Fife man’s ‘pipes and poems’ keeps morale high among hotel staff

Premier Inn regional manager Tim Gibson keeps his team morale high with his weekly series of ‘Pipes and Poems’, in which he performs the bagpipes and reads out original poetry written by his team members. He also steps out every Thursday on the streets at 8pm to play a tribute to NHS workers

Tim, who hails originally from St Andrews, learned to play the bagpipes from the age of nine, where he played in the Boys Brigade and then for the City of St Andrews Pipe Band, is also a proud member of the Buchanan clan and wears his traditional tartan each week.

Tim hosts his regular weekly ‘Pipes and Poems’ online session for his hotel teams across the east coast of Scotland and northern England. Team members across 24 hotels tune each week and the sessions are also posted onto Premier Inn’s internal social channels.

Tim Gibson, regional operations manager, said: “I have been playing the pipes since I was a boy and I thought what better tribute to our key workers than to play a tune in honour of them each week. My team also know I am a keen poet and keep me busy by sending through their poems for me to read each week and I’m absolutely blown away by their originality and efforts. I have to pay tribute to theirs and Andy’s efforts – he is a fantastic poet and his words have really helped capture the spirit of what we’re all feeling.”