THE coronavirus pandemic has changed people's lives in many ways, with the connection residents have to their local community being one of them.

When the first national lockdown was announced last March, many rushed to the supermarkets to stock up on all the essentials, out of fear that they would never leave the house and would be in complete isolation.

During the past 10 months, in which the guidance has been to avoid any unnecessary outings, people have found alternative ways to socialise not only with their friends and family, but also with their local community.

A big part of that has been street WhatsApp group chats.

In Acton Central alone, there are 62 local WhatsApp groups , each named after the street they're located on.

You can find all 62 groups on Acton Notebook, a local website dedicated to Acton.

Founder of Acton Notebook, Kal Di Paola told Nub News: "We set up the Acton Covid Support Group and thought it would be great if we could get a group chat going for every street in the local area and keep an inventory of them on the Acton Notebook website so that others can see it and join."

Residents were encouraged to set up a group chat for their street in order to bring neighbours closer together.

Di Paola, who has lived in Acton for over a decade, added: "The pandemic has caused many people to be isolated and lonely and in some cases in need of help.

"By having a local WhatsApp group, neighbours can help each other."

Apart from individual group chats, Di Paola also set up a reps group chat, which includes the admins from each local group, along with local politicians.

"Our aim is to make Acton self-sufficient, to help each other so that people can always get the assistance they need."

Although the emergence of these local group chats has mainly been due to the outbreak of the pandemic, Di Paola thinks that these groups are here to stay.

She said: "These group chats are a great way to spread positive ideas and news that are happening locally, people get a lot out of them and they'll continue to use them even after things return to normal."