THE manager of a housing association which was formed to improve the quality of affordable homes in the area has been praised by his staff for keeping morale up during lockdown.

Simon Hughes, 55, the manager of South Lakes Housing, has been getting his colleagues through the pandemic by regularly communicating and even hosting a few quizzes during the week.

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Originally from Newcastle and now living in Ulverston, he was nominated by his colleague Vicky Battista, from Kendal, who has worked at SLH for 13 years.

Vicky said: “We are very grateful for him being there and thank you so much for being there. We just want to give him a big thank you.

“Aside from being our manager he loves fell walking and he’s in the choral society as a singer.

“Basically, all through lockdown, we’ve been working from home but every single morning he rings us.

“It’s all the small things that really make the difference. He does weekly quizzes for us which really makes us smile.

“Every day over the nine months he never missed a single one.”

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Simon says just a simple line of communication can make a lot of difference.

He said: “I’ve been working for SLH for 26 years now and I understand that it is very difficult at times like this.

“I am very grateful for the nomination from Vicky. She’s a good colleague and this is so kind."

On staying in touch with his staff, he said: “I really hope the team appreciates it. Different companies may do things a bit differently, but this works for us.

“Just a simple call once a day for maybe five minutes helps so much. Not only from a business sense but mentally as well.

“To other companies I’d definitely recommend this. Communication is the answer. Some people haven’t spoken to their manager in months so it’s important to keep morale going.”

%image('12105864', type='article-full', caption='CALLING: Simon has never missed a day to call his call his staff to help them through lockdown', alt='CALLING: Simon has never missed a day to call his call his staff to help them through lockdown')