Liskeard’s Town Forum asked community groups to feedback on how the pandemic had affected them, how they were emerging from it – and what they hoped for the future.

The Forum had been set to meet this week, but following the new regulations on gatherings, this has been postponed, and the group hopes to begin virtual meetings instead.

Chairman David Ambler said: “The Liskeard Town Forum will continue to push the projects suggested by members, including the steps at Moorswater and the rundown buildings in the town.”

CITIZENS ADVICE CORNWALL - communications officer Wailim Wong

Lockdown meant Citizens Advice Cornwall had to close all of its offices, which meant equipping staff and volunteer advisers to work from home, so we could continue to provide a full service via phone and webchat.

Although this was a major challenge behind the scenes, we continued with a seamless service to members of the public, who contacted us with a record number of inquiries about furloughing, returning to work and now, sadly, redundancies.

We are looking to return to normal operations later this year, but also aiming to build on the phone and webchat advice service to provide a more convenient and efficient service for people, while developing our face-to-face sessions for those who may need more time to help solve their issues.

SECTA (South East Cornwall Tourism Association) – chairman Sue Jewell

I don’t think it’s hard to guess the impact the lockdown had on members of SECTA.

We have been tarred with the same brush as second home owners, forced by the likes of Martin Lewis to give full refunds, whilst not covered for insurance, despite all of us having interruption to business clauses, and at the same time receiving no self-employed help from the Government.

Most holiday owners are self-employed, but because we have to tick a box on our tax return saying our income comes from property, we do not qualify for the help given to other self-employed people.

On the positive side, we saw a lot of mutual support and have worked well together with other groups, like Visit Cornwall, Chamber of Commerce and local councillors.

We have had to radically change our cleaning and checking-in regimes. We are trying to lobby for a register of legitimate accommodation, which would have to show they complied with all legislation.

Since restrictions lifted we have heard some “you couldn’t make it up” stories!

Some of the public seem to live in a fantasy world – hot tubs a requirement when we could not open them up, families from four or more households booking holidays in one property, and yet some people have been sweet – refusing their deposit back, and understanding the bigger picture.

The rule of six has resulted in 40% cancellations of bookings, from families who were coming with grandparents, or simply two families in adjoining properties who had hoped to enjoy Cornwall safely.

It’s very hard to explain to people who had been in a bubble that they now can’t come on holiday with people that up until now, they had felt safe with.

LISKEARD IN BLOOM – chairman John Hesketh

The plans to extend our work programme with more business customers and outreach work with local schools had to be postponed at first and then cancelled as the true nature of the lockdown became apparent.

Instead, we decided to concentrate our efforts into the town centre so that the maximum number of people could benefit from the floral planting and other displays we create. Fortunately, thanks to Cornwall Council, we have the use of a lock-up yard where our volunteers could work safely and in isolation to prepare the planting schemes.

Once the re-opening of non-essential businesses on June 15 was announced, we knew we had a target date by which we needed to have our planting completed.

The results you can see in the flower beds on The Parade, the tubs around Barras Street and Pig Meadow Lane, and the large displays at The Pipewell and Lanchards.

We also had two projects that had been substantially planned, postponed and which we were able to successfully complete in June and July: new bunting on Fore Street, and thanks to a donation from the Traders Association, 13 tubs of summer flowers which were installed at the same time. Our second project was working with the town council on an events space in the Cattle Market.

Thanks to funding from Cornwall Council, generous donations of plants from our residents, and Champion Groundworks, we have created a living wall of plants to mark out the boundary of this new events area.

We regard our links with the business community in Liskeard as being hard won and valuable, and we did not hesitate to step forward with practical help to support them as the lockdown was lifted.

Working with the town council, we have published five editions of our newsletter for our 60-plus business customers (also available to the wider business community in town from our website), a business toolkit, and free template posters they can download and display in their windows.

At the start of lockdown, we realised the important role that our planting around the town played and how it impacted on people’s lives, not just to provide a backdrop to the daily life of the town and the events that are held there, but to refresh the minds and spirit of our residents and visitors.