Generally speaking, I tend to be wary of touchy-feely ‘community’ schemes, especially when they are instigated by a council.

But I’m prepared to park up my cynicism and give my approval to Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Covid-19 Reflections project.

According to CWAC, artists and photographers will work with communities across the borough in projects exploring ‘individual experiences’, how society has changed because of the pandemic and stories from groups whose voices are seldom heard.

Alongside this are six green spaces with themed planting to offer residents across the borough a place to reflect. These will be complemented by six smaller art projects with the neighbouring communities.

As council leader Cllr Louise Gittins said: “Who would have thought that we would see, in our lifetimes, a pandemic which was such a great threat to our lives and our society?

“We've been through lockdowns and different restrictions which meant we had to cut off or limit contact with those we love and we had to find completely new ways to work, socialise, shop and care for each other.

“For many people the pandemic brought sadness, grief and loneliness. But we also saw incredibly uplifting community spirit, determination, selflessness and hope, and together we have come through it.

“This is an opportunity to take the time to look back and reflect on the pandemic, and even preserve some of our thoughts and experiences for future generations.”

I couldn’t agree more. The thing about the pandemic is it affected absolutely everyone to a greater or lesser degree. We all have our stories.

We all suffered the same restrictions in what was a shared experience on one level but on another level, pandemic rules and limitations were often felt intensely personally and suffered alone.

In some ways I feel a little guilty about how the pandemic affected my life.

Yes, I missed seeing my family and a Christmas spent without the usual gathering was pretty miserable but thankfully none of us caught Covid early on.

By the time we succumbed, we were all so well vaccinated the illness was relatively mild (I had a sore throat for a couple of days and felt a bit tired).

When lockdown restrictions were at their most draconian, I could work from home which was glorious.

I didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to commute into Manchester and my job really didn’t require me to have face-to-face contact with anyone.

(For the record, I resigned as soon as I was told I had to return to the office. I’d proved I was more effective and productive working from home and didn’t fancy being jammed into short-formed, running late Northern trains).

I have a garden for some outside space when the weather was good and I live within walking distance of two or three green open spaces for those days when exercise outside the house was limited and I have just about enough room to set up a workspace without getting in the way.

But many people had a much worse time of it than me and watching the nightly press conferences as the death toll mounted was heartbreaking.

Stories of Covid being seeded into care homes when patients were discharged from hospital without being tested started to emerge. The lack of pandemic preparation after years of austerity quickly became apparent when we heard stories of a shortage of ventilators and saw pictures of inadequate personal protective equipment.

Millions of pounds were wasted on a Test and Trace app that never really worked properly. And after the event, we found out that the prime minister and others were partying away in 10 Downing Street while most of us were sticking religiously to the rules.

Oh, and don’t forget Eat Out to Help Out (and spread the virus while you’re having your pudding).

So yes, I think its right that we reflect on our individual experiences and on how society has changed because of the pandemic.

But perhaps the most important ‘reflection’ is the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, the independent public inquiry set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the pandemic, and to learn lessons for the future being chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett, a former Court of Appeal judge.

Going to court to try to withhold information from the inquiry was not a good look by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his government. The inquiry should be about truth, transparency and a willingness to learn lessons.

It’s the very least we can expect, not what looks like a shifty attempt to evade responsibility. What have they got to hide, I wonder.

Let’s hope Baroness Hallett can get to the truth.