Villagers in Ancrum create a quilt to reflect their experiences during the pandemic

The Ancrum covid quilt was unveiled at Ancrum Village Hall garden on Saturday.

More than 50 neighbours, incorporating an 80-year age range, worked through the winter lockdown to produce a quilt representing their individual experiences of the Covid pandemic.

The quilt was then brought together by a team of alfresco sewing volunteers as rules relaxed and is now finally able to be seen by everyone who created it.

Organiser Kate Macinnes said: “Ancrum, normally a lively and highly sociable village, was facing a winter of lockdown and social isolation for many, so the quilt was created as a project we could all work on individually, but still be doing something together.

"Each square represents a personal account of the pandemic. Many show gratitude and optimism for our community, some record specific events, many are poignant. One contributor even created a square to celebrate his gaining of a pest control licence! More than 50 neighbours contributed to the project, with an estimated age spread of more than 80 years.

"It was a community project that we could do in our homes and the squares were quite good metaphors for the way we had all experienced the pandemic because everybody had been doing zoom calls and seen everybody broken down into little squares and had been been communicating through doors and windows.

“It is an historical piece which reflects an extraordinary period in the village’s time.

"We are a lively community, to have a year when we could do nothing together is extraordinary and this was a way of showing the pandemic hasn’t beat us.”