A Merseyside-based support worker was invited to attend the Royal garden party at Buckingham Palace in honour of the Queen's outstanding contribution to society during the pandemic.
Lesley McCormack, from Netherton, has dedicated 16 years to supporting people with a learning disability through her work with UK-based charity, Mencap. Immensely passionate about her job in social care, the 38-year-old's work hasn't gone unnoticed within her community.
Last week, she met with HRH the Countess of Wessex and was recognised for going above and beyond through the pandemic; taking extra shifts when people were isolating, picking up shopping and dropping off food parcels and PPE to those who needed it – or just touching base with other carers to ensure they were okay.
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She told the ECHO: “It was really lovely. I found it quite overwhelming, I just didn’t expect to get that much attention. I didn’t know this before, but out of the 8,000 guests I was one of around 40 who was being honoured. When I got there, they explained that when the Beefeaters marched down, I’d come down with them.
"And then the other 8,000 guests are standing there watching you come down. I took my place and waited for Sophie the Countess of Wessex, to come and greet me. I didn’t know this before, I wasn’t expecting it and on the day I was like ‘oh this is a massive thing.’ I kept getting introduced to different people, and they all knew who I was. So on a whole, I was very overwhelmed.”
Many of the people Lesley supports struggled to understand what was happening as lockdown began, so finding new ways to ensure people were happy and well was critical. With everyone’s routine being lost - something which can be so important to people with a learning disability - Lesley became a driving force in innovating, creating a pop-up restaurant at the Mencap supported living service and even giving up Christmas Day with her loved ones in order to be there for those who she supports.
She said: “It’s just what I did, I wouldn’t have let the person I support be on their own on Christmas Day. I didn’t really give two thoughts about it because I was there with that person all year round. I was a little bit gutted that I couldn’t see my family but with the same breath I said ‘there’s always next year’. That was always in the back of my mind that we were in a pandemic and that it was a strange year.”
Lesley first got involved with care work after her mum and dad both fell ill. Whilst her dad was receiving support from other professionals, Lesley became inspired and began to consider it as a career. Now, she wants to encourage the younger generation to follow in her footsteps.
Speaking about a careers event she spoke at, she added: “The feedback I got from the kids was that they understood a lot about different disabilities and they took a big interest, they talked about their own experiences of knowing people who had autism or Down’s syndrome. They understood and I think it is good for them to understand, and especially understand the career options to support people. I teach my nephew and nieces about different kinds of disabilities and one of my nieces has really taken an interest, she’s started to pick up on the job I do. For any young person wanting to go into the job, it’s very rewarding and I think they should really consider becoming a carer or a support worker - definitely. It’s all happiness. If they’re happy, you’re happy.”
