After eight years of dedicated service to Home-Start West Berkshire, including three years as Chair of Trustees, we are saying a very fond farewell and a huge thank you to Claire Carless as she steps down from our Board.
Claire joined Home-Start West Berkshire as a trustee in 2018, bringing extensive experience in governance and charity and commercial legal matters. She quickly became an invaluable member of the Board, generously sharing her expertise and playing an important role in strengthening the charity’s governance and development.
Claire has also made an extraordinary contribution to our fundraising. In 2019, she was instrumental in helping us organise our first charity ball. Since then, three balls have collectively raised more than £43,000 to support local families. As an active member of our fundraising committee, Claire continually encouraged us to be ambitious and develop our approach to events and community fundraising, whether that meant organising socially distanced cream teas during Covid or even jumping out of a plane to help us secure match funding!
In 2023, Claire stepped up to become Chair of Trustees and has led the Board through a period of significant change for both the charity and the wider voluntary sector. Under her leadership, we have strengthened our strategic approach, developed a more engaged and collaborative Board and continued to evolve our services in response to the changing needs of families across West Berkshire.
Throughout her time with Home-Start, Claire has brought energy, determination, sound judgement and a clear commitment to ensuring that the charity is as effective and sustainable as possible for the families we serve.
We are enormously grateful for everything Claire has contributed over the past eight years. Her influence will continue to be felt in our governance, fundraising, strategy and ambitions for the future.
As Claire steps down, we are delighted to have recruited two new Co-Chairs who will jointly lead our Board into the next chapter of Home-Start West Berkshire. We look forward to introducing them very shortly.
On behalf of everyone at Home-Start West Berkshire, our trustees, staff, volunteers and families – thank you, Claire, for eight remarkable years of service and commitment to our charity. We wish you every success for the future.