I WAS reminded this week that it is almost one year ago to the day that the G13/G14 Community Support Hub at Yoker Resource Centre first opened. I was proud to play my part in helping set up the project alongside community stalwarts and to spend the majority of last year volunteering at the centre.

The people I met, the friends I made and the people we supported all inspired me and it’s them I think of as we look now to a post-pandemic world.

The hub supported thousands of people, many on a weekly basis with essential food, prescription delivery, money advice and mental health support but one thing that struck our volunteers was how many people phoned just for a chat. It is only now as we look back that we realise how much of an impact those conversations had in tackling loneliness in our communities.

As we start to recover and look to rebuild our communities it is those volunteers and essential workers who dedicated their time to community hubs just like the one in Yoker that we should be listening to. Their experiences will be invaluable in allowing us to build back better and stronger than before.

Sadly, we are starting from a position which sees a number of our community facilities not only still closed due to restrictions caused by the pandemic but they will be unable to reopen at all due to devastating cuts from the SNP administration in Glasgow – our communities are resilient, there is no doubt but these cuts continue to threaten them.

The pandemic has made us all much more aware of the digital divide within our society – this is particularly evident with our older citizens. Many of them do not have access to internet and with pensioner poverty at a level that should shame us all, many of our neighbours are struggling to afford their TV licence.

That means that this past year has been even more difficult for some who have the added battle of isolation and disconnection to fight. We must look at how we can support our older people, not solely addressing anxieties back into society but also those engrained inequalities that this pandemic has highlighted.

We also know our young people have suffered during this pandemic. Lack of certainty over exams, lack of socialising and strains on their mental health – the best thing we can do as elected representatives is to listen to them and act, so that they never feel that way again.

The next few months will be crucial for our communities, we must celebrate their efforts over the past year and commit to ensuring they have the resources to continue their life changing work.