Coronavirus diary, Tuesday 7 July

Sunrise's Celebrate Care Homes campaign

Sunrise is launching a Celebrate Care Homes campaign and I have been asked to say why I think it is important. 

This is my response:

The government has pledged to completely overhaul and update Britain's social services system. Whatever shape that takes, care homes will be a vital part.

No-one will ever forget the devotion of carers and the personal sacrifices they made in serving the residents and their families. We expect their magnificent work to be better supported and funded by government, which too often has placed social care in the 'too difficult' tray. 

The darkest days may be coming to an end; care homes are preparing to meet the new challenges ahead. The Sunrise campaign is not only a recognition of the way they stood up to the horrendous problems created by the coronavirus pandemic but a way to confirm the confidence and trust of the public. 

There is no substitute for a happy, settled family life in your own home but, when the time comes, care homes are an obvious choice.

Old people like me - I am 93 - should be looked after in our own home as long as possible, but when the time came for me I found it perfect. It was one of  the best decisions I have ever made.

Since the day I came to Sunrise almost a year ago I could not have been looked after, better cared for.

The carers and staff have all been efficient, endlessly cheerful, despite their personal worries of lockdown and the obvious danger to their health. They are our friends, and they have made my new home-from-home a pleasure and certainly a relief to my family.

That is why the Celebrate Care Homes campaign is so important.

It is now up to the government to keep its promises - unforgivably neglected by previous governments over the years - and make Britain's social services worthy of the country.

And to make being cared for in well equipped, well run care homes affordable for everyone who needs them.

Coronavirus diary, Monday 6 July

Television interviews these days via the internet are much more personal, intimate even, and my attention has often been drawn away from the talking head to the background. Especially to the pictures. 

Everyone has their favourites on their walls evoking personal memories.

I was interviewed on television a few months ago, sitting in my armchair, a blank wall behind me, and only now I realise I missed a trick. I could have made an impression with a picture. 

It set me thinking about the pictures I look at every day in my new home and what they mean to me, where they came from and why I cherish them.

The reason is because they bring back so many happy memories.

Most of them were chosen by Rosemary and me over the years. I am looking at them now.

On the wall in front of me are two paintings depicting a small seaside cove overlooked by a row of white-washed cottages.
One, my favourite, has two cats seated, viewing the scene. 
I remember the day we  bought them in the art gallery on board the P&O cruise ship Arcadia. Expensive, but 'free'! - bought from the £1,400 on board-spending money. (We  could not get rid of the bounty as we no longer went on shore excursions and were modest drinkers.)

So we splashed out £850 for the originals by a lady artist.

They gave us constant pleasure as they still do for me. More so, in fact, as they remind me vividly of those marvellous days when Rosemary and I cruised the world.

Another of my favourites is a vivid, colourful representation in oil of a street scene of Clapham Junction in London with a tram trundling along East Hill, near where I lived. It  is passing the church we used to go to. It was a present from Robert in1986. That is the impressive background I should have had for my television interview.

Another treasure is a large sea scene in dramatic blue bought in the gift shop next to our flat on Penarth Esplanade and another, the last we bought, a floral water colour from John Lewis in Cardiff. 

The Caerphilly Castle picture, a present from Beverley, reminds me of our first home where Beverley was born, while a  recent gift, painted by Janet, my niece Brenda's family, depicts local scenes including Roath Park Lake just down the road from where I am now.

I love my memories on the wall.  

Coronavirus diary, Sunday 5 July

Just a few days ago I described how I thought people would be put off going down to the pub by the restrictions and inconvenience and that I thought they might not bother. I have  changed my mind.

Not because yesterday's first open day, in England, went well but because, on reflection, I think we have missed it more than we thought.

And it applies to many other interests and happy, regular experiences in our lives - the cinema, concerts, shows, sporting events and our other special interests.

Old habits die hard, familiarity breeds content.

At least it has with me, going back throughout my lifetime. 
The cinema, for instance. 

