Youngster hopes to pack a punch with her Covid handwashing video

An aspiring young actress from Swansea is starring in her own video urging people to stick to the rules to help end lockdown so she can go back to stage school.

Ana Arnold (pictured above), aged four, misses her Saturday mornings at Stagecoach Swansea Performing Arts and spending time with her friends and teachers.

 Having been taught the importance of regularly washing your hands and maintaining your distance from others by her parents she asked if she could make a video to spread the message and help end lockdown.

In the video Ana says: “We have to wash our hands with soap and warm water to make bubbles because Coronavirus is invisible and we don’t want anyone to be ill.”

She adds: “Stay away from people and don’t touch them.”

The Pontybrenin Primary School pupil, who wants to be a nurse when she is older, said: “I’m angry. I want to punch the Coronavirus.

“The Coronavirus germs make people ill and I wanted to make the video. I made it because I want to go back to drama school. I miss the singing and dancing and I have lovely teachers.

“When everyone listens, and it is better, I can go back to stage school.”

Her dad, Matthew Arnold, works as a senior project manager with Swansea Bay University Health Board’s digital services.

Matthew said: “Ana attends the Stagecoach stage school on Saturday mornings but they had to stop it back in December, when they introduced the firebreak. Since then, they haven’t been able to reopen.

“She told us that she is really sad and wanted to do the video. She said that not everyone is following the rules so she wanted to reaffirm them to people.

“We didn’t prompt her at all, it was all her own doing, she even did the step back to emphasise social distancing

“She just wants people to follow the rules and then, hopefully, they will lift lockdown and she can go back to stage school. Stagecoach was one of the places she could go and express herself. She really used to enjoy herself and misses it greatly.

“She also really wants to visit Mumbles lighthouse, because she thinks Grampy Rabbit from Peppa Pig lives there, but she can’t even do that.”

Like most parents, Matthew and his teacher wife Llinos, have noticed lockdown and the restrictions taking a toll on their daughter like all the other children who have had to stay at home.

Matthew said: “She misses her friends and schoolteachers terribly and she misses being able to see her grandparents on a regular basis.”

The video has been shared on social media and is proving to be a hit.

Matthew said: “With the help of her sister, Ela, we put the video on Twitter and shared it with everyone we could think of and we’ve had more than 1,300 views.

“Ana was really excited. She wants to do a weekly video now, I think she is definitely going to be a performer in the future.

“Someone commented that she has more sense than the politicians, which was quite funny.”