Our Board of Trustees is made up of volunteers who each bring their own unique perspective and expertise to Myton so we can continue to provide the best quality services to our local communities. They help us to implement and deliver our strategy and support the senior leadership team to achieve our organisational objectives.
Kelvin Beer-Jones joined Myton as a Trustee in September 2018, two years after his husband, Clive, died in the care of Warwick Myton Hospice.
As well as attending regular Board meetings with Myton’s other Trustees, he also chairs our Marketing Committee. He explains why he joined Myton and what his role is like…
Clive was very poorly for a very long time and by 2015 we were both emotionally and physically exhausted. Rugby Myton Hospice took us both up early in 2016. I got the help I needed as sole carer and immediate family member, Clive found a happy little community he could spend regular time with. Every day at the Day Unit was for him fun, and a welcome relief from the relentlessness of at least four long hospital appointments every week. At Myton, Clive could forget for a few hours a week that he was so poorly, he laughed and came home refreshed.
He died later that year on the Inpatient Unit at Warwick Myton Hospice, in my arms, looking out across his light and airy room into the gardens. Myton had prepared me for that special time together, and so had Clive. He always said to me that at special moments there is always a special song; he had spent all of his life working with other musicians and was a founding member of Leicester prog-rock group Black Widow. For a short time I owned my own record label to support his musical career, but I didn’t believe such non-sense as ‘special songs’! But Clive was right. As we sat together, undisturbed at that final moment, the CD player played Chicago: If You Leave Me Now.
Two years later I offered to help Myton because I was so impressed with what they do, and it was clear that they were keen to use all the help they could get. My working background had been in the international energy business. I had senior roles in several mega infrastructure projects around the world. Which often involved being the public face of the project. Myton soon asked me to become a trustee and take a special interest in their superb brand and the efforts the whole team make at marketing, from doctors, nurses, administrators, volunteers, sponsors, friends and their families.
I am ‘retired’ and could be watching telly or playing golf, but instead I get to spend time with others who want to make a real difference to real lives. Everything I do, no matter how little, matters a lot; being wanted, being amongst passionate friends, doing things which need to be done.
Myton wants – and I want, given my experience with Myton – everyone in Coventry and Warwickshire to feel and discover that Myton is a community resource, here for all of us and ready when we need it. We want to tell everyone that when you or a loved one is diagnosed with a terminal or life limiting illness you don’t have to struggle alone with all of the demands illness puts on you. Myton is here to help with your comfort, ready to support you and those close to you, with a cup of tea and the time and patience to listen with love.
If you’re thinking about becoming a Trustee at any charity I would say if you really care and it matters to you, whatever your skill set or experience, you will find your contribution valued.
And the best thing about being a Trustee? Getting out of the car and walking into the building knowing I’m going to have a great time. Being a trustee is the best job I have ever had and I don’t even get paid!
See our full Board of Trustees and find out a little bit more about them here.
Find out more about our Trustees here
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