We are delighted to announce the appointment of a new trustee to our board; Sally Hale, who brings a wealth of experience from her exceptional career working in the field of social care.
As an Occupational Therapist, Sally is a great believer in the therapeutic benefit, value and power of purposeful Occupation in everyone’s life and is therefore very in tune with Barchester Charitable Foundation’s purpose and objectives.
Throughout her career, Sally has enjoyed the stimulation and satisfaction gained from working and supporting others. Her career has involved working with people with physical disabilities in England and overseas recognising the value and importance of people engaging in the activities they choose, as independently as possible.
For over 15 years Sally managed Adult Community Therapies in a large NHS Foundation Trust having responsibility for inpatient and community rehabilitation teams and over 100 staff from all the therapy professions. During this time, she was involved with the planning and implementation of the therapy services within a new community hospital and therapy unit. These were the bases for in patient and community services provided to people with a variety of long-term conditions, as well as older people, people with learning disabilities and outpatient therapy services.
In 2018 Sally retired from the NHS and utilised her Occupational Therapy skills by volunteering with ‘Thrive’ the Social and Therapeutic Horticultural charity who use horticulture as an activity to support people with long term health needs. To further her horticultural skills, Sally gained a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Level 2 Diploma in Horticulture in February 2022 and recently became a volunteer at RHS Wisley.
During the pandemic Sally returned to work in the NHS this time as a Registered Vaccinator, describing being part of the vaccine rollout as a great privilege - a role she occasionally still undertakes.
In March 2023 Sally again used her therapy skills and love of teamwork to volunteer with a charity issuing reconditioned ex NHS wheelchairs and mobility aids to people with disabilities in Kerala, Southern India – an experience she loved.
By becoming a Barchester Charitable Foundation Trustee, Sally is looking forward to offering her expertise to enable more people to engage in their local communities in activities of their choice, as well as continuing to extend her existing skills.
Simon McCall, Chairperson of Barchester’s Charitable Foundation and Barchester’s Commercial Director comments: “We are delighted to welcome Sally onto the Barchester Foundation board. We are excited to have her on board and we are certain that her experience and expertise working in the field of social care will be hugely beneficial in helping us shape the Foundation’s future.”