My grandma can’t get a proper farewell due to funeral restrictions

DESPITE Prime Minister Boris Johnson stating that funerals would not be affected by the UK lockdown, things are changing every day and new regulations are being brought in to protect us from this virus.

We were originally told that we would only be able to have 20 people attend my grandma’s funeral on Friday. And now 
we’ve been told we can only have 10. We’re not able to have 
a gathering afterwards either 
like you usually would with a funeral.

It doesn’t feel right. This isn’t how it was supposed to happen. We’re constantly worrying about if a new announcement will be made to cancel funerals, and then what do we do? I know I’m not the only one with these concerns.

The Good Funeral Guide has suggested that the Government should ban funerals during the coronavirus pandemic: “The decision to exempt funerals from the current ban on social gatherings was undoubtedly made for compassionate reasons, but the current lack of clear instruction and direction is leading to anguish and suffering beyond imagination.”

I speak for my own family when I say that we have all 
stayed in isolation during this lockdown, hidden away in the countryside with no cases of coronavirus around us so we, ourselves, are not risking the lives of others.

For my grandma’s funeral, we already are not able to have any of her friends there due to their age so really the only people who will be there are me, my parents and my sister. After all the planning to make this the right day to send her off to be with my granddad once again, saying that we are disappointed is an understatement.

I completely understand and respect that the safety of everyone in the country comes first and is the most important thing to be concentrating on, but it is devastating that the virus is around in general and that all gatherings such as funerals, weddings, christenings and more are being affected.

From: David West, Filey.

WITH regards to the trouble over closing schools, and suspending exams, it could be an opportunity to look again at the structure of the school year.

Also the two writers Jayne Dowle and Sam Day (The Yorkshire Post, March 23) having a go at the Government over the time it took to decide how to deal with the situation was perplexing – would they rather the decision was rushed and that Ministers made the worst choice out of a set of unfavourable options?