On Board: Why I'm a Trustee

As my second blog in this series (you can catch up on the first one here), I thought this would be a great time to go into a bit more detail about why I decided to apply to become a trustee at Age UK Plymouth.

Charity boards are usually made up of trustees with a wide range of life experiences, career histories, and personal reasons for joining the charity. And the board of trustees at Age UK Plymouth is no different!

In this blog series, I hope to chat to some of the other trustees on the board and introduce them in a bit more detail. They are all wonderfully talented, intelligent and interesting people who volunteer their free time to help Age UK Plymouth, and they all have a variety of reasons for  joining the board.

As a starting point, in this blog I’m going to explore my own reasons for becoming a trustee, why I enjoy the role, and some of the other things I like to do in my spare time…

Why did I become a trustee?

Here are just a few of the reasons why I decided to apply to be a trustee at Age UK Plymouth…

I wanted to help the local community

Making a difference to the lives of others is something that’s really important to me, both at work and in my spare time.

When I moved into my flat, which is really close to Age UK Plymouth’s Mount Gould site, I felt a real desire to get involved in the charity in some way.

I wasn’t sure what that would look like at first, but a couple of years later, I was delighted to see their advertisement for new trustees! It felt like the perfect opportunity to get involved.

I have peronsal experience of dementia

Sadly, I lost my Grandad to dementia in February 2020. I had a very close relationship with him,  and it was devastating to see him living with this disease.

Although my Grandad didn’t directly use the services offered by Age UK Plymouth, I was aware that the charity helped to support lots of other individuals and families going through similar situations.

Age UK Plymouth’s Dementia Day Centre is an incredible service for those living with dementia, and since joining the charity I have had the pleasure of visiting and having a tour around the  site. The support and services that the team offer here are invaluable to older people who are experiencing the same disease that my Grandad did.

My personal experience of dementia was another reason that I decided I wanted to apply to become a trustee at Age UK Plymouth.

I work in marketing and communications

I currently work as a Marketing Officer at Theatre Royal Plymouth and prior to this, I worked in the international marketing team at the University of Plymouth.

When I saw that Age UK Plymouth was advertising for new trustees, there were a few areas of expertise that they were looking to recruit to their board at that time - and one of these was marketing and communications.

With my experience in this area, it felt like the perfect time to apply!

I was interested in finding out more about what it means to be a trustee

As I hadn’t had any previous experience on the board of a charity, the role of a trustee really interested me.

Therefore, another reason that I decided to apply was because it felt like a great opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone and learn something really new.

So far, I’ve really loved getting to grips with my responsibilities in the role and playing a small part in such an amazing charity. I would thoroughly recommend becoming a charity trustee to anyone that’s considering it!

What do I enjoy doing in my spare time?

Outside of my trustee duties, I have a number of hobbies that I enjoy filling my free time with! I absolutely love reading, outdoor swimming (including Tinside Lido in the summer!), yoga, going to the beach, and writing creatively.

I hope you’ve enjoyed finding out a bit more about me and why I decided to become a trustee at Age UK Plymouth. Keep an eye out for future blogs in this series where I will introduce you to the rest of the board!