While many men may aspire to be a real-life Prince Charming, David Mitchell is one of the rare few who can say they actually were. He worked as the character for Disneyland Paris and Tokyo for 12 years before leaving to join Southern in 2014.
“When I moved back to England and was looking for jobs I came across a conductor vacancy. Although I didn’t have rail experience, the job description had a big focus on customer service, which is something I’d done for years so I thought I’d give it a shot!”
“Since then, I’ve also worked as an On-Board Services Manager before moving across to the events team. The last year has certainly been an interesting time but I’ve managed to keep busy for an events manager with no physical events to run!”
Like other industries, internal events quickly had to move online for GTR, which is something David, 39, had a head start on.
“I already had good knowledge of Microsoft Teams and actually won a national award in 2019 for turning our East Croydon depot paperless. It was helpful that I knew what I was doing when it came to using Teams, but we’ve been on it so much now that I’m craving traditional, real life meetings and events.”
“When the pandemic hit last March, I signed up to be a volunteer responder on the Good Samaritans app. It links you up to vulnerable people or those in isolation and I would just have a chat to them and check on how they’re feeling and if they needed anything. It was through this service that an opportunity cropped up to be a volunteer vaccinator with St John Ambulance.”
“I had an interview and then completed 20 hours of classroom-based training in person so that I could join the team of other volunteers in Eastbourne. Although it’s nerve-wracking, it’s an immensely rewarding thing to be part of. There’s such a sense of togetherness and teamwork with all the volunteers and I’m proud to play a small part in our road to recovery.”
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