Coronavirus diary, Easter Day, 12 April

Family friend and priest Anthony Beer has an unusual congregation at his Easter Day 2020 communion in the vicarage garden

Easter Sunday. Last year we could not have imagined how different this Easter would be. Normal life has been on hold, paused in the modern idiom. No trips to the sea or countryside, no drink at the pub, no parties and no services in our churches and chapels. 

Easter has always been a time to look forward to brighter days, more important now than ever. It has been a happy day for me in my home from home, Sunrise. Disappointed at not being with family and friends but heartened by the stream of Easter greetings, emails and cards. I may be one of the 'old and vulnerable' but I am fortunate and thankful to be so well looked after as today has again proved. I started Easter Sunday with breakfast in my room. When I went down to the foyer, our carers were handing out our presents, Easter eggs - and for me, a diabetic, a potted plant. 

At eleven, we met in the parlour for our Easter service, conducted not by a priest or minister but by Alice, a carer whose father is a vicar. It was a simple, lovely service, a brief sermon, readings and hymns. Alice's father could be proud of her. Then, back to my room to read the Sunday paper and our own Sunrise daily, the Twinkle, a well-produced and written colour-printed newsletter. Just right for us with our long memories - a look back to the days of rock and roll, a family's visit to the Bowder stone in the Lake District and a spring flowers quiz. 

Memories: Easter 10 years ago, with young grandson Owen

After lunch, appropriately, we could do our own Easter parade - much more sedately - in the garden with our carers. I managed 50 yards to the first bench. The sun was shining, the birds were singing their own Easter song. After our evening meal most of us went back to our rooms to read, watch television or listen to music. And perhaps to think of our past Easters. A normal Sunrise day even in these abnormal times.