​The very first practical responses to the coronavirus pandemic were led from the ground up by front liners, families, friends, neighbours and volunteers. It was an example of something wonderful, something that the Trustees and staff at the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust have always believed in and hold in the highest regard. It was what George Orwell called “common decency." 

As social animals we feel safer when we recognise how interconnected we are and when we feel for others and they feel for us. The mutuality we feel at times like these shows that deep down, maybe, just maybe, we are fonder of one another than we normally let on. 

​"Gloucester Services is an incredible place to work, where no two days are the same, and over the past five years my team have become my family. I’m proud of everything we achieve together on a daily basis to give our customers the best possible food experience we can to break their journeys on the motorway.
 
Unfortunately due to Covid-19 a lot has changed over the past few weeks that is out of our control. Whilst still trading in the Farmshops, Kitchens and Quick Kitchens, we made many adaptations to our working practices in order to stay safe and proactive for our customers safety; including introducing social distancing stickers on the floors, screens at the tills and encouraged contactless self service at the tills. We were able to offer so much help in the community, from baking fresh bread and delivering it locally when people were unable to get it themselves to donating Easter eggs to NHS families, as well as multiple donations within the community whilst we were closing down.

Like many people in the hospitality industry I have been furloughed, meaning no work to go to for a while. This is an alien concept to me, I’ve always worked, I don’t even take more than 10 days off for a holiday as I miss the rhythm and routine too much!

It has taken a lot for me to adapt to a new Lockdown way of life, without my work family to get up and go to everyday, without the buzz of a busy Friday lunchtime to look forward to, it’s definitely a challenge to remember what day of the week it is. However, I’m extremely proud of the way everyone took the news of furlough leave in their strides, knowing it’s the right thing for the business and ourselves during this time, working together to clean down and close up the kitchens and quick kitchens with care and precision to ensure we have a great place to return to when we are able. The hardest thing for me was seeing our usually buzzing kitchens with no colleagues or customers, just dark and quiet once we’d closed them.
 
Everyone is keeping in touch still, using our internal Facebook groups, it’s great to see what everyone’s getting up to whilst not working, learning new skills and sharing food ideas together! We had a virtual baking competition over Easter which really got everyone’s creative juices flowing, just a shame we couldn’t all taste the winning cakes!

COVID–19 is a different world for us all, it’s making us think differently, live and behave differently, but there are some good things that are coming out of the fact that we are on lockdown.  It’s been a difficult few weeks for many of our Gloucester Services colleagues as they have had to temporarily shutdown the majority of the site.  But we are lucky as there is a strong community within and our relationships with GGT's Community Partners have really been invaluable during these last few weeks.

We have always worked with and funded GL Communities to pick up food that we are not able to sell at Gloucester Services and deliver to community food cupboards in the area.  This week we have been able to make a big food donation, which is collected and delivered to collection points in our target communities - see our food support article for details. 

Our community partner GL Communities also offer free money advice, what benefits you are entitled to and how to claim them. It can be complicated and daunting, the team have a wealth of knowledge and can guide people through the process.

One of things that Mark Gale is often heard saying is “ The only thing that is stopping us is our imagination”.  Gloucester Services was born from creative and community aspirations. Now more than ever we need to think out of the box. The way we connect with people, at home, family, our neighbours, friends our colleagues.  I am lucky and proud to be in Stroud, where a group of people set up a coronavirus community response network, https://neighbournetworks.uk/, giving out advice, mapping out streets and ensuring everyone is supported and linked to someone. It has bought people together and people are now talking and meeting people on line who they have never met, but have lived in the same road for years.
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On our street we have two WhatsApp groups, a serious one and a funny one to support each other during these strange times. Each year we have a street party and this year is going to be one big celebration of people we all have met, people who have helped us laugh, supported us and kept us all going. 

