COVID Stories

We take a look at what some of our role players have been up to during lockdown.

Sue Jeffrey’s ‘mugshot’! “My brother sent me this mug for my lockdown birthday – happy to report we proved it wrong and had a really lovely day!”

Nigel Gilkes And his yoga buddy!

Chris Orton “Creative renewal time as well as online and technical. Home and garden time, another business strand as ‘insurance’ for later and an upturn in writing and designing, including scriptwriting”.

Hannah Kimpton “I have fully discovered and loved foraging. Made wild garlic pesto, bread and creamy nettle, garlic mustard cress soup among a few things.”

Dotty Lawrence “One of the things I have been doing is taking long walks in London. Seeing the waterways and streets without people is the strangest thing. I can’t say I don’t enjoy it. It is magical and expectant. A waiting time and I am being called on to be a witness. (the photo on the left was one we took on our walks… speaks volumes)”.

James Price “Running has been an important source of sanity. In order to maintain social distancing I’ve had to adjust some of my routes, and in doing so I’ve discovered that there are two goats who live in Clissold Park in Stoke Newington in the rural London Borough of Hackney! Sadly they didn’t come out to pose this morning but the signage in the backdrop shows that I’m not making this up!”.

Peter Callaghan “Established a community support group comprising over 20 volunteers to assist villagers with essential day-to-day tasks such as grocery shopping and picking up prescriptions.”

Laurence Saunders “I achieved a lifetime ambition on Monday when I was punched in the face at lunchtime on BBC One”

Lisa Reeves “Join Lisa, George Shearing’s Community Massage Practitioner, on a family massage journey through lockdown – learn to massage your young adult with additional needs and any other family members in our 10 week virtual at home clothed massage programme.” – such a wonderful privilege to support vulnerable families at this time and to be using not just my 20 yrs community massage experience, but also my teaching brain, creative brain and L&D brain. It’s a really positive platform to connect with and to support vulnerable households during lockdown…and also a wonderful focus and learning opportunity for me.”

Gregor Hunt “I’ve taken the lockdown daily exercise to an extreme by enjoying much longer bike rides and built up to reaching my final goal of 100 miles in one day!”

Seán Patrick Judge “I’ve been using this time to join a TON of free seminars online. Mainly about resume building and job-related skills. It’s been a great resource to upgrade my hireability.”

Sarah Bauling “I have taken the time to finally put one of my courses together! “The Perfect Pitch” (which is the Elevator Pitch on steroids!) has started with an influx of delegates and I am loving the journey!” I have taken the time to finally put one of my courses together! So in short…I finally put my “Perfect Pitch” course together AND I am presenting it online!”

Edward Choy “I’ve discovered how much I enjoy cycling. I used to hate how sweaty and tiring it was. But these days I’m really enjoying throwing on a mask and heading out for a long ride with my wife two or three times a week, gets me out of the house and it’s serious cardio!”

Louise Paris “We’re enjoying bringing our families together once a week for a Zoom quiz! Members of my family haven’t spoken for years and are now dressing up and laughing together – it’s great to find the positives from Covid!”

Michael Pizzuto “Being an actor during an international quarantine is challenging for a variety of reasons. One area unaffected by the virus however seems to be the world of voiceover. For 13 years now, I have lent my voice to everything from TV commercials, network promos, children’s animation and video games. I had the luxury of always going into a studio to record content, until now. The main positive thing that I’ve been forced to do is create a professional broadcast quality home studio. I am now able to record at home, and don’t have to worry about social distancing. It’s something I have been wanting to do for quite some time, and it only took a global pandemic to kick my butt into gear and do it”

Dilip Shankar “I have been learning about podcasting lately, and as a result, ended up starting my own podcast where my colleague Puneeta and I share a meditation a day. We really do it for our own sanity, but the response has been moving and lovely. We enjoy working on it even though we are at two extreme and opposite ends of what is Delhi. We have called it KRC Guided Meditation: The Violet Gold Room. Feel free to tune in… Love and Light”. https://anchor.fm/karmicresearchcentre. ”

Anne Lothian “Planting anywhere I can!”

Genevieve Swallow “I live in a fairly green area in London, so have been able to go for walks and enjoy my little bit of garden.”

Ali Henry “Re-reading the complete works of Jane Austen. All life is there – it’s such a treat!”