One year of online meet-ups

As we’ve reached one year since the first lockdown, flute player Rebecca looks back on the past year and what our weekly Thursday online meet-ups have meant to her…

For a year now, BDCB has been unable to rehearse due to lockdown restrictions and the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Thankfully this hasn’t stopped us meeting every Thursday evening, albeit virtually rather than in person! The days have seemed to roll into one over the last year, and as a result I often don’t know what date it is, let alone which day of the week. So it’s been wonderful to have a fixed commitment to look forward to, and put some sort of normality back into this very abnormal time.

Creative band members

Rebecca is in the top row, second from the right!

I’ve been really impressed with the creativity of band members when putting together quiz rounds – ‘Cheese or motorway service station?’ and ‘Guess the name of the dog’ are two rounds that will always stick in my mind! Massive thanks go to Quizmaster Nick and to everyone who’s put a round together or run a game. Each week has brought something different, and although I think we all get a little bit ‘Zoom fatigued’ at times, I have learnt so much (not least how many hearts an octopus has)! I was particularly proud to see everyone’s origami decorations after a tutorial I led just before Christmas.

I’ve got to know fellow band members

I’ve been playing with BDCB since November 2017 but can honestly say I’ve never felt so much a part of band as I do after the last year of Zoom meetups. I now know everyone’s names (until Nick starts changing them on Zoom instead of playing bingo…) and have really got to know my fellow band members, not just those who I sit near to at rehearsal.

I’m really looking forward to catching up in person when we can go back to rehearsals, and I really think that, tough as 2020 was and 2021 is currently turning out to be, this whole experience has brought us closer together.

By Rebecca on flute

Take a look back at our first online meet-ups lockdown blog, read about some of our band’s amazing keyworkers and check out a summary of our positive moments of 2020.