Lockdown reflections one year on - staff stories - Katell Roche

Name – Katell Roche

Age – 29

Department – Education Leisure and Housing - Sport and Leisure

Job title – Senior Duty Officer

Years of employment with OIC – since June 2013

Brief description of duties – Line manager of nine Sports and Fitness Facilities, 4 Hostels and Campsites and involved in Ground Maintenance and Parks and Play Areas.

How has life changed work wise since lockdown? It’s been a year! You’re joking right? Work has been extremely busy with the constant changes on restrictions, you haven’t been able to forward plan or arrange, only react, which has been the most difficult but the whole Leisure, Libraries and Culture team have done exceptional job on reopening the majority of the facilities and making sure we have been ‘Good to Go’ and be COVID compliant for the safety of all staff and users.

Have you introduced any innovative practice? During the first stage of lockdown we as a team at Sport and Leisure worked hard to increase our online exercise classes and loaned out our fitness equipment to keep our community engaged in physical activity. This pandemic has also encouraged us to progress our online booking systems and allowed us to create new branding to use across our services.

How has life changed personally since lockdown? I have a lot more appreciation for my home life now, before I was constantly on the go, here and there and it’s something I will certainly be continuing but I do miss going south and visiting my family and friends.

How have you found the public’s reaction to changes? As our service is predominately front facing of public users, they have been very understanding and patient with us during this difficult and ever-changing situation. The appreciation and thanks we receive is welcoming and makes all the hard work worth it.

What are you looking forward to most when restrictions end? Visiting my family and friends south with the hope to meet my new niece and nephew physically instead of virtually!