“I’m Louise, I work in a local high school full-time and do beauty on the side. I live with my partner and in-laws and the last few weeks have been difficult/weird.

My mother-in-law has a compromised immune system due to health conditions so has moved out temporarily to self-isolate with her sister. In our house we are all key workers so we’re scared of the risk we posed to her coming home each day. We really miss her and her cooking; the kitchen is her place. We’ve been taking it in turns to do the dinner each night which has been lovely and has definitely brought us closer. It makes you realise how important your loved ones are and to not take your health for granted.

I am really close to my family and see my sisters most days so the social distancing has been really hard. We FaceTime everyday and have been challenging each other to Tik-Tok videos which has been fun! I’ve made batches of brownies and learnt how to make wax melts in my spare time which I’ve loved doing. I dropped off a little care package to my sisters yesterday on my way to work which is another way of staying connected.

At work, our Head of Design & Technology wanted to do something positive for the community. He asked for volunteers to come in and help make masks for key workers with the materials we had in school. We made 220 in total and they were then distributed to the L&D hospital, Keech Hospice, local pharmacists and funeral directors.

[If you had to sum up how you feel about the current situation in a few words, what would you say?]

It’s scary and very surreal but it has definitely taught me and I think many others to not take what we do have for granted. I can’t wait to see my family and just squeeze them!

I saw something recently that said something along the lines of “Your grandparents were called to war. You’re being asked to sit on the sofa, you can do this”. I think it says it all.

Louise Lynch, Careers Advisor, High School in Luton