Tiffany Haynes is wearing lots of hats during the Coronavirus crisis. She is home-schooling her 8-year-old twin daughters. She is worrying about her two older sons, themselves recovering from Covid-19, as they serve on the national fight against the virus with the Army. And she is making difficult business decisions to keep Kingsground Narrowboats, the narrowboat-making business she runs with her husband near Bletchingdon, afloat (pardon the pun)!
She has looked for ways to support her customers, her community and the NHS. Many of her customers live on their narrowboats throughout the year and feel particularly vulnerable now as the two-metre rule is harder to maintain along a towpath that has rarely been busier. For her country-wide customers, old and new, she has organised a weekly quiz night on WhatsApp. Customers are teaming up to help each other during the quiz and staying connected throughout the week.
She has set up a dedicated number to take calls from anyone “lonely, bored, in need of help with the crossword or fancying a sing-along”. She has received lots of calls and, while she assumed that she would hear from the 50 people mooring at Kingsground Marina, most of the people she has spoken to are still working and want to natter about their experiences and even talk about something different altogether.
She has donated spare gloves from the boatyard to the NHS and encouraged her supplier, Quest, to do the same. Haynes says, “It’s really nice to reach out to the wider community.”
Kingswood Narrowboats is one of many Oxfordshire businesses playing their part in supporting the NHS and responding to the pandemic in a positive way.
At OxLEP, we recognise that Coronavirus will cause concern and disruption to businesses of all sizes for the foreseeable future. There are a number of resources that have been made available by the Government. We will continue to signpost our business community to these resources, helping you to make positive decisions during this time.
If you are lonely, bored, in need of help with the crossword or fancying a sing-along, call Tiffany on 01869 351 502.
For more information about Kingsground Narrowboats click here.