The Wednesday Wave was inspired by Hazel, a care home resident in Worcester who began waving with Vamos Theatre’s Artistic Director Rachael Savage just by chance. Hazel was in her room by the window, Rachael on her daily run. Her daughter, Shellie, shares some of how it's been for care homes relatives during Covid...

The impact of Covid is disastrous. We are only allowed to see mum face to face once a week in the garden [note: this was written just before the second lockdown] and occasionally that has been a problem due to the weather. The other side of the coin is that they only allow 2 people and Ian [Shellie's husband] feels that my brother has precedence, even though he misses talking to Hazel, it's better that my brother and I have the audience. My problem personally is that as mum is 94, will I ever be able to see her in her room ever again? I wake up in the middle of the night and that thought fills my head frequently. It's a dreadful situation. Mum doesn't really understand, although we remind her about the virus. She is aching to go and visit Kington, her birth town, but, again I'm not sure if she'll ever be able to and that breaks my heart. These last years should have been all about making her happy and we can't. She needs to have her hair done. When she was young she used to go to the hairdresser every day to have a sort of bun done and she worries about the state of her hair all the time.

We have a news clipping from 1984, which celebrates mum winning the Worcester Friends and Neighbours Award – given to her for her long term care of a bereaved neighbour. The Wednesday Wave is just the sort of thing that Hazel would be doing for others if she could – so it’s fitting that so many people have started to wave and make connections with others who need it right now.

Shellie