Change of life

When Diana Holmes, now 62, lost her job at the peak of her TV career, she feared she may never work again. Then a phone call changed everything

‘Being made redundant at 54 was the best thing that happened to me’

Opening up a huge sack of rice in the TV studio’s garage, I set about dividing it into aid packages. Outside, the relentless tropical rain fell in sheets as a team of us worked through the night to load vital supplies on to a waiting truck. I’d been at a Sri Lankan television network less than a year, but, in the wake of devastating floods, my role as operations director had morphed into that of an aid worker. As film crews brought back desperate footage of entire communities drowned in mud, the studios were converted into a donation centre.

I fell into television work straight from uni in 1979, working at a number of regional stations. Then in 1992, I landed a job helping to launch GMTV. It ended up being enormous fun – it was the heyday of breakfast TV, with a team that included Lorraine Kelly, Dr Hilary Jones and Eamonn Holmes. I worked my way up until I was director of production, which meant overseeing the show’s logistics, from organising outside broadcasts to figuring out how to get Lady Gaga’s grand piano to the studio on the third floor.

Then in 2011, aged 54, I was made redundant following a restructure. I had seen it coming, and I was worried that age was against me and I was the wrong side of 50 to get another job.

Just a few weeks later, while getting my head round being at home, I got a call from GMTV’S chairman, Sir Clive Jones. He said, ‘Listen Diana, a big studio is looking for an operations director and you’d be perfect… but it’s in Sri Lanka.’ Working abroad had never crossed my mind, and I felt lucky to land another job so quickly, but I had two weeks to rent out my house in Wandsworth, London, and pack up. Friends and family were hugely supportive – especially my teenage son Alex, who was studying in the US and fancied nice holidays abroad.

The Stein Studios complex was the largest in South Asia. I settled in quickly and relished working on everything from reality shows to political debate programmes. But just 10 months in, the country was hit by devastating floods that displaced almost 400,000 people. In all my years doing charity telethons, nothing had ever felt so real. It had been easy to ask people to donate from the sofa, but here, right in front of me, were people who had lost everything.

Over the next six years, the country was repeatedly hit by floods and droughts. Each time, I would work alongside the studio team, receiving

I was worried that I was the wrong side of 50 to get another job

the aid coming in and packing it into parcels. It was sweaty, dirty and sometimes chaotic but also very humbling.

In 2018, I turned 60 and decided it was time to come home. I bought a cottage in Oxfordshire but even as I did it up, I knew I couldn’t stay. There was no way I was ready to retire. I heard about a charity called Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), which matches professional people to skilled roles in some of the world’s poorest regions. VSO pays for your flights, training, visas and a basic living allowance while you have to commit to stay for the duration of your placement. I’m no Mother Teresa, but helping during the floods had ignited something in me and I wanted to continue to give back.

After a lengthy application process, I was posted to Uganda and tasked with documenting the stories of local farmers, and supporting young adults into work. I swapped my Oxfordshire cottage for a small lodge on an unpaved road, but from the moment I unpacked, I knew I was in the right place.

Many people I worked with had been orphaned or disabled in the Civil War and I soon realised I was learning so much from them – resilience, patience and the ability to smile in seemingly hopeless situations.

My next posting took me to Malawi on a project bringing digital technology to schools using solar-powered tablets. Classes there can have up to 100 children; seeing their joy as they learnt on the tablets was brilliant. Sadly, I was evacuated home when Covid-19 struck, but I’m champing at the bit to get back out there.

Being made redundant in my 50s was the start of a whole new life for me; a path I never imagined. I know many people are losing their jobs currently, and to them I would say it isn’t the end at all – it might be just the beginning. vsointernational.org