TALK Surrey CIO

I joined TALK in 2012 when I retired from work as a nurse after seeing an advert in Woking for ‘TALK’ volunteers – and thought that might just be for me!  Seven years later, I’m still attending the sessions as a volunteer and have met the most incredible people.  It’s amazing to see the recoverers overcome their many difficulties and how much they enjoy the sessions – it’s wonderful to see their personalities emerge.  As volunteers, we learn something new every week.

When I discovered TALK was looking for trustees, I wanted to see how I could help.  I discovered just how much organisation and work is needed to support even a small charity like TALK – the amount of legislation is phenomenal.  I’m delighted to have been accepted as a trustee and hope in my role I can continue to help this amazing charity.

Hi, my name is Janette.

I joined TALK in 2019 as a volunteer in Knaphill when I retired as an independent advocate.

I have spent many years in the voluntary sector advocating for adults with mental health, learning disabilities, complex needs and acquired brain injuries such as stroke.  I welcomed the opportunity of joining TALK where I hoped I could use my communication skills to the full.  Since joining TALK I look forward to every week with our members and have come to appreciate the fantastic job that the groups do in providing a safe stimulating environment where our members flourish.

In 2023, I was accepted as a trustee in the hope that I could support this valuable charity to grow and in time support more members.

I'm Mike. I became a trustee of TALK in 2024, having been a member of the Knaphill group since my stroke in 2020.

My skills are basically IT related, although since my stroke I have trouble concentrating on topics for a while, although things are getting better.  My professional life has been in IT & sales, but my personal life is very much sport related.  I have played most sports including hockey at the National League level and now play golf and constantly improve my ability in the pool since the stroke.  Over the last 40 years I have been responsible for organising events, tours, days out, dinners, sports groups, golf, football, cricket and hockey groups.  I was Secretary of Hoebridge golf club for 15 years and Club Captain in 2016, I also worked as a volunteer at the London Olympics, managing teams of volunteers and security staff at the hockey centre.  I have had numerous posts on sports committees over the years and developed a golf scoring application for a golf society which has been used for the last 30 years and has stored over 15,000 records. I still follow most sports either on TV or attending live events.

During my professional career, I held various leadership positions.  I was a successful sales and account manager with a track record of complex high value solutions sales in a wide range of sectors throughout the world.  I lived and worked in various countries including Japan, USA, Middle East & several European countries.