Bob, Bert and Dorothy, late 1920s

I was four when my brother Bert and sister Dorothy first took me to the Saturday morning children's show in West Ham. Mum was no doubt pleased to see us go. and 'going to the pictures'  became part of my life.

Who can forget their first cinema date. Mine, with Rosemary, saw me in generous mood; I even bought her a box of chocolates. 

Not all the experiences were happy. 

In 1941, at the height of the London bombing, Dorothy and I were in the cinema in Wandsworth running the half mile home.

I was still enjoying films at the salubrious multiplex in Cardiff Bay a few years ago. And if I were mobile again I would certainly be back at the Millennium Centre for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales concerts.

I know the country will be poorer for years and life won't be the same, especially for the massive number likely to be out of work, but if the Prime Minister gets his way it will not all be austerity. 

Those months of confinement and worry will become part of our life experience and we will be getting out and about again, doing what we want, when we want.

Coronavirus diary, Saturday 4 July

Care homes have been making news - mostly bad news - for months with coronavirus responsible for a horrifying death toll. 

But at last a dire situation that has shocked the nation is under control. 

Now the care home service, or business, which has suffered through no fault of its own, has to rebuild its confidence and its reputation; to convince people that it is a safe haven for the elderly. It won't be easy but for more than a hundred years it has never been easy.

Dinner at St Marylebone Workhouse, London

At the end of the 19th century the much maligned workhouse was a last refuge for the poor and the elderly, but hopes were raised in 1908 when a Royal Commission condemned them as unsuitable, and recommended the setting up of 'a specialist institution for each class of pauper, treated by trained staff'.

Although local authorities were given the power in 1929 to take over workhouse infirmaries, few did.

Workhouses, renamed, just as coldly, public assistance institutions. controlled by county councils, did not finally disappear until the National Assistance Act of 1948 when the buildings were converted to 'old people's homes'.

The number of care homes increased steadily over the years but so did the problems, with scandals and concern over the quality of care. Even worse, the financial situation affected both private and local government care homes, dozens going bust year by year.

When coronavirus struck, the system found it difficult to cope.
Now it is fighting back.

Sunrise is mounting a 'Celebrate the Care Home' campaign to counter negative media coverage and convince the public it is ready for the new challenge; 'to show people what  we are really like'.

Residents have been asked to help by telling our experience of how we have been looked after - cared for. I certainly will.

Sunrise Cardiff has handled these difficult months brilliantly, keeping us, and making us feel, safe. They have been honest and kept us up to date.

Perfect public relations. 

Coronavirus diary, Friday 3 July

Changing Times...

After struggling to handle, let alone read, The Times, especially the huge broadsheet pages of the Sunday Times, I can now enjoy my daily news. 

And it is thanks to Robert who has finally persuaded me to move with the times - literally!

It has taken a long time for an old dog to learn new tricks, moving on to the new fangled but amazing internet, including The Times iPad daily edition app. I most enjoy the excellent columnists and leader/comment columns and, a new pleasure, readers' comments. They pour in. 

I probably bore people with my accounts of newspapers and reporting in 'my day' - going back nearly 80 years. Finding and writing stories was easier than getting them into print.

In my early days the tools of my trade were a soft-lead pencil and a reporter's notebook. No typewriter - no ability to use one.

I had shorthand but my stories - 'copy' - were written in long-hand on small cut-offs from newsprint, the huge rolls of paper on which the news was printed. A lengthy piece would take pages.

The reporter's life. Cartoonist: Gren for Bob Skinner

One advantage was it taught me to write legibly. In police court I would scribble away while keeping up with the case and then phone over the story, usually standing in a public phone box outside the court. There were no mobile phones.

As a freelance, my stories for the national press would be phoned to London in the evening. Not by me but by the ever patient Rosemary.

Long stories, even dramatic ones, could be tedious to retell time after time, for her and for the 'copy takers' in Fleet Street. Every so often, they would ask, 'Much more of this? We used to scan the newspapers next morning hoping for the best.

