To meet people living in Garforth and the surrounding area, we heard from people at NET (Garforth), the Halliday Court Sheltered Housing Complex (Garforth), the Community Room at St Mary the Less (Allerton Bywater) and the Cross Hills Court Sheltered Housing Complex (Kippax).
53 people joined us for the Big Leeds Chats in Garforth. What did people say in Garforth?
Loneliness was one of the most common lockdown experiences people told us about in Garforth. The company of family, but also friends from organisations such as Garforth NET, meant a lot to people and was sorely missed. This was all the more difficult for those residents dealing with bereavement or caring for unwell loved ones.
There was a sense in a number of our conversations with people in Garforth that they saw it as their responsibility to “cope” and look after themselves as best they could. A lot of locals said walking had helped them stay well, although some also commented that there weren’t enough affordable, accessible exercise classes. There certainly were issues around not being able to get through to the GP surgery on the phone, although they weren’t brought up quite as often here as in other areas.
Garforth NET was roundly praised for the essential moral and practical support it gave people at a time when little other help felt available to some residents.
Although by no means everyone who chatted with us in Garforth was of retirement age, the downsides of getting older were a big part of our conversations. More public benches and loos came up in several chats as something that could help make Garforth healthier and happier. Getting out and about is even more important when you consider that some people told us their mobility had got worse over lockdown, and a bus service that’s genuinely accessible to less mobile would get local residents one step closer to being able to do just that.
