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Waltham Forest's Lorna Lee reflects on how London’s first Borough of Culture supported its local community through the pandemic.

On the 10th March 2020 the culture team at Waltham Forest attended an evaluation event at City Hall to share the story of an extraordinary year as the first ever London Borough of Culture. Just two weeks later, on March 23rd, the UK went into its first lockdown.

Along with everyone in the culture community we immediately set about thinking about our response. Ultimately, the work we had done during 2019 drove an important decision - that culture could make a unique contribution to how we meet the needs of local communities and support them through the immediate impacts of Covid-19 and the challenging times ahead.

The cultural activity produced during 2019 was swiftly adapted through two key factors. The first was our volunteers. During our London Borough of Culture year 1,000 members of the local community signed up to be Legend of the Forest volunteers, supporting a wide range of activities across the borough... Keep reading on Arts Industry.