As the UK Government sets out further changes to ease lockdown measures in England next week the Cornwall Film Festival charity is launching Coronavirus Stories after being awarded funding by the National Lottery to support its work in encouraging creativity and culture to thrive across Cornwall. The idea for Coronavirus Stories came out of a conversation on how we document the experiences of communities during the Coronavirus crisis and resulting lockdown. How do we come together while staying apart?

At a time when the news cycle is saturated with global issues, we wanted to turn our attention to our immediate community - the residents of our street. By contributing to this shared history of the pandemic, we hope to bring the community closer together and discover the incredible diversity of experiences and perspectives that can be found behind every door on every street. Starting with St Thomas Street in Penryn, we hope the project will be taken up by other communities across the county, and will become a rich portrait of ordinary people living through extraordinary times.

54 addresses of mixed residential, social, private and multiple housing, on St.Thomas Street, Penryn, were asked to contribute their stories and their thoughts on the theme ‘together’ during this time, selecting strong and diverse voices, each showing a different side to community life here in Cornwall. This is peer to peer storytelling – by the community, for our community – making pieces that are equally engaging and enlightening for audiences.  The stories and portraits will be released online at www.coronavirusstoriescornwall.org and on social media, where shorter cut-downs of the interviews will engage a wide range of audiences and bring new voices to the project.