A university student is making good use of her time in lockdown by providing free concerts for her Harrogate neighbours. 

Lucy Crocker, 22, played songs from her front garden in Mallinson Oval last Friday, hoping to lift spirits. 

So many of them came outside to listen from their doorsteps and driveways that she is planning to make it a weekly concert. 

She said: “I saw videos of people giving concerts on their balconies and I thought, ‘I could do that’.  

“When I’m at university, we have informal student recitals every Monday and I miss that when I’m away.” 

https://youtu.be/97Cdv0oXG-s

Former Harrogate Grammar School student Lucy plays viola and sings, and says she can play a few chords on the ukulele. Her first performance consisted mostly of music she already knows, but she has been taking requests from her neighbours and practising their suggestions. 

“I don’t know that much modern music – I'm more used to playing in orchestras,” she said. “But I’m OK at playing by ear, so if I know the song I can usually play it.” 

Lucy plans to continue her concerts for as long as people are at home to hear them. She is preparing to sit the final exams for her earth sciences degree at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, from home, where her parents and younger brother are also in lockdown. 

There are other families living nearby, as well as elderly people, and Lucy said she was keen to bring people together, even if from a distance. 

“I wanted to have a little bit of interaction with the neighbours that isn’t just on a messenger basis,” she said. “They all came out and seemed to enjoy not just the music, but all being out at the same time and chatting to each other across the road.” 

Among those who appreciated the performance was Margaret Willis, who has family living in Harrogate and helping out with food supplies but is missing seeing people every day. 

“All us oldies were out in the road,” she said. “We all kept our distance but it was nice to get out and chat to neighbours.  

“I think it did us all good. Everybody said how lovely it was. Even people who hadn’t been out for ages brought a chair out and sat down to listen – it was really good.”