I know it’s going to be challenging, for people who know me,  I am not one to sit still for long. But I have picked up the phone to friends who I have known for years and had proper catch up’s. One of my good friends is a yoga teacher and is offering yoga on facebook, it’s great, I get to hear and see her and do some yoga at the same time (a calmer me is always appreciated by my family!). We have decided to have tea and cake once a week with some local friends to support each other over Zoom to share stories and advice on our children.  

Last week I celebrated my birthday and more than ever, I felt very lucky to have such amazing friends and family around me.  The usual more material items, were replaced by homemade items from my family, a 'Queen of Corona' crown from son number one, a medal from son number two (we often run together) and rose tinted glasses from my husband. We spent the day together and walked a former neighbour’s dog, in a bizarre way it was actually a lovely day.

At the end of all this, we may live in a different world where we are more connected, make more time for each other and appreciate each other and a world  where the only thing that is stopping us is our imagination.

"Life is tricky and it’s getting trickier for lots of people in these exceptionally uncertain times. However even in this current COVID-19 crisis there is much to celebrate in our communities.

GGT has for years been promoting the importance of neighbours helping neighbours, kindness and recognising that everyone has skills and knowledge to share. In fact we know that good neighbours and friends are what people in our communities value most. Sometimes the hardest thing for people is being confident enough to offer or ask for help. Well in the last few days we have seen a tidal wave of people stepping forward to connect people up, helping and looking out for each other. 

​There is self help action in almost every area.  Although we must always follow the governments health guidance in order to protect ourselves and others, I urge you to step forward and get involved.  Call a friend, relative or neighbour who might be in isolation, or volunteer to get some shopping or collect a prescription for someone who is housebound.  If we do this then despite all our worries now our communities will come out of this crisis stronger and more connected than ever before.

Gloucester Services is a great example of communities seeing opportunities in adversity, changing the M5 from something that caused pollution and accidents into a community asset. Together we can now generate new opportunities to connect people as neighbours and friends, helping us all to build stronger communities now and for the future."

"After some of the challenges of 2019, I’m hoping that we can all be a bit kinder to each other in 2020.

What makes communities special is the positive time we all share chatting to friends and neighbours, playing together and keeping an eye out for each other.

The great news from our 2019 Annual Community Survey* is that most residents in our neighbourhoods still want to share their skills to help other local people.  When we start sharing local skills and knowledge, we find that the solutions to many local ‘problems’ lay in our own hands. What people often need is to be allowed some time, trust and resources to create their own opportunities and solutions.

A great example of this in 2019 has been the amazing array of activities generated by our local Culture Matson partnership with its many and varied partners. This group has helped turn the reputation of the local area from being seen as a problem into an asset. Culture Matson partners like GL4, schools, churches, library and many community partners organised a plethora of events from theatre, dance, beat boxing, circus skills, outside cinema and many more all of which have been led by local people.

Now people come to Matson to go to the theatre and other community festivals. As a community we are focused on helping to increase this activity providing us all with new opportunities to get to know more people, make new friends, have fun together and generally make a spectacle of ourselves. That’s what I call perfect 2020 vision."
 
 
*for a copy of our Community Survey email office@ggtrust.org and we’ll send you a free copy, or visit our publications page. 

"New analysis by Age UK has found that 278,000 older people in the South East can go for a month without meeting up with a friend, and that 69,000 over 65’s in the region have not even had a conversation with family or friends over the same period.
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Research commissioned by the Charity also found that half a million older people across the UK are expecting to feel lonely this Christmas, of whom four in five (79%) have not sought any help for this. For half of those (52%), loneliness has become a ‘normal’ part of life.

"For most of us, Christmas is the season to be merry and revel in social activities, however, as Christmas is approaching, so is the realisation for many people that they will spend this holiday season by themselves.  In later life we are particularly vulnerable to loneliness since we may have suffered losses of friends and family, mobility or income. 
 
Put simply, isolation refers to the involuntary, complete or near complete lack of contact with people and society.  It includes many people with different characteristics, and it impacts on an individual’s quality of life and their wellbeing.