The effort could be lucrative, especially when  a story was accepted by several papers. The cheques that followed, always in guineas - one pound one shilling - paid for many of our holidays.

Today, there is a whole world of difference in reporting and newspapers. Copy is sent direct, in seconds, from laptops, iPads or phones from anywhere in the world. No copy takers. No sub-editors. The stories are pasted into pages, not with lines set in hot metal made up into pages. 

I still miss the 'good old days'. It is not easy for an old dog to learn or appreciate new tricks.

Note: the cartoons above were specially drawn by Gren for Bob's book, Don't Hold the Front Page, an account of his years in journalism and public relations. Grenfell Jones was the South Wales Echo's star cartoonist for over 45 years. 

Coronavirus diary, Thursday 2 July

Airbus: jobs grounded

The impending easing of lockdown in Wales has been overshadowed by grim economic news. This is the worst week so far for job losses.

The steady stream has become a torrent as businesses throughout he country are struggling to survive. Companies large and small are affected, with North Wales hardest hit.

Airbus is to jettison 1,700 jobs in the UK, most likely from the Broughton plant which makes wings for a whole range of aircraft. 

With airlines operating at a fraction of their previous level and most services not expected to revive for at least a year, the company is taking drastic measures.

The knock-on effect for the supply chain, from parts manufacturers to local local pubs and shops, will add thousands more to the jobless total.

Cardiff airport, like many smaller airports in Britain - almost at a standstill for months - is celebrating the take-off of two holiday flights this week, but even this has been a drama. The Welsh government asked Ryanair to postpone them but the company decided to go ahead.

What a sad story. In the 1970s Cardiff airport was really taking off, thanks to the initiative of the three Glamorgan counties who owned it.

In my 10 years as information and marketing officer it at last attracted the then magic one million passengers and made a profit for the patient ratepayers. 

The biggest threat to the Welsh economy is revealed in a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) forecasting the loss of 50,000  jobs in the service sector, mainly local government. 

Wales cannot afford this.

Public services account for one-quarter of the country's whole  workforce, compared with one-fifth in England, and it is vital for the recovery. 

The outlook is made more gloomy by the reduction in the government's so far successful furlough scheme, a lifeline. With employers soon having to pay part of their wage bill, many say they cannot afford afford to. 

Hundreds of businesses, especially those in hospitality and tourism are on the brink.

The opening of hotels, caravan and camping sites and other holiday services is welcome but with the restrictions - only pubs with gardens for example will be opening - many are already giving up.

Appreciating the gravity of the situation throughout the UK, the Prime Minister this week pledged to spend billions of pounds on infrastructure projects - hospitals, schools, roads - to get the country on its feet and people back to work.

His new  battle cry - build, build, build!

It should be - jobs, jobs, jobs! 

Coronavirus diary, Wednesday 1 July

We can start having visitors at Sunrise from July 6, but don't rush, there are a lot of necessary restrictions, strict and detailed. 

Only one visitor for one hour with date and time to be booked by phone. And it will be outside, in the gazebo on the lawn; in bad weather in the library. 

Chairs will be two metres apart. No hugs or handshakes. Do that and it could mean two weeks in quarantine. Definitely strict. Sounds like jail visiting although Sunrise is a luxurious jail! 

Visitors and residents will have to wear protective clothing - aprons, gloves and masks, and have their temperature tested. 

Bob's new iPad

Robert intends to come. He is bringing my new iPad which he has set up for me so I hope I can learn how to use it in under one hour.

It will be a long, all day trip for him with 250 miles driving.

If all goes well during the fortnight of visits the home will be closed again for a week to review the result.

It will, I hope, lead to less strictly controlled visits but this depends on the Welsh government.

I hope that comes soon. But I will  have to be patient. It looks as though it will be some time before I can invite family and friends to tea at the Turret suite.