British Legion, in May, and large sized poppy faces were put up on the lampposts in the High Street There was a very beautiful display of them in the Banstead Churchyard, as well, again, around about May 10th.  As my late Mum and Dad were in the British Legion, I wished that they could have been here to see this (well, at least in normal times!). 

There was a small service commemorating this at the Banstead War Memorial on May 16th 2021. 

Very soon afterwards, on June 5th 2021, there was a small event to celebrate the centenary of the unveiling of the Banstead War Memorial. Another small service was held there and a small plaque, donated by W A Truelove Ltd was placed on the grass, nearby. The 100-year history was documented by Lewis Wood of the Banstead History Research Group who put Lockdown to good use by writing a new book on the subject.

The number of people vaccinated, constantly grew, but a new varient from India, termed the "Delta" varient became the new dominant version of Covid-19, causing serious concern from about April, onwards. 

In late May, some of pupils at the Beacon School were infected, and the manager in Goldings Newsagents was short of five paperboys  who were having to self-isolate! 

In June 2021, I was surprised to find that for the first time since March 24th 2020,  one could now enter Waitrose from the front entrance again!

I was so used to having to go in by the car park and through the back entrance, as we had been doing for over a year, that I actually went in that way once even after the front entrance had been opened up. 

Even more pop-up Vaccination Centres were being set up around the country, including one at the St Nicholas Centre, in Sutton. On June 11th, I saw a long queue, stretching down Sutton High Street from there.  By now, the older age groups had been vaccinated, and it was now the turn of the over 20+ group to receive their first jab. 

Liberation Day, with the final easing of all restrictions was supposed to be on June 21st, but a week earlier, due to the rise of the Delta variant, even this was put back to July 19th. 

Not surprisingly, the Banstead Village Day fair was put back, too, from July 3rd, to August 7th.

This would have been about the first Banstead event of normality since the start of the pandemic. 

On June 15th, I saw a lorry parked outside the Woolpack, with digital signs saying "Covid cases are rising in your area", and to "get the jab to help protect yourself and others"! 

From June 18th to the 27th, a " Surge Testing Site" was set up in the car park next to the Banstead churchyard, and behind shops such as Lorimer, in order to test people to see how prevalent the new Delta variant was in our area! There were big yellow signs in the High Street,  indicating it. There were numerous people in high-viz jackets, seeing people in. Some people could do a drive-in test, and others queued up on foot. 

For the first two days, many people were going in, even in the rain, but after that, there were very few, going in, and they had to pack up earlier than expected. 

Gary Walker

29 June 2021

PART THREE

On July 19th, came the long awaited "Freedom Day", when, at last, social distancing was relaxed, and people did not legally have to wear face masks, inside public venues, (although, many venues did "ask" people to continue wearing them). This marked the end of the 3rd lockdown. 

This made it possible to finally have public events again, including the Banstead Village Day, on August 7th, the Music in the Park, in September, and the Fireworks display, and music at the Lady Neville Park on November 6th! This would have been a real tonic to everybody, as now, things were getting back to a mostly normal situation. 

This actually seemed strange, after being under restrictions for about a year and a half. 

On November 14th, it was possible to have a full Banstead War Remembrance Service, again! This was particularly appropriate, as this year marked the 100th year since the War Memorial was unveiled here, and also the 100th anniversary of the Royal British Legion, too! This event was very well attended. As far as I could tell, the new vicar of All Saints, Reverend Philip Maudsley, was the only person who wore a mask. 

In Banstead Library, we no longer had to carry a keyboard down from the front desk, to the computers, that we were using. 

However, some mayhem was still occurring, as the dreaded "Pingdemic" appeared, where people were "pinged" online if they had come into contact with a covid positive person. This resulted in a shortage of workers, which was noticed in our area as the dustmen were late in collecting the paper, and garden rubbish, in July and August! 

And from late September, there came, yet another of "the 10 plagues of Moses ", in the fuel crisis, where there was a shortage of HGV drivers to drive the tankers to petrol stations. This was generally seen as the direct result of Brexit, however the driver shortage was felt right across Europe, even in Germany and Poland. The pandemic restrictions meant that no driver training took place nor did any tests.

Panic buying occurred as motorists queued up at petrol stations which were frequently out of fuel! This situation  lasted for about two weeks, or so. 

I had my "Booster" jab on November 15th, this time at Nescot College in Ewell. They had set up a big Portakabin at the end of a car park. 

I entered, and registered at a front desk, and soon went over to one of the vaccination desks, off to the far side of the hall. The nurse took my details and then administered the Booster jab. 

Then, we were asked to sit down on chairs, to see if any unwelcome side-effects appeared. There were a number of chairs at the back of the hall, in "the post vaccination area"  and the exit was nearby. 

There were not many people coming in when I was there. The hall was spacious, and the different processes of entry and registration, vaccinations, and the post- vaccination area, were all kept well separate, with entry and exit doors, well distanced, too. One went through the process in a one-way system. 

No sign of an earlier suggestion to get the booster in one arm and the flu jab in the other!

So, by November, or earlier, things were nearly back to normal, but covid infections were still running high, generally. Often, embarrassingly, Reigate and Banstead rates were the highest in the County. 

However, many could still be seen wearing face masks, indoors and out, but at least social distancing was virtually at an end. 

Signs were still advising wearing face masks in shops etc, and a sign in Banstead Library advised people to avoid handling too many books! 

Thus, people were still a bit wary, the situation being somewhat uncertain, and currently, some gatherings were back to normal, whilst others were still only carrying out meetings online, e.g. on Zoom! 

In my case, my Ewell Astronomical Society started having physical meetings again from September, (after 18 months) but others still "attend" on Zoom, so "hybrid" meetings are here to stay, for a while anyway. 

