COVID has affected many families in different ways over the last few months, mine included.

At the end of August my mother passed away and was buried last week. Having left her home in early April, where she had been looked after wonderfully by First City Nursing Care and her family, she was admitted to hospital for various age-related conditions.

She then spent the next four months shuttling between hospital and a council-run care home.

She had been tested for Covid but was negative every time, a great testament to the fabulous work of our NHS and our care workers.

This was difficult for her and our family as visiting was prohibited for the first few months and then limited. Her family were only able to see her through a window at the care home and, towards the end, I was allowed to visit her on the ward, by appointment, and wearing a mask, plastic apron and gloves.

We would all have liked to have seen more of her in the intervening time but we were able to say our ‘goodbyes’ on the day.

At the funeral, the service and committal was limited to a maximum of 30 but, because of the Rule of Six, we all had to split into small groups to celebrate her life.

The Reverend Clive Deverall, the Co-op Funeral Service and the team at Lydiard Park were all brilliant, all operating within the Covid regulations.

I recount this, not because I have the opportunity to do so or to seek sympathy.

I wanted to give one personal example of how Covid has changed many lives so dramatically this year and also to highlight the fabulous people we have in our town, who are helping each other through these testing times.

No doubt many readers have other more harrowing experiences of life through Covid and they may wish to tell their own stories in time. My thoughts go out to all of them.

Such experiences bring home to us the need to contain and eliminate this terrible disease because, although it was not the reason for my mother’s passing, it made the impact for her family and those who cared for her, so much more difficult to bear.

I make this point just as the Prime Minister has outlined the latest series of measures which are intent on suppressing the second wave of Covid across the country.

The stark warnings from our scientific experts earlier this week about how cases could exponentially rise over the next few weeks are further evidence, if it were needed, that Covid is here to stay and could so easily overwhelm our NHS once again.

But if there is one thing to cling on to, it is that we are not at that stage yet and as we have shown in Swindon over the past few weeks, if we all collectively do the right things and follow the advice and guidance, we can take on coronavirus and slow its spread.

Please stay safe and help to protect everyone in our town.