Lifetime Presidency for Gerald Peters
Hospice Awards Lifetime Presidency to Longstanding Trustee
Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice recently celebrated the retirement of Gerald Peters, a longstanding Trustee, Ambassador and Volunteer of the charity, at a special gathering attended by the Mayor of Greenwich, friends and family, members of the hospice’s Board of Trustees, staff and volunteers. Gerald who was also the hospice’s Company Secretary has dedicated almost 40 years of service to the hospice and has been involved with the charity since the launch of the first community fundraising campaign “Give us a Quid!” back in 1985.
He joined our original fundraising committee and was instrumental in helping to raise the funds needed to build the Abbey Wood based hospice that stands today.
He later became Secretary to the fundraising committee and several years later was invited to join the original Board of Trustees, taking on the role of Company Secretary – a position he held until 2022.
A special and unique contribution
Ruth Russell, Chair of the Board of Trustees said “Gerald has always worked tirelessly for our special hospice, not only in his appointed roles, but also as an enthusiastic and dedicated fundraiser, who is happy to shake his bucket, and he continues to do whatever he can to help raise the six million pounds that we need from the local community every year, to provide hospice services.”
In recognition of his special and unique contribution, Gerald was appointed a Lifetime Presidency of the hospice. This is the first time the hospice has awarded this honour.
The hospice had conducted a governance review and has been working hard to improve the diversity of the board; Gerald recognised himself that it was time to stand down to create capacity for a new trustee to make their own contribution to the hospice.
Gerald said “It has been a privilege and a most rewarding experience to have been a volunteer supporter of our hospice charity since the early days of campaigning and community fundraising back in 1985, and to have served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the past 30 years. I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to all my friends in the hospice community for their kind wishes on my “retirement” from the Board, and for awarding me the honorary presidency of our charity.”
There are so many reasons to be grateful to Gerald for his contribution and support over almost 40 years. e has been a truly wonderful ambassador for the hospice and we will miss him dearly, but I think we all agree that he deserves a well-earned rest! Enjoy your retirement Gerald!