In July, we hit 5 months of lockdown but things look like they are getting better. Our series of what Gallowglass Event Crew were doing (or trying to do) during the year of lockdowns continues.
In general
“Eat out to help out” scheme announced.
A bit of light at the end of the tunnel with lockdown easing a little and we got 11% of our normal activity. Nowhere close to what we needed but heading in the right direction compared to the last two months.
View from the top
Paul Grecian – Chairman of the Gallowglass Group
Whilst June trading had been as bad as May at 1% and June is often the biggest month of the year for us, July confirmed that we still have a pulse. Business is up to approx. 10% of normal levels. None of the business is related to our usual areas of activity. A couple of projects for the Nightingale Hospitals around the UK, a contract for a facilities management company in the north west and a lot of ad hoc stuff for logistics companies. We have tried to support the supermarkets and courier boys, but they just want access to our people which isn’t going to help the company as we try to navigate our way out of the crisis.
On the front line
Scott Young – Senior Crew Chief – Scotland
Some work to look forward to. Missing the banter.
Waistline has got bigger!
Dave Gregory – Senior Crew Chief – London
I had a very up and down July regarding work coming in, more test centres popping up all over, Film and TV shifts happening as well, so I was starting to feel better despite still not knowing about the future for me with Gallowglass.
Marwan Zeghbib – Crew Chief – London
I completed an IPAF course on the safe operating of scissor lift and cherry picker plant, in preparation for our annual Olympic Stadium job. It felt good to get back to the grind, both by acquiring the licence to drive those vehicles, and putting those skills into practice on site, surrounded by familiar, healthy faces.
What happened in BD
Antony Cook – Head of Business Development
My wife and I had moved into smaller apartment while renovations were being done to our other place and as we currently have no dryer, my Saturday mornings are taken up with visits to the laundrette. My new guilty pleasure but more of that latter.
The tail end of the month brings #WeMakeEvents, launched by PLASA, to my attention which highlights the impact of COVID-19 on their membership and wider supply chain to events. The campaign grew to include over 21 industry bodies along with many companies and professionals in the UK and we were delighted to be part of it. It reaches out to the many people within our industry who, having lost their jobs, are feeling anxious and uncertain about the future, offer support, generate positivity, and galvanize communities all over the world to do the same.
What happened in HR
Chris Parry-Jones – Director of Human Resources
Serious discussions taking place on what we are going to do – furlough has now been cut and we are still not seeing work coming in. There is a lot of uncertainty across the business. Sitting on the PSA Council has been a bright spot every fortnight as we share what we know and talk about how to move forward. I go into London for the first time in months and can have a drink and a burger with colleagues.
What happened in IT
Darren Thorley – Head of IT
I completed the migration of all our on-premises infrastructure to Azure. It went fantastically well. The business continuity setup we had, helped enormously, as did the guidance from Microsoft.
Began the sad process of dismantling our server room. The setup had served us well, taking us through the incredible peaks of working on London 2012 to this sad day. The kit was collected for safe disposal on 20th July.
There were supplier negotiations and, in some cases, termination of contracts. I worked closely with a few of these folk and it was particularly disheartening to end business relationships that had run for the best part of a decade.
Finally got my home office setup.
29th July - My last day in the office. End of an era, start of a new one.
Oh well – onwards and upwards!
