So many people have been or are currently affected by the devastating impact of COVID-19.  People have lost loved ones, family, friends and colleagues over the last 12 months and it has been devastating.

In February of this year we lost a colleague to Covid-19, a colleague who inspired so many people with her way of being, her attitude to life, her thoughtfulness and her creativity, and all this in just any ‘normal’ day. Sally Goulding passed away having bravely fought COVID-19 related symptoms for some time. This news was only shared within the Boots team as we needed to grieve, remember and come up with a way to remember our colleague. As a team we are now ready to remember Sally within the professional environment that we knew her as a friend that she was to all of us.

With this in mind we invite anyone to take part in an act of remembrance later this week.

In Sally’s memory, Boots Technology is encouraging all IT professionals to sport odd socks on Sally’s birthday – Thursday 13th May.  In Boots we will donate to our own charities but we encourage other IT professionals across the country to pause for a moment of remembrance to the many colleagues and friends that are no longer with us, people that were part of that gang across the UK that is the IT professional. We have lost too many people, too much knowledge, so many people that mattered to each and everyone of us.

Sally often wore odd socks and whilst this looked like a quirky style statement that made others smile it did have a meaning.  She wore them as a reminder that you can’t always have control over everything in your life – and that’s ok!

So on the 13th of May when you wake up to get dressed for that ‘normal’ day working in the many facets of IT pause, put on a pair of odd socks, take a picture and drop it out to the world against the hashtag #OddSocksForMemories

Remember that colleague, that friend, that mentor, that learned friend, that key support person, that member of the team. And remember that we don’t always have control over what is next, that is ok if we can be together just a small amount.