Princes Gate sign first Pan-Wales deal with WRU

Let’s not beat around the bush, 2020 has been nothing short of a disaster! We’re sure by now you’re sick of hearing about it all, so we’re here to bring you some of the positives of 2020. You can thank us later.

Now we know it might be difficult to be a bottle half full kind of person these last few months, but go with us on this. Today we want to sift through 2020 and pick up three golden positives to hold onto and to remember them fondly, so let’s take a look.

Learned some new skills

If there’s one thing 2020 has given most of us, it’s some time to kill. We’ve traded pubs for our living rooms and events for free time, but this has allowed us to pick up old hobbies and pursue new superpowers. Ranging from small steps like finishing that old book that’s been gathering dust or finally taking up yoga. Either way, we’ve flexed our lockdown brains and proven that every day is a school day.

Right here in Princes Gate our very own Pete ‘Magic Meadow Man’ Moran has used his time in lockdown to start brewing his own beer. So far this year he’s brewed a whopping 400 pints. It's lucky he works at PG because after that monstrous hangover he’ll need some water. While Donna our Safety, Health and Environment Manager has added some sparkle to her day by getting into Diamond Painting which is both creative and shiny, perfect!

Why not think of the amazing skills you’ve sharpened this year? Before March you probably couldn’t tell your Firefox from a real Fox but in the space of a few months, you’ve become a techno whizz. You’ve found yourselves jumping from one online chat to another at the click of a button with unrivalled confidence. Nothing in the digital world is out of reach. 

Think about how adaptable you’ve become. Turned a small desk into the perfect at-home office? Done. Become a self-motivated, pyjama wearing worker? Smashed it. Grown as an individual who’s ready to take on any challenge? Completed it mate. Whatever challenges you’ll face, you now know you’ve got the skills to adapt to it and make the best of a bad situation.

Whatever hobby or new skills you’ve acquired over the year, pat yourself on the back ‘cause it hasn’t been easy and you should be proud of that.

Appreciate the little things

In a year of lows, we’ve learnt the importance of not sweating the small stuff and making the most of the things we can. Here’s a sample of the fun little things we enjoyed during 2020…

Drive-in Cinemas are making a comeback, Grease anyone?

Pollution levels dropped significantly, a win for mother nature!

A cat that was missing for three years is reunited with owner, how fur-tunate for them.

The one and only Cpt Tom Moore raised a whopping £32million for the NHS and looked good doing it!

Crikey! Koalas are being released back into the wild now that the Australian fires have been put out!

A missing sausage dog has been reunited with his owners in North Yorkshire after they used the irresistible smell of bacon to guide him home.

Although it may not feel like it, 2020 did have some highlights and rooting around for that little pick me up has become an important part of our everyday lives. These golden nuggets of joy can be the difference between sulking on the sofa or giggling on your news feed. Having mastered the art of clinging onto the good stuff, let us know what’s put a smile on your face this year on our Social Media pages. We’d love to hear!

We came together

Last but certainly not least this year brought us closer together, more than ever before. 2020 sure has come at us, but we haven’t taken it lying down. We came together (socially distanced of course) and faced every challenge head-on. We looked out for one another during difficult times for support, mental wellbeing, care or just a break from this crazy year.

There have been some pretty amazing acts of kindness this year that’s put a smile on our well-hydrated faces! Clapping for the NHS was just the tip of the iceberg as an army of the finest volunteers were assembled. Over 500,00 people in fact came together to support their communities, provide meals for those shielding, drive vulnerable people to appointments and quite frankly just being amazing! We were fortunate enough to be able to get stuck in and help out too by donating water to hospitals and food banks or through our NHS Healthcare Heroes Multipack. The difficulties of this year have been immense but despite these hardships, we were able to support each other and prove that we’re made of tougher stuff. If you took some time out of your day to give a helping hand be proud and give yourself a clap. You deserve it. You’re a gem!

So, there we have it! Three things we can take from this year and appreciate, we may not be out of the woods yet but the worst is behind us and an end is almost in sight. 2020 might not have been the year where we got everything we wanted but it was the year we learned to appreciate everything we have. 

A Merry Christmas to you all and let’s hope a Happy New Year. But most importantly, stay safe you lovely lot.