Having stepped down as Chair of Trustees after three years during which time we have faced the Covid Pandemic, staff changes and funding challenges, I am delighted to hand over the Chair to Nick Case and wish him well with the ambitious plans the staff and the Board have for our future. Home-Start offers essential help and support to so many families in rural North Oxfordshire, its villages and its larger towns and I remain so proud of this small local organisation. With our committed staff team and wonderful volunteer visitors, the Home-Start model really makes a difference to families with very young children, helping to get them through challenging times.  I encourage our locality and our supporters to continue to back this excellent local charity. 

I have been a Home-Start volunteer since 2021 and fully retired in July 2024, following a long career in the Criminal Justice sector.  I take great pride in becoming a trustee. I have two grown up children both in their 40s, and three grandchildren ranging from ages of 3 to 13.  Parenting advice has changed so much since I looked after my own children, but I remember so well the feelings of isolation, not fitting in at parent groups, and where money was going to come from, to name just a few parental challenges.  Unfortunately, in the passage of 40 years things sadly not much has changed, and for many parents their situations are so much worse.  This is why I believe the work we all do at Home-Start is so valuable for so many parents and their children.

I’m delighted to be joining the team at Home-Start Banbury, Bicester & Chipping Norton as a member of the Board of Trustees. Much of my career has been spent working in the charity sector – mainly focused on international public health, especially in the area of how to measure and manage the stigmatising of families living with or affected by HIV and Tuberculosis. I am looking forward to being able to use some of the organisational and strategic skills I have developed to support HSBBCH moving forward.  It’s mission is close to my heart, having two grown up sons now, I know how challenging parenting can be and the more support we can give young families the stronger they can grow, the happier and healthier they can be and the more they can contribute to our collective society. I’m delighted to be part of this dedicated and focused team of people who work so hard to help families flourish.

I am delighted to become a member of the Board of Trustees for Home-Start Banbury, Bicester & Chipping Norton. I started originally as a volunteer a few years ago and enjoyed working with children and their families. I am the father of four, now grown up, children and it was great to help with small children again. I have recently gained my own grandchild too.

Now I am a trustee, I’ll endeavour to support the staff who are doing a wonderful job of training and organising other volunteers, looking after many more families. I know the importance of the work they are doing. Training to be a volunteer you hear many stories, from a myriad of people, full of gratitude for the support they got when they were struggling. Working as a volunteer you see first-hand the beneficial impact Home-Start has.

I first got involved with Home-Start BBCN in 2008 when I met the then chair Deborah Hayter, our patron, at a national Home-Start convention and learned that she was looking for a treasurer. I was already involved with Home-Start in Oxford and felt I had additional time to offer, having been widowed a few years previously and children having long flown the nest.

I have always believed that it is never too early to encourage children to develop their potential, and realised that Home-Start had a unique ‘product’ providing support to families when it is most valuable: in a child’s earliest years.

After a career in finance, I still enjoy working with numbers and helping Home-Start ride the ups and downs of managing the roller-coaster ride which comes with long-term, ongoing expenses and short-term, volatile, income.

I am now married again, live in Oxford, and between us, we have 5 children and 7 grand-children.