Getting through this together

The holiday park industry is no exception. All UK holiday parks are now closed to outside visitors; the country is in full lockdown. As we enter the usually busy Easter holiday and summer seasons this is clearly far from an ideal situation. Despite this, I’m confident that if our industry sticks together, supports one another – we can get through this and come out the other side stronger together!

Supporting our industry

What these past few weeks have taught me is that in adversity everyone really does come together and support one another.

All of our industry customers, suppliers and partners have been very flexible, considerate and understanding of the situation.  Although this has always been the case, I have seen so much collaboration in our industry addressing the challenges we’re all facing. Ultimately, as an industry we are all in the same boat, keeping communication open and showing empathy with others in the industry is key to getting through this.

I also want to congratulate the great work that Ros Pritchard and her team at the British Holiday & Home Parks Association (BHHPA) who have been brilliant acting on behalf of the industry when it is needed most. Not only are they lobbying on key issues impacting our industry; they are also providing valuable data and information that businesses in our industry desperately need.

Taking the necessary steps

At Vinyl Solutions, like many other businesses around the UK and the rest of the world, we made the tough but necessary decision to temporarily close our office and production facility. This is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our team, our customers and our suppliers.

The whole team have been fantastic over these past few weeks, finding news ways of working, being very flexible and understanding. I’d like to thank them for their continued commitment.

Some of the team now continue to work from home, keeping the business operational in what is a challenging and uncertain time. Despite this unprecedented challenge, we’re using this time wisely to look at our processes and procedures and looking at ways we can improve what we do as well as our service to our customers.

Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives

I, like millions around the country, am continuing to work from home and abiding by the guidance from government about social distancing. It’s not much I know, but we’ve all got a key role to play just doing that.

I am full of admiration for all of those working for the NHS – on the front line against this awful virus – they are putting their lives at risk everyday to help those that need it most. Many complain about the sacrifices having to be made right now, having to constantly stay at home, work from home, look after or school their children. It’s not an ideal situation for anybody, but the true commitment is from those still working in key worker roles around the country, continuing to help in this battle.

I am also very proud to say that a number of our team have put their names forward to volunteer to support the NHS in this challenging time. This is a true measure of how people want to step forward to help the cause and I’m very proud of them in doing so.

Lets all do our bit – stay home, protect the NHS, save lives!

Being ready to return

Pressing the pause button on our business for me is like having your favourite song interrupted on the radio and you have no idea when the song will start again. We are all desperate to get back to work and to resume some kind of normality again, but obviously we will only do that when it is absolutely safe to do so.

As I said at the beginning, as an industry we’re stronger together and will get through this and come out the other side. No one knows how long that will be, but I’m convinced that people will be hungrier than ever to make the best of the situation and bring our industry back to its best.

Please take care everyone, look out for one another and if over the coming weeks you want to get in touch it would be great to hear from you.

Take care and most importantly keep well.