Continuing our series of what Gallowglass Event Crew was up to during the year of lockdowns, June 2020 is revisited.
In general
Black Lives Matter protests were seen around the world following the shocking events in America.
Another dire month of trading at just 1% of what we would normally do. Especially concerning as June is traditionally our busiest month!
View from the top
Paul Grecian – Chairman of the Gallowglass Group
I think I now understand what my parents described as the Blitz spirit. It is very apparent that people, suppliers and companies in general are doing their best to pull together. I spend so much time talking to company suppliers and all of those personal outgoings I have every month and generally people are being really good. There is one exception, our landlords. When I was about 15 I can still remember sitting in the car with my father when he turned to me and said “Paul, when you grow up (I don’t think he realised that was still several decades away!), if you’re in business don’t ever have anything to do with these people who are the most awful sh1t’s I have ever come across!” Now, in my defence, it could be argued that I haven’t yet grown up but there will be no prizes for guessing who are Gallowglass’ landlords. But there is a God up there and it was pointed out to me that our lease ends in two months time and we can give notice right now! Once they receive our formal notice amidst plummeting demand for office space there is a sudden desire on their part to negotiate a new lease on most favourable terms. We tell them we are going! I can hear my father chuckling in his grave.
On the front line
Stephen Bridgewater – Senior Crew Chief – Wales and South West
In what must be one of the strangest couple of summer months I can remember our shift numbers almost disappear. A very sad and frustrating time for me personally.
Scott Young – Senior Crew Chief – Scotland
Thank f**k for furlough!!!
Weather is great and lockdown easing has allowed for some outdoor socialising.
Dave Gregory – Senior Crew Chief – London
FIn June, a lot of the boys and I decided to meet up and play football every week. It was great to get out and see what boys were up to in these hard times. In the second week of June we got the email saying the office would be closing. This was a big blow to me as I had been going there for 12 years on and off. But with the bad news came some good news; some jobs were starting to come in - thank God!
Marwan Zeghbib – Crew Chief – London
Fought boredom by following world events on COVID, protests in the US, and binge-watching documentaries on Netflix.
Met on a regular basis with colleagues and friends from Gallowglass who live near me: played lots of football in the sun and enjoyed regular catchups around coffee in the park.
Work was still not available...and not on the agenda.
What happened in BD
Antony Cook – Head of Business Development
I was lucky enough to find a local charity down the road that was putting together food parcels for people that had been hit hard by the pandemic and they welcomed the extra pair of hands. Human contact at last! (Wife doesn’t count)
What happened in HR
Chris Parry-Jones – Director of Human Resources
Another month but at least mid-way through some of the shops were allowed to open and joy of joys my hairdresser phoned to say I could make an appointment. More shearing than cutting. Went into London to pack up my office – the tube was empty but the bus journey was frightful. People were so rude to the poor driver. It felt very strange to be packing everything away not knowing when we would move back into offices.
What happened in IT
Darren Thorley – Head of IT
We had made the decision to move out of our offices so the push to get everything out continued at speed. I was working with the Microsoft FastTrack team in regular sessions. If you are the kind of person that like to do things yourself, so you get a full understanding, it is the perfect solution. It is not for you if you need someone to do it for you. Fortunately, I fall into the forma category.
The preparation for moving out of the office was happening so I was frequently travelling into the office to cover that off and allow people to get things from their desks that they hadn’t been able to collect since the rapid shutdown in March. In fact, the majority of my time was spent in the office. We co-ordinated things very carefully to minimise contact. It was a little spooky at times being alone in what had been a vibrant workplace that buzzed with activity.
