Leeds reaps benefits of planning before the pandemic

With restrictions on attendances at funerals, a 10 minute regular online service is planned, both to honour the dead and support those currently unwell.

Ms Gordon reported that the community was fortunate in being well served by volunteers, who in many cases got as much out of their involvement as the beneficiaries.“People who have been furloughed or cannot work from home need to have some meaning to their day.”

The lockdown had highlighted the plight of the lonely —‑ “people we should have been looking after anyway” — but also magnified the difficulties of organisations which were already struggling. And the high take-up for online activities would “change the way we look at services. When this is over, we need to examine where money is being spent where it doesn’t need to be.”

The crisis had also brought a reconnection to the community from those who had moved away. “Someone joined a cookery class from New Zealand.”