Covid: Worcester sisters' 'incredible bond' after lockdown year

Jessica has been able to watch sister Sophie's milestones during the pandemic

A family whose baby was born on the day the UK lockdown began said it has given her an "incredible bond" with her older sister.

Sophie was born on 23 March 2020, the day Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the first announcement.

Most of her first year has been spent at her Worcester home with parents Bill and Mhairi and sister Jessica, nine.

"They have this incredible bond and it is beautiful to see them play," Mhairi said.

Jessica has also spent most of the year being home-schooled, due to the pandemic.

The girls' father said he has also been able to spend more time with his daughters

"As much as she's missed having all that time with her friends... she's been there for Sophie's first meal, she's been there for the first time she crawled, she was there the first time she walked," Mhairi said.

"If she had been at school she would have missed all that."

For Sophie's dad Bill, the pandemic has also meant working from home, increasing the time he has spent with baby Sophie.

"That is the only silver lining that I can think of, being able to spend more time with Sophie during her first year," he said.

The family will be having a small celebration on Tuesday evening to mark Sophie's first birthday

Despite the amount of time the family has been able to spend together, Sophie's parents said what she has missed out on is time with their wider family and being able to socialise.

• Latest news from the West Midlands

• The babies born into a pandemic

• Lockdown diaries: 'No-one has seen him as a baby'

"It has been the baby groups, it has been meeting other new mums, it has been allowing her to be able to have contact with other babies, because socialisation is important and she's not had that," Mhairi said.

"Once we sort of get out of this, we will be able to travel and we will be able to go see our family and it won't be on the end of a TV screen, they will actually pick her up and cuddle her," Bill added.