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Much valued trustee, Douglas Thomson MBE has
decided to retire and at the Gloucestershire County
Association for the Blind Annual General Meeting in
September, was presented with a Fountain Water Feature by
Henry Elwes JP, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire and
Patron of the association. The photograph shows Douglas with
his wife Beryl after it was installed in his garden. The
flowers were presented to Beryl as a token for her support
to Douglas during his work for the association. |
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Douglas shared some of his memories as a trustee . . .
“When I first became a Trustee around 1975 the GCAB was a
very different organisation from the present one. It was based in two
small rooms at the back of Ellerslie, a residential home.
GCAB was run by my consultant colleague Mr Robert
Stephenson as Honorary Chairman with a Secretary and Treasurer and the
only paid staff was a part time typist. The Trustees met once a quarter
to rubberstamp the activities of the Management which mostly consisted
of supplying equipment free of charge to social workers and making
financial grants to cases of hardship.
All contact with clients was through the Social Services
and the annual turnover was about £30,000 raised through donations,
legacies, and from an RNIB grant.
Between 1988 and 1994 the Association expanded
enormously.
Due to the doubling of its reserves by the receipt of a
large legacy and donation, and to a series of government grants each for
3 years, we were encouraged to set up first the Visiting Service, then
the Hospital Information service and finally the Members Information
Groups.
These led to direct involvement with the clients and the
appointment of and fulltime manager Mrs Ronnie Rowan around 1990 and
other part-time staff up to a maximum of 13 at one stage. So the
organisation grew enormously in this decade and could not cope in
Ellerslie so an appeal was launched and £120,000 raised and 81 Albion
Street was purchased in 1995 and converted into the present Resource
Centre and Headquarters of GCAB occupied from July 1996.
The success of the various services meant they were
continued when government funding ceased, but the turnover quadrupled
and the Association became a big business. Having retired from my
Hospital consultancy in 1987 I became more and more involved in the
activities of GCAB and especially looking after Albion Street.
A new phase commenced around 4 years ago when the RNIB
announced the cessation of its grant losing us £17,000 a year in
addition to a deficit of about £25,000 a year which we had accumulated
running the various services. This meant we had to embark on serious
fundraising for the first time. I have spent much time in recent years
on the fundraising side of things but unfortunately the deficits have
continued to mount.
Having had various health problems both of my own and as
a carer for my wife and having had to give up driving because of macular
degeneration I have reluctantly decided to retire as a Trustee at the
next AGM.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my work with GCAB particularly
getting to know the members of staff whose work has always been
outstanding and who have become such good friends. As I said when
awarded the MBE last year and this was a tribute to the work of the GCAB
Staff as much as my contribution. I will still continue as a volunteer
to help GCAB when I can and wish it well in the future.
Douglas Thomson – MBE” |
