It is more than three hundred years since the first earl began to make Staunton Hall into a stately home In that time the Ferrers family and others must have hosted hundreds of grand celebrations here, including a fair sprinkling of masked balls. Surely never, until last week, a masked wedding. Limited to thirty people, music but no dancing, and daughter Caroline spending much of her time disinfecting surfaces. One redeeming feature; the weather was fine and sunny.
I am fed up with the whole business and just hope that 21st June will see an end to it all. Covid 19 has been reported to the exclusion of all else. Even the reported number of cases is a nonsense. I, and a dozen others I know, have had the virus, but only three were tested. Approximately one thousand four hundred people die in England and Wales each day, of which a handful have Covid. The collateral damage to our physical and mental health, and to the economy, is known to be immense, but not assessed. We must be allowed to judge the risk for ourselves.
At Staunton the restrictions have brought benefits in a couple of ways. We stayed open when other venues closed or restricted entry, which has brought a tranche of new visitors. And we moved the seating to the middle of the courtyard at the Ferrers Centre, which has created a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Every cloud has a silver lining.