Age UK Lancashire are looking for veterans, their family and carers, to share ideas and creations they have produced during the Covid19 pandemic, to form part of a new funded 'Veterans Art of Isolation' exhibition.

The charity is asking for any veteran over 50 (yes, the young ones too!) or their family or carers to share their creative activities from these past months of isolation along with one or two paragraphs describing how and why these activities came about during these strange times.

A veteran is someone who has provided at least one day of service, for example National Service, RAF, Army, Navy, TA along with Merchant Navy; the work itself can be submitted as photographs, writing, audio or film. This material will form the basis of the exhibition exploring the work and the stories behind them.

Project coordinator and local storyteller, Jacqueline Harris said: “Whilst everyone has their own story to tell about this year, personal stories from the older generation are not as widely represented across the media.

"There are plenty of stories about what isolation and other challenges of lockdown have meant for the older population, but very little in their own words and pictures. This is an opportunity to share and make visible personal stories and imagery so that these voices are heard and not forgotten.”

Funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Trust, the project has now launched and will run until March 2021. Similar to their previous Art of Isolation project, which focused on people’s creations in and stories of lockdown, this new one focuses specifically on older veterans in Lancashire and how they have dealt with lockdown and uncertainty during the pandemic.

The hope is the submissions will reflect many aspects of people’s lives during lockdown. It could be that new hobbies have been discovered or old ones rediscovered, new skills developed or existing skills used to create something new.

It could be a photograph through glass of a loved one, paintings of the places and people you would have seen if it hadn’t been for lockdown, a record of local flora and fauna, a film of yourself picking your first ever home-grown radishes, a drawing made of a family member, an audio story recorded for grandchildren, a poem or a song - the list is endless.

Anne Oliver from Age UK Lancashire said: “As a charity we have been working with and for veterans in Lancashire over many years, most recently with our current Removing Barriers project, aiming to support veterans, their families and carers in a whole range of ways.

We hope this creative exhibition will give people the opportunity to showcase the more positive experiences they may have had during Covid and are so excited to see what people send in and become part of our exhibition. This is aimed at all abilities.”

The limit on the amount of work that can be submitted in different media is up to 6 photographs, up to 2000 words, and up to 2 mins recording time for either audio or film

Submissions must be in by the end of November and can be made to either by email to advice@ageuklancs.org.uk writing Art of Isolation in the subject line, or by sharing on twitter tagging @AgeUKLancashire and using the hashtag #artofisolation; people without access to the internet can call Age UK Lancashire on 0300 303 1234 to find out how to submit their entries.