If ever a song summed up the spirit shown by the Northampton College community during lockdown, it's ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow'.
First used in the Wizard of Oz film of 1939, this Judy Garland classic perfectly encapsulates the mood for many of us searching for a chink of light at the end of what has been an extremely dark tunnel.
It offers a sense of hope, the knowledge that better days lay ahead and the security that when all this is over we will be able to enjoy those things we previously took for granted, possibly more so than ever.
It's a song that many of us are familiar with but a version produced by Northampton College's Musical Theatre has now thrust it back into the limelight. Recorded from their own homes during lockdown, the extraordinary cover version has attracted widespread national attention – being featured on TV, on radio and online by the Daily Mail, dozens of regional papers and major titles in Scotland, Ireland and even Gibraltar.
The raw emotion the song evokes was captured perfectly in the video, beautifully stitched together by college staff, and the lyrics resonate with all of us. We all have that one thing we're looking forward to doing as soon as we are able to, that one person we're looking forward to seeing and hugging and that one place we all wish to go.
Whatever it is at the end of your rainbow, it is getting closer by the day.
