Parish Councillor Brigid O’Connor shares her story.
As many of you know, I’m the Green Parish Councillor for Bilbrook East. However, my daytime full-time job is a student support worker for the City of Wolverhampton College. I have held this post from as recently as February 2020. It is a job that I am very passionate about, having spent all of my career in education as a primary school teacher. I was very excited to be back in education and taking on the new challenge of working in further education.
When I first heard that we were heading for a lockdown due to Covid-19 I was actually relieved. I had spent the week leading up to 23rd March (the day it was announced) feeling very scared as I travelled to work on the bus; afraid to touch people, afraid if someone sat next to me and, like everyone else, leaping 3 feet backwards if someone coughed or sneezed! At the college we had already been given the option of wearing masks and some students had chosen this option, so it was all starting to feel very strange anyway.
Then came the announcement that schools and colleges would shut to all students apart from those with parents as key workers and the most vulnerable. Because I live with my elderly father, I was advised to stay at home and work from there. After a week or so, we were able to close our college entirely to students because we were able to provide home support for our vulnerable pupils. I feel very lucky that I have been able to continue to work at full pay because the college has provided continuous online lessons through Microsoft Teams, which I have been able to attend and so I have still managed to support my students remotely, although I do miss their faces. Overall, continued support from the college has been very successful for the students.
Like many others, I’m looking forward to going back to work in September, and supporting the students. I know that there are going to be challenges ahead but we can do it. If lockdown has taught me anything, it’s taught me to appreciate the simple things more fully. It’s taught me to appreciate silence, nature and birdsong even more. I have seen and heard of many acts of kindness in our community – people delivering food to neighbours, phoning each other and checking that everything is ok, and making use of their time to care for outdoor areas. I myself became an NHS volunteer and supported a few elderly people who just wanted to talk, and this was a great privilege.
My intention is to encourage this community spirit to continue post-lockdown as we emerge into our new society.
Brigid