LevellerLive

With our apologies if you’ve already seen this, we seem to have received it late. Anyway here is a message to the people of Somerset from the Annie Maw, The Lord Lieutenant of Somerset:

The people of Somerset and Covid-19

This time exactly a year ago we were welcoming her Majesty the Queen when she came to Somerset to see us all. Our county had her party dress on. The blossom was out, the skylarks sang the skies were blue and the pastures were green. Somerset looked joyous and at her most beautiful and this year again she is at her best.

But what makes Somerset truly wonderful is more than her scenic splendour. It is the community spirit that inhabits our county which elevates her to perfection.

Just as last year I felt confident and proud watching our Sovereign as she enjoyed her visit to us – I know that indeed she did because she smiled from the moment she arrived until the moment she left – so too I know that faced with the daunting challenge of Covid-19 just one year later, our county and the people who live here will not be found wanting.

Already that inimitable spirit of generosity and kindness, of compassion and diligence, has begun in every street, in every hamlet, village, town and city in Somerset. For we can do it and we will do it. The better we comply with directions, the sooner we will comes through this. We will survive it, together and united, each looking after each other, because we can.

Noli Timeri – the last words which Seamus Heaney sent to his wife – Be Not Afraid.

This is what I say to myself when I set out to do something which is making me tremble. It is a biblical line that I find so very reassuring, and so very strengthening.

Each and every one of us, young and old from every walk of life, has a part to play and we can succeed and we WILL succeed.

E