37:"It was like I had been hit with a shovel"- Les Howkins on surviving coronavirus - a podcast by Karl Hansell

Hi everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast.

What an episode I’ve got for you this week. It’s VE Day and that means the country is off work, celebrating the achievements of those who fought in the Second World War and were victorious. But it’s another victory we’re focussing on today and one that’s much more relevant to the current crisis.

 

Les Howkins is course manager at The Richmond in London, he’s also a Master Greenkeeper and many of you will know him as the former chairman of the association, preceding Scott Reeves. What many of you may not know is that we almost lost Les. Although he was never tested positive, Les almost certainly contracted coronavirus and spent weeks in bed, with paramedics called out to his house when his situation worsened. It’s a scary story but a reminder of just how serious this virus can be. I think you’ll be shocked at some of the things Les has to say. 

 

Afterwards, we’ve got last Thursday’s Continue to Learn Extra session with Dave Cottrell. Stress is the one area of mental health that we all experience and it comes in many forms. Stress in and of itself is actually a path to growth and some stress (providing we recover from it effectively) can make us stronger.

However the vast majority of us cope with stress in the wrong ways, either by taking too much in, relieving it with unhelpful methods or a bit of both. In this talk Dave discusses the "work/recovery" model and how this can help us to stop that stress from ever reaching boiling point!

 

As always, this podcast is presented ad free thanks to the support of BIGGA members and if you’ve got any feedback or suggestions for topics and conversations, please feel free to get in touch.



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The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

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