To mark Trustees’ Week ehospice is celebrating the selfless work trustees do to make sure people in their communities receive quality palliative and end of life care. Meet Matthew Jones, a 28-year-old trustee at North Devon Hospice who tells us why he felt compelled to get involved with his local hospice.
I’m a partner in my family business The Bell Inn, a pub in the lovely village of Chittlehampton in rural North Devon. The pub was purchased by my grandfather 43 years ago. He set up our external events side of the business too, providing a fully equipped bar for events and functions like weddings. My parents took over the pub 30 years ago now, and have run it ever since. My brother Kyran and I grew up here, and now we’re both a part of the business.
I went to school locally, followed by Barnstaple College (now Petroc College) and then onto Cardiff university where I studied Business Management for three years. I then came back and went straight into working for PR and ad agency Bray Leino, in client services and account management. During my time there I gained a lot of experience working with many international brands, particularly in the alcohol and medical industries.
I was made aware of the opportunity to become a trustee by someone I’d worked with at Bray Leino. They shared a post on LinkedIn about the hospice looking for a young trustee, and the minute I read it I knew I could offer something to the role, as well as sensing an opportunity to help with a charity I am very fond of.
I knew I wanted to help make a difference and work with a charitable organisation, and North Devon Hospice is incredible – the care they provide to local people is outstanding. As things progressed and I learnt more about the organisation and the work involved I was even more convinced that becoming a trustee for them was exactly what I was looking for. When you finally find out how much the hospice does and how difficult the challenges are you gain an even bigger appreciation for everyone involved with the day-to-day running of the charity.
The perspective of a younger person is how I will offer the most value. As we aim to provide excellence in governance and strategy, having a board of trustees with a broad spectrum of skills will allow us to be as effective as possible. I aim to be a voice for younger people in North Devon, helping the hospice to communicate effectively with them.
Learning from the people who are already on the board will be massively beneficial to me. Most importantly the reason I took the role is to be able to contribute to the future success of the hospice. Having an active role in helping make things better for people’s future use of the hospice brings me a lot of pride. My main goal is to help make more young people aware of what the hospice does, and gain more support from them.
For more information visit North Devon Hospice
Trustees’ Week runs until Friday 8 November
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