We may look back on the Covid Pandemic as the 'lost years' but whilst I did not set foot outside the UK in either year, they were not uneventful.  I was diagnosed with the same cancer that killed my father early in 2020, just before Covid struck, but mine was found small and early so was treated with hormones during the first lockdown and by radiotherapy in the autumn of 2020. 

My little theatre in Friern Barnet had to close just before its March 2020 run of Charley's Aunt.  Everything was 'mothballed' for 20 months and we finally ran it in November 2021. We used the times we could work during the pandemic to improve the grounds, storage and replace an unsatisfactory staircase that was more like an industrial ladder. It is now at a domestic stair angle.

Against many odds, we managed to put on a full concert programme in Yorkshire both summers but we had to resort to a marquee in a meadow on a commercial farm, sometimes with half the sides open, to technically be in the 'open air'.  It was great to be part of one of the only live music events in 2020 and it was so well received that we repeated it again in 2021.  Indeed, the churches were reluctant to let us back in and many patrons preferred the set up with parking, better loos, more comfortable seats and easier access than we had at the church venues. With the 2020 Proms canceled, we found musicians who would not otherwise have been available and many liked it so much they came back for more in 2021 and will again.  We have decided to use the marquee for a third time in 2022.

Concert photos: Matthew Johnson.