“On Monday 1st May, the Trustees of our Charity met for the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
This was a significant meeting, because in addition to the formal sign-off of the Charity’s accounts, which have now been formally submitted to the Charities Commission, it also saw our Chairman for the last four years (Mark Bentley), step down and formally hand over the role to Steve Dower, who has significant management and leadership experience gained within large, corporate business.
Mark has led the charity to a point where it now serves all of the NHS Hospital Trusts in Devon and he would like to take a little more personal time.
He will however remain a Trustee on the Board of the Charity, and will continue to serve as a volunteer rider and Controller.
At the AGM, the new Chairman (Steve Dower) recognised Mark’s significant achievements and then described his plan to create a strategy that determines how the charity will be organised, and it’s direction for the next five years.
There is much excitement about how this will look. Steve is no stranger to our Charity, as he has served as a volunteer rider and also as a vehicle guardian in our Plymouth Team since joining in September 2022.
Also joining the Board of Trustees at the AGM was David Page, who took up the trustee role of vice chairman. David joined the charity in December 2023 and serves as a volunteer rider in our Plymouth Team.
David brings to the role significant previous senior management experience, having previously worked in other charity sectors.
The final change to the organisation agreed at the AGM introduces the key operational position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), which has been taken up by Caroline Retter.
Caroline is responsible to the Trustee Board for the day-to-day management of the charity.
Having initially joined us to help with grant funding applications, Caroline soon moved on to also turbocharge our social media presence. Caroline brings significant management experience from her career and previous charity positions held.
Outgoing Chair, Mark, says, “I am delighted with these appointments, as a lot of relevant expertise has been brought to bear.
When I took over the Charity, we had three bikes, one car and a handful of volunteers – and thanks to the hard work of our incredible volunteers, and those who support us, we now have a charity with a fleet of 23 vehicles, 118 volunteers, and carry out an average of 25 call outs a day, and we have grown to a point now where we need more in depth management and leadership experience.
I am immensely proud of what we have achieved in my tenure, especially being selected as finalists in last year’s Charity Governance Awards, and believe we will continue to thrive and develop now we have a stronger leadership team in place”
Steve Dower stated, “One thing which will not change is our Charity’s ethos, so, as we move forward, we will strive to provide even more benefit to the people of Devon.
We will do this through the totally free Blood Bike service we provide to the County’s NHS, Hospices and health care providers.
This will continue to be delivered by volunteers, with no paid members anywhere within our Charity.”
Weekdays:
17:00 to 07:00
Weekends & Bank Holidays:
24 Hours
1180510 Charity Number
South West Blood Bikes
Bounds house
Millbay road
Plymouth
PL1 3LS
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