Who would have thought at the beginning of 2020 that we would be spending our Easter in lockdown?

It is fair to say that regardless of whether you are looking after your kids, working from home or a key worker that we are all having to adapt to a new way of life.

I myself am in week four of working from home, and have been trying to stick to a routine and not work too many extra hours.

But it is not all bad; it has given me the chance to spend more time with my partner, rediscover my love of baking and even re-learn some Yoga!

The SRP team is still hard at work, and we have been trying more and more virtual tools, to have Committee and Council meetings, and looking at new ways we can support our members and the public during these challenging times.

On Monday we had our first meeting of SRP and its Partner Societies via Zoom which went great!  And it was fantastic to see everyone, even if it was virtually.

On the topic of supporting our members I want to do a quick reminder to submit your suggestions via the survey and to let us know if you would be interested in SRP running a series of free one hour webinars in the coming weeks, and suggest topics.

Having attended a number of webinars myself, I think they are great!  And it would be fantastic to keep us all engaged over the coming weeks.

Also I wanted to remind people about the SRP Benevolent Fund.  Although relatively new, and there has not been the opportunity to build its resources to support as effectively as would be wished in this time of national crisis, applications for support remain open!  So please visit the SRP Benevolent Fund website if you have a need and think it may be able to help.

Alternatively, if you would like to make a donation to the fund, please get in touch with our SRP admin team. We have already had a number of generous donations over the last few weeks, and I am truly touched by the support our membership is willing to provide to each other.

Lastly I wanted to end by saying that despite all the negatives of COVID-19 it has also highlighted some real positives, in terms of people coming together, volunteering and supporting one another.

On behalf of SRP I would like to thank all those key workers, across the NHS, utility providers, and essential service providers for their hard work and putting themselves at risk to keep us all going!

I hope you all have a good Easter Break!  And I look forward to seeing many of you either virtually or post lockdown.

Take care!

Pete Bryant

SRP President