In the weeks and months that followed, people watched so many of their neighbours die, often whole families. Survival was tough. The villagers were supplied with food by those who lived outside. People brought donations of food and left them at the parish stones that marked the start of Eyam village. The villagers, in turn, left money in a water trough filled with vin egar to sterilise the coins. For many, of course, there would be the task of nursing a sick loved one. No modern medicines, vac cinations or hazmat-style suits for protection then.