Bright stars in a dark year - a review of 2020

IT has been a year none of us will ever forget – devastating, heartbreaking, and cruel. But 2020 will also be remembered for the most wonderful people rising to all kinds of challenges.

In the 36 years I've worked for The Northern Echo, it has been a privilege to write about the people of the North-East. This year – the year of coronavirus – it has been a particular honour.

Today and next Wednesday, this page is dedicated to saluting some of those who to let me tell their stories. Every one of them – and many more there’s not enough space to mention – has been an inspiration.

JANUARY: Before the dreaded new “c-word” became part of our lives, the year began with a visit to Ushaw, near Durham, to see a brilliant initiative using music to unlock the memories of dementia patients. It was so moving to see how Barbara Petrie, 96, broke free from her own silent world to remember every word of Somewhere Over The Rainbow. My first Christmas salute goes to the driving force of the “Forget Me Notes” project, BETHANY ELEN COYLE.

FEBRUARY: At 93-years-old, JOHN APPLETON was presented with a Lifetime of Achievement award, at the Darlington Sports Winners Grand Final, for helping youngsters enjoy sport."I didn’t do it for any recognition – I did it for the kids, that’s all,” said John.

THE Parkrun is a great place to find stories, and DEBORAH JEFFRIES turned up at South Park, in Darlington, to complete the 5k course the day before she was due to give birth to her third child. Oh, and she happened to be pushing her toddler in a buggy! Baby Nathaniel was slow out of the blocks, arriving six days late.

MARCH: Sad yet joyful at the same time, we said goodbye to 99-year-old BILL BLEWITT, star of the Age UK North Yorkshire and Darlington Ukulele Band. A few months earlier, Bill had waltzed with Strictly head judge, Shirley Ballas, who’d popped in to the charity while appearing in panto at Darlington Hippodrome. Bill had survived the Great Depression, World War Two, malaria, diphtheria, and cancer, but told anyone who’d listen in his final days: “It was that Shirley Ballas who finished me off!” His wake was held at Hopetown & Whessoe Workingmen’s Club, and the Ukulele Band fittingly played Bring Me Sunshine.

AS lockdown was starting, I drove up to Stanley to meet a community hero in DARREN MCMAHON. A building called PACT House – formerly a bank – is a community hub and foodbank that many folk rely on, and Darren is its heart and soul. He brought tears to my eyes by telling me: “We have one lady who cleans the toilets in return for a meal.” Darren, take a bow.

APRIL: The local heroes of the NHS emerged as we clapped them on our doorsteps each Thursday. I spoke to MARK RUSSELL, a young doctor from Neasham, near Darlington, who was working at a hospital in London. Mark had volunteered to treat Covid-19 patients, contracted the disease while on duty, then went straight back to the frontline after isolating. “These are historic times. It’s what you train for,” he said.

IT’S important to keep things in perspective, and an interview with 95-year-old STAN INSTONE did just that. Stan had been due to be guest of honour at an annual memorial for those who served during the war at RAF Middleton St George. His story was incredible...in February 1945, halfway through his 19th mission, Stan’s Lancaster bomber was hit by a Messerschmitt. The 'Lanc' exploded just as Stan was about to bale out, and he fell 10,000 feet before waking up and pulling his ripcord. He crashed into trees and ended up as a prisoner of war. It was three months before word reached his family that he’d survived – no telephone calls, no Zoom. Seventy five years on, he told me: “This pandemic's a difficult time but we’ll come out of it and, in many ways, people don’t know how lucky they are to be able to stay in touch.” He passed away two months later. Rest in peace, Stan.

JOAN LAWRENCE is the mother of York chef Claudia Lawrence who has not been seen since vanishing in 2009. Darlington-born Joan was spending her time in lockdown by making hand-painted cards to send to vulnerable people, asking if they were coping. An example to us all.

MAY: RICHARD HIXSON, a critical care consultant at Darlington Memorial Hospital, not only gave an insight into life on the NHS frontline, but called for lessons to be learned about how the pandemic might shape our future. A committed environmentalist, he said: “What this crisis has shown is that we have the capacity to act. When we had to, we changed our behaviour very quickly and effectively. If we ignore the lessons from that, we will have missed the biggest opportunity, not just about what we do in Darlington, but across the world.”

ALSO in the thick of the daily battle against coronavirus was a medic who could only be named as Dr M. That was because he’d fled war-torn Syria with his wife and children in 2011, and he still feared repercussions for relatives back home. Dr M became part of a pioneering initiative to fast-track refugee doctors into filling gaps in the NHS. As a result, he was treating Covid-19 patients as a locum junior doctor at hospitals across the North-East. "Every day, I would worry that if my family caught the virus, it would be my fault. But my wife and I accepted it was something we had to face together," he said.

JUNE:  When the lockdown brought her catering business to a halt, KIM CLARK cried for a while, but then focussed on what she could do to help others. The Evenwood mum dedicated herself to making sure vulnerable people didn’t go hungry. By June, she’d delivered 11,000 free meals to elderly residents. Kim also told me one of the saddest stories of the year...she’d turned up at an old man’s house and, at first, he was reluctant to accept help. But Kim could see into his kitchen and, next to his kettle, was a tower of flattened teabags. “Bless him – he’d been squeezing out the teabags and re-using them for three weeks, but was too proud to ask for help. It just summed it up for me, and I cried all the way home,” she said. Within an hour, Kim had delivered his first free food parcel – with three boxes of teabags given pride of place on top.

More stars from 2020 next Wednesday. In the meantime, a safe and merry Christmas to everyone…