and was started after COVID restrictions had given everyone greater appreciation of isolation and loneliness, and a realisation that for a lot of the members of the community, their lives were in permanent lockdown, with many older residents not seeing or speaking to anyone for days or weeks at a time. Local people can request a blank card and some brief instructions to create a handmade card with a short message that can be posted in a special letter box located at the Halton community centre. The cards are delivered every month by hand, with a friendly chat on the doorstep, to a recipient in the village who may be experiencing loneliness or isolation, to provide them with a sense of connection to the wider community. Anyone can be nominated. To mark the end of each campaign, there is a 'big get together' at the community centre. This gives the recipients a chance to meet the card creators, ad maybe form relationships and that much needed human connection. Campaign organiser Sam Pritchard posted this after the event: "WHAT CAN I SAY, OTHER THAN WOW! For anyone unable to join us yesterday, it’s actually quite difficult to put into words what an experience it was. An entire community have been involved in this campaign, and an entire community came! The main hall was absolutely PACKED! It was estimated that 200 people joined us throughout the course of the afternoon. The room was FULL of smiling faces. The biggest surprise was the sheer number of recipients that attended. For many, it’s not just a case of ‘turning up’, there are obstacles and challenges to overcome, just to be there. The youngest attendee was 1 and the oldest 97 - never have I seen a larger and truer representation of a community enjoying the same space".
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