A FAMILY separated in lockdown have created a poetry book of their experiences — written through video calls.
Wokingham poet Jean Hill, her children and grandchild have published their poems in their new collection, Generations Apart During Lockdown.
The book is dedicated to Robin Hill, Ms Hill’s late husband, who died of cancer in Royal Berkshire Hospital last year.
Daughter, Debbie Brewer said the idea for the collection began when her sister, Sharon Hill, bought their mother a device so they could check in on her, as she is isolating alone.
The four women — including Ms Hill’s granddaughter Samantha Brewer — have been video calling throughout the last few weeks, playing games, chatting, and sharing their writing.
Debbie said: “As my mother enjoys writing poetry, we decided we would all do a poem every day and meet for an hour every evening through Facetime.
“That is how we came to get so many wonderful, topical, funny, sad and poignant poems for the book, which we’re very proud of.”
Herself and her mother have a lot of experience writing poetry, but her sister is an accountant, and her daughter is an air traffic controller — neither had written before.
The collection spans three generations and touches upon their lives in the pandemic.
Debbie added: “A lot of people will be able to relate because we’re all separated — we’re based all over the country from Maidenhead to Winchester and some of us are working from home, furloughed or retired so it covers a lot of ground.
“It’s a good example of how families can get together and still achieve things despite the circumstances.”
The book is available for £7.99 on www.lulu.com, and will be released on Amazon next month.
