As we approach the sixth week of lockdown, we caught up with our small – but perfectly formed – lockdown team to find out what they’ve been up to over the last few weeks.
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We do hope that all our guests and team members are keeping safe and well and would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all their support during these unprecedented times.
At The Runnymede on Thames, we are very much ‘one big family’. Although the vast majority of the team have been furloughed, we – the lockdown team – are still based at the hotel and we’ve been doing what we can to keep morale high. Over Easter, we delivered chocolate to those living locally and this week we have sent out sunflower seeds to those who live further afield. A prize will be rewarded for the tallest sunflower grown in due course – we just need the sun to keep shining!
In the absence of guests, we have been kept company by some eclectic friends: two geese named Cleo and Patra; two hedgehogs called Spike and Prickle; as well as our four hotel cats and four visiting dogs (Bongo, Alfie, Bailey and Pip) who like nothing better than assisting us with our security patrols!
We have also made it a priority to engage with the local community through various initiatives. These include delivering food to charities – such as Spelthorne Dementia Support and the York Road Homeless Project – as well as helping to collect bed linen to be made into scrubs for the NHS and donating blue shoe covers to the Ashford and St Peters Hospital teams.
Finally, we have spent much of our time not only maintaining the hotel and its grounds, but also enhancing them so that our guests and team will be excited about the prospect of returning. We can’t wait to see everyone again! In the meantime, we will be sharing tips, recipes and a peek behind the scenes, which we hope will provide a welcome distraction for you.
