The postman’s bag was heavy that day, we were all packed in tightly together, amongst the letters, cards and bills to be delivered. Because something strange and scary had happened to the world. A pandemic had spread and to try to minimise the damage, a strict country-wide lockdown had been put in place. For the safety of the country and to try and stop the spread of a horrible new disease named COVID 19, the people of Britain were instructed to try and stay in their homes as much as possible, unless you were a key worker, this meant working from home. You could go out to go shopping (as little as possible) and go for 1 hour of exercise outside per day. Schools were shut. All unnecessary shops were shut, cinemas closed, gyms and swimming pools too. Play areas shut off.

Brave key workers still went out to work, in hospitals, care homes, supermarkets and factories etc. A lot of them had to isolate from their families to reduce risk of infection. Grandparents were kept away from their grandchildren. Kids were unable to see their family and friends.

And this is why we were made, Huggable Hero versions of the people who were being missed the most. I’m the Huggable Hero version of Sarah, a nurse in the local hospital – I was working on the Covid ward, so for the safety of my family, moved into a specially set up hotel to makes sure I wouldn’t take the illness home. My son, Alfie was thrilled when his Mummy Hero arrived and he could stop having nightmares because Mummy wasn’t there to hug him goodnight.

Sharing the postman’s bag with me was David, a Huggable Hero version of a factory worker who’d had to take on extra hours, while his wife home schooled their children, on furlough. He was working so many hours they were worried the children would forget what he looked like, so the Hero versions of him were ideal to stop that happening.

We were also amongst several children heroes, Daisy, Kayleigh, Joey and Ben – all bought for grandparents who were missing seeing them and needed cheering up.

Neil was a hero who had been made for his girlfriend – he was stuck abroad and unable to come home, was hoping a hero of himself would be comfort to her as she isolated on her own.

Margaret, Robert, Karen and Lillian were all grandparent heroes whose grandchildren couldn’t understand why they were being kept apart. These Heroes could be cuddled by the little ones until it was safe to do so in person once again.

Little Sophie was the cutest child hero , made for her nursery friend Lola, who missed her friend so much she would cry every day.

And as we were all jumbled together on the way to be delivered, we realised that everyone misses someone, and having a hero to cuddle can help to ease that pain. Even without a pandemic, missing human contact can be so terribly upsetting, and this just brought home the importance of Huggable Heroes in helping with separation anxiety.

Although things are slowly improving, and lockdown has been eased, things are still fairly uncertain. People are still limited in their contact, and missing those hugs. With Huggable Heroes, hugging IS still possible, however far apart you may be. Lockdown