What's your lockdown story?

Sunday 02 April 2023

Jersey Heritage is asking islanders to share their memories of the island's first covid-19 lockdown, which was three years ago this week.

The organisation is asking islanders to share their stories of lockdown while they are still fresh in their minds, in order to create an oral history resource allowing future generations to discover the impact that the global pandemic had here.

Stuart Nicolle, Senior Archivist at Jersey Heritage, said: "Jersey has seen a period of massive change and disruption since the global pandemic began.

"Three years on from the initial lockdown in Jersey, we felt it was an appropriate time to ask people to be interviewed about their covid experience.

"Everyone had different issues to deal with when Covid-19 hit the community and our aim is to capture a variety of experiences of this time, whether we’re speaking to a healthcare professional, someone who had to home-school their children, a family who needed to protect a vulnerable relative or any other experience of the lockdown in Jersey."

Pictured: The streets of St. Helier during lockdown 2020. (Jersey Heritage)

The interviews will record sound only, with no filming being done or photographs taken. They can be conducted on a one-to-one basis or with a group, either at Jersey Archive or elsewhere.

The recordings will be stored at Jersey Archive, with other digital records holding different chapters of Jersey’s pandemic story.

The oral history project is open to islanders of all ages. Anyone interested in taking part should call 833300 or email archives@jerseyheritage.org to arrange an interview time.