An entire street surprised a 98-year-old woman after hearing she had celebrated her birthday alone the day before due to coronavirus lockdown.
Barbara Blakewell, who reads to the blind and volunteers at a cat shelter, has lived in Redditch, Worcestershire for almost seven decades but had been forced to stay at home on her birthday due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Her kindhearted neighbor, 30-year-old Chris Carr, decided to knock on doors and urged the entire street to gather in their gardens to sing to the birthday celebrant.
Everyone was happy to celebrate Barbara’s birthday.
“The video was filmed at the Batchley Estate in Redditch, and I knocked on every single door in our close,” Mr. Carr said.
“Obviously, given the current pandemic I maintained a social distance while I was out knocking doors and every single member of our community agreed to come and sing.
“I basically introduced myself and told them that my next door neighbour was 98 the day before and she spent her birthday pretty much by herself.
“Most of the people who I spoke with knew Barbara. In fact, everyone on the street said ‘Oh Barbara… Yeah, we will come and sing.”
Mr. Carr shared: “When I asked her to come and join us the first thing she said was ‘let me go put my lippy on!
“I would say that given the current crisis the unity on the street has definitely improved. I feel closer to my neighbours now and when we go out on our daily exercise or if we are walking the dog and see a neighbour in the front garden we will actually stop and talk.
“I think that before this pandemic everyone was so consumed with their jobs and their own individual lives we never took the time to actually stop and take a breath and see how beautiful this world is.”
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Replaced!