I was going to start this month by saying that the dominant event over the last month had been the Annual General Council Meeting (AGCM) which took place at our Harrogate Centre on 28th June 2018. After reflecting and looking at the diary, it really wasn’t the only significant event as there were lots of other things that have happened within the period. The AGCM was simply one of these activities that now on reflection, appears to have simply blended in with what has been another busy period for the PTC.
It is worthwhile perhaps just touching on the AGCM. As a charity we do not actually
have to have an AGCM, and indeed not all charities do, however, the PTC feel that it provides an opportunity for us to brief all of our stakeholders on what we have done over the year from both the perspective of the PTC and St George’s Police Children’s Trust (SGPCT), to reflect on some of the challenges and of course look ahead to where we think we might be heading. It also provides an important opportunity to hold this meeting in public and for any interested parties to raise any questions that they might have about how the charities conduct their business and what their key priorities and focus might be in the future. Although I am absolutely confident that both charities are in good order, I do think that it is healthy for us to be publicly challenged on this if any of our supporters do have any observations or questions. I am pleased to say on this occasion that the AGCM did run smoothly. It provided us with an opportunity to showcase the Centre to all our visitors. Everyone who attended the meeting was impressed by what they heard.
The AGCM this year was also led by a new PTC President. Simon Howard who has been the President since 2002, decided to stand down from this appointment. We were delighted that Baroness Angela Harris of Richmond who has been our Vice President for the last 12 months, agreed to step up to be the President of the PTC and SGPCT. We are very grateful for all of Simon’s work over the past 16 years. Angela is already making an impact in terms of giving us the benefit of her wisdom, advice and good counsel on a variety of matters. She will be an extremely effective and well placed ally for the who will fly the flag for us wherever she goes.
The PTC team have also attended a number of external events within the last
month. Notable amongst these in London in early July, was the second Police Wellbeing Round Table Meeting, chaired by the Right Honourable Nick Hurd, Policing Minister. The PTC was represented by Mark Oxley, PTC Head of Clinical Services Although there does appear to be some movement forward and progress on Police wellbeing, the PTC remain concerned that the policing community have not really closed with the key issues so far and as yet there has not been any decisions on where the money is going to come from to fund some of the wellbeing proposals. We do have some concerns that we are simply going to continue to talk about the issue rather than physically do something about it. We are determined to remain engaged in this forum, and I can assure you that we will continue to represent our views and ideas in a robust and constructive fashion. Once we know more about the future direction of travel, we will pass this information on.
We have hosted a variety of visitors to both our centres over the last month. Jim McBrierty who is the new President of the Retired Police Officers Association of Scotland, visited Castlebrae. We look forward to working alongside Jim who is a big supporter of the PTC. He was very impressed with the new Castlebrae Health and Fitness Complex which he had not seen before. It was also a pleasure to welcome Baroness Beverley Hughes, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester, the Yorkshire High Sheriffs, ACC Charlie Doyle from the BTP, and Chief Constable Steve Watson from South Yorkshire Police. It was the first visit for all of them to the PTC and a useful opportunity for us to enlist some new external supporters to advocate on our behalf.
I am conscious that for many of you who are still in the school holidays trap, we are
now approaching the main holiday period, (although I am delighted to say that personally with children aged 25, 23 and 21, those days are firmly behind me!) I encourage all of you to try and take some time out to relax with family, friends and significant others over the next few months. If you should need to come to the PTC for treatment, remember that we do have a total of 3 family friendly cottages at both our Centres if you need to bring your families with you.
That is it for the blog this month, stay safe everyone.
Patrick
CEO PTC
<<Back