Tim Bailey was elected Trustee in 2018. Tim has lived in Stratford for 50 years, working as a Police Officer for 30 years and currently as Assistant Head of Sixth Form at King Edward VI School. He is married with two sons and is involved in several community groups including Friends of Rowley Fields. Previously Tim has chaired his local Scout Group, was a Governor at Stratford upon Avon School for 7 years and attends St James Church, Alveston. He joined the Trust to help serve the local community and ensure the Trust’s assets are used to their best effect.
Being a Trustee is a huge honour and privilege but it also requires commitment, dedication and hard work. I’ve found the role to be incredibly rewarding – it’s so good to be able to give back to our local community where I have lived for over 50 years. Serving others is in my bones having spent 30 years in the police service and a further 10 working in local education, so offering to become an elected trustee seemed a natural step for me and I’d encourage others to do the same, in particular I’d like to see younger people stepping forward and bringing their experiences and skills to the Trust.
When I stood for election I was a bit uncertain although I’d had experience as a school governor amongst other things, I wasn’t sure if I had the required skills but I was helped with both on-going training and a good induction and also by other trustees, I quickly realised I had a lot to give, not least my energy and desire to make Stratford an even better place than it already is. Indeed as a town we must be the envy of many others, not only do we live in a lovely part of the world, have relatively good employment opportunities and benefit from the tourism industry we have a multi-million pound trust that provides an awful lot to our communities.
Not only do we award some fantastic grants to a wide range of community groups across the town, we provide free access to green spaces like Rowley Fields and The Lench Meadows, we have allotments, manage the bandstand (funding free concerts), we maintain the historic Guild Chapel and certainly not least, we run Foundation House where a large number of community groups and charities are based, everything from Men’s Sheds to Welcombe Radio – it’s a truly thriving community facility.
We have a small and incredibly dedicated hard working team of staff and as a trustee I can help by providing direction, challenge, encouragement and praise. So if you can spare the time and have the interests of the town at heart, give it a go and even if you don’t want to be a trustee please become a member – it’s another way of influencing things and supporting our Trust.