Key Working Women of the Month

(From left to right) Gill Baldwin, Tracy Tonkin, Saffron Ingleheart, Lily Terry and Hannah Pearce.

This month, in light of the current crisis, we invited our Facebook followers to nominate their own key working women who are doing amazing things in our community during this challenging time.

We had this lovely nomination from Faye Wilson for our first key worker Woman of the Month:

Lily Terry, Midwife

'I’d like to nominate my niece Lily Terry who is a midwife caring for expecting mums during these frightening times. She is so caring and full of good humour ❤️ also want to mention that her mum (my sister) Tiffany Terry and (our mum) Viv Thompson are making masks for Lily and her colleagues.' 🙌🌻

Tracy Tonkin, Postie

Our second key worker Woman of the Month was nominated by her sister Lou. Tracy says:

'Being a postie has changed a bit in the last couple of weeks. Changes to keep ourselves and people we deliver to safe are key and we have become a really important part of people's lives, both for the businesses still trying to make a living and their customers as they order items online. I'm loving delivering the handwritten letters and cards people have started sending since the 'lockdown' and seeing the reactions as we all find different ways of keeping in touch.

Being able to keep an eye on the more isolated and have a chat from the end of the garden or a wave from across the road is really important. For some people we might be the only person they see. We also help out with getting bits of shopping.

I'm meeting more of the people I deliver to than ever, from a safe distance, because they would normally be at work. Some are so pleased to see us that we need to politely ask them to go back inside so we can deliver their mail safely. The beautiful bright rainbows in windows and messages of support pinned to doors are fantastic and make me smile as I work.'

Saffron Ingleheart, Care Worker

From Claire Ingleheart: 'I'd like to nominate my daughter Saffron Ingleheart who was supposed to be going on a 3 month trip to Uganda as part of her gap year and instead is working 12 hour shifts in a local care home and really enjoying it! Saffron is calm, compassionate and has a lovely sense of humour. We are super proud of her!' 🥳

Saffron says: 'The care job I have just started is completely new to me, it’s intense and tiring however I’m enjoying it and it’s very rewarding. After having to get my head around not going to Uganda, this job feels like the perfect thing to be doing at this fearful time and It’s a privilege knowing I’m able to help people’s loved ones whilst they can’t see them.'

Gill Baldwin, Retail

A lovely nomination from Rhia Hodder:

'I want to nominate my mother, Gill Baldwin mother of five grandmother of eight. She calls/video calls us all nearly everyday to check we are ok and have enough shopping. Plus to top it off she works nearly everyday as as a key worker in retail, never complains or is concerned for herself only her family, customers and cats!’.

Hannah Pearce, Un_Rap

Our final nomination is from Catie Close, 'for supporting our community, finding safe ways to deliver goods and making the process as streamlined as possible. Thanks for keeping us fed and still plastic free, and doing it with a smile too!' 🥦🍎🌽

Hannah says: Un_rap was set up to provide sustainable solutions to the Falmouth community & surrounding areas. We were welcomed so warmly into the community & we have dedicated regular customers that have been eternally grateful & extremely kind to me, the team & the business. Where possible I have helped people. During coronavirus is no different. Many of our customers are elderly, at risk, NHS staff or students living miles from home. As the situation unfolded, we were asked several times how long we would stay open. My answer was simple - 'We don't plan on closing.' We sell essential foods and there was no way I was going to abandon the community & the people I have come to know & care for.

On top of this, the business model lends itself well to rationing panic-bought foods & it is very low risk to shop with us, as we are such a small team and the customer does not need to touch anything. We have set up a 'click & collect' service, now offer free home delivery to those who cannot come out, and are open four days a week to those who want to pop in. They have to stand just inside the door and tell the team what they would like. Only one customer is allowed in at one time. So people can come shopping, not come into contact with anyone, not touch anything, have a conversation with someone outside their household & we have a great range of foods in stock because we limit how much people can buy, to ensure everyone can have some. The workload for me and the team has increased exponentially - but we are not going anywhere.'