For Allyssa Bravo, “everything aligned perfectly” on Monday, her 27th birthday, as she was reunited with her fiance for the first time in seven months when lockdown restrictions eased.
With the official stay at home order ending, Bravo travelled with her family from Burton upon Trent to Cannon Hill park in Birmingham, while her partner, Paul Abustan, travelled up from London, leading to an emotional reunion.
“It’s been a mixture of emotions. We’re both so happy, I can’t even describe it. It’s the longest we’ve ever gone without seeing each other,” said Bravo, a ward sister at Queen’s hospital Burton. The family had prepared a picnic, complete with purple birthday cake, to mark the occasion and Bravo said she was overjoyed to be able to celebrate with her family after a long few months in lockdown.
Having helped treat Covid patients during the pandemic, she knows the importance of sticking to the rules but was relieved to finally get to spend time with her family now that restrictions in England allow outdoor meetings of two households or six people.
“I know the severity of Covid because I’ve seen it, that’s why we don’t even think about even trying to break the rules even a little bit,” she said. “It’s been a proper test but obviously there’s a bigger picture and it’s really serious.”
They weren’t the only family using the park as a place to meet in the middle now people are allowed to travel further from home. Pam Guthrie was giddy with excitement as she drove up to Birmingham from Bristol with her husband, Phil, to see their grandsons for the first time since October.
“As soon as we knew the rules were being lifted on the 29th and the kids were on holiday, that was it, we were coming on the 29th first thing,” said Pam, as five-year-old Edward and two-year-old Benjamin ran among the trees behind her. “Obviously we have seen the children on Facetime but I was just saying to them, ‘Look, you’re in 3D’!”
The couple had a tearful reunion with their daughter Gemma Cox that morning and like many were heading to the park for a picnic in the, thankfully, sunny weather. “It’s been a long slog this lockdown, it’s felt like a long time. We’ve been fed up,” said Gemma.
“We’ve not met up at all and you see people around you who have not been abiding by the rules so it’s been tough but we’ve really stuck to it,” said Pam.
“We saw signs on the motorway saying to minimise travel but I thought, that’s not going to happen today,” Phil added.
The jubilant atmosphere in the park was certainly helped by the warm weather, with highs of 19C predicted in the south-east on Monday, and temperatures set to climb to over 20C across the country on Tuesday.
Now that group outdoor sporting activities are allowed to resume, running and walking groups met up for the first time since lockdown, and the tennis courts and crazy golf course welcomed their first visitors in months.
In Derbyshire, 11-year-old Lucienne Turner, was the first person to take a dive at her local lido, Hathersage swimming pool, in the early morning at 8am.
“I’m very happy to be here. It was my birthday yesterday and I received this bright swimming costume, a bag, goggles, and a dry robe,” she said. “I woke up at 5am but couldn’t get back to sleep because I was so excited to come here. I even lay out all my swimming gear the night before.”
She and her mother, Elizabeth, 43, rediscovered outdoor swimming in Cornwall last year after their holiday to France was cancelled due to the second lockdown. “I used to swim as a child and I forgot how much I loved it. Our outdoor swimming pool is close by to where we live, and I’m so grateful to see how happy my daughter is in the water. More people should take it up,” Elizabeth said.
For Lucienne, outdoor swimming helps her clear her mind. “When I swim it is such a good feeling. It makes me forget my everyday worries, and I love how the water feels.”
In Birmingham, Valentina Basile had brought sons Noah, nine, and Joshua, six, to play crazy golf at the start of their Easter holidays. “We used to come here quite often but we’ve had to stick to local parks because we weren’t allowed to travel far out the area so this is a bit of a novelty,” she said. “It was one of the first things opening up today and it’s something fun for them to do.”
Tony Fox, the chair of the Cannon Hill Park Friends group, said he was delighted to see the park’s facilities opening back up again and larger groups returning to its 250-acre grounds. “The community has shown real resilience and we’re focused on coming back better. It’s really important for the future of our green infrastructure.”