In November, many shops, and the library, still had hand sanitisers at their entrances, and I saw people still asking for face masks in Boots, but they had run out of stock! 

Black circles and rectangles were still visible on the pavement in the High Street, where formally, social distancing signs had been. However, other yellow social distancing signs were still attached to the lamp posts along with the occasional poppy. 

November 2021

PART FOUR

During late 2021, we were in a weird sort of limbo, with things more or less, back to normal, but Covid was still out there! 

In the "Orchard" in Banstead, the Christmas Community Event was held for the first time in two years. 

By 26 November, news of a new variant of Covid, from South Africa, labelled as "Omicron", was starting to hit the news. We were totld that this was much more infectious than the Delta variant, but the experts did not know if it was more deadly than that, or not. Daily figures showed that it was doubling in number every two to three days.

From 30 November, face masks were again compulsory in indoor venues. 

Omicron cases in the UK started by 29 November, but soon escalated into the dominant variant, by mid - December.  London was described as the "epicentre" of the Omicron variant, by the media. 

Thus, "Plan B" was imposed by the Government from 13 December. This involved some restrictions such as compulsory face mask wearing in indoor venues. People were asked to work from home if they could, and "Covid Passes" were required now for some big events. 

In Banstead, I saw that more people were wearing face masks. Boots store had a sign up saying that they had run out of lateral test flow kits as the government had advised people to take a test before mixing with others. 

At Tesco, only eight people were allowed in the Post Office queue, at any one time, whilst others would have to queue outside. 

I was astonished to see, by 21 December,  that a "marquee"  tunnel had been set up outside Marks & Spencer, to shelter the queue, as from now, people had to queue up again to go in there!

A sign outside the store proclaimed, "Face Coverings at the Ready"!

 A hand sanitiser was placed at the end of the" tunnel", and a sign saying "Let's keep it clean".  They did not have this "tunnel" earlier on in the pandemic.

There was a big drive for more people to have their Booster jabs, or earlier ones, and many people did. Indeed, they were even doing them on Christmas Day itself, in some places! 

By 22 December, over 30 million in the UK had had their booster jabs, with new pop-up centres, and the Army, helping out, too. I had mine on 15 November, and 12.9 million had been given by this date 

I kept on seeing posts on social media from people selling tickets to shows, etc, so they were obviously worried and pulling out of attending big events!  Eventually Omicron caught up with the cast and crew and many shows had to be cancelled.

Indeed, Christmas, itself, was again in doubt, as the Government was waiting on the latest data from the Omicron variant. Footfall at the shops was considerably lower than in previous years as people chose to purchase more items online. Despite the extra work, delivery companies still achieved good delivery times. A friend in Banstead ordered a new dashcam from Halfords on a Wednesday afternoon and it was delivered at 8.36 the following morning. 

Luckily, unlike 2020, Christmas was saved, as the Government held off adding any further restrictions before the New Year. Local businesses, especially those in hospitality, breathed a sigh of relief.

Early reports suggested that the Omicron variant was not as dangerous as had been feared but it would take weeks to find out more about how it would affect people and the NHS. 

We finished 2021 with the situation still uncertain. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland chose to impose new restrictions while England did not. Locally, Reigate and Banstead still had the unenviable distinction of having the highest rate in Surrey, again! 

December 2021

Gary Walker

Looking forward to Banstead getting back to normal, helped by all the efforts of Banstead Village in Bloom.

Vaccinations at Epsom racecourse

Epsom Downs Racecourse was opened up as a vaccination centre and many Banstead residents attended what proved to be a very efficient operation.

You drive up just before your appointed time, queue (socially-distanced) outside for a few minutes, check-in, take your seat on a white plastic garden chair, arranged in three rows of about ten, in the main room on the ground floor and wait a little longer. The room is partitioned into two, one half for the local consortium of GPs and the other for the National Vaccine Centre and each is set up differently.

Doctors and nurses keep popping in and out of makeshift offices and stores in the Tote booths, under signs saying "Place your bets here” . . . as indeed we are.

Strange to be in a space with so many people after nearly a year of this pandemic and strange too to remember the bustle of antiques fairs there in happier times.

Eventually, a marshal sees one of the row of seven vaccinators finish wiping down their desk and an empty chair and raise their hand to indicate they are ready for the next patient and then the marshal waves you over. There are few words used here, it's mostly done by gestures.

You have to try to remember the vaccinator's outstretched hand is for your card which records details of the type of vaccine, batch number and date of the first jab. The outstretched hand is not to shake hands! One person forgot this and lots of frantic hand-flapping ensued as the nurse yanked his hand away.

Details are checked, though it's sometimes hard to hear the questions, muffled through two layers of medical masks; the nurses are noticeably better than the doctors at this and make themselves heard. A list of a dozen questions to read; "Have you had a positive Covid test in the last 28 days?" Etc. If you can say "no" to all of them then it's "Are you right-handed? Turn this way. . ." and almost without feeling it, it's done.

"Are you driving? You'll have to wait 15 minutes", and then off to another plastic chair, eyes on one of the many clocks until it ticks over to home time and wondering that the now-anachronistic glitter ball had been left up above, sparkling weakly with reflected winter sunshine, but feeling that maybe a little celebratory dance is called for after all.

Roll on jab number two.

J Crouch

Vaccinations at Nonsuch

I have only one story of an acquaintance who went to the race course at the appointed time only to be held up for about 1.5 hours by the minister of Health visiting to see how the centre worked.

Nonsuch worked like a sweet dream. Went to check- in ten minutes before appointment, sent to holding car park, five minutes later, sent to actual car park and issued with instructions.

Walked to front of Nonsuch House immediately went in. Injected by about 11:10 hours.Sent to holding area for 15 mins and out by 11:31.

Very pleasant staff.

J Court