Who’s Who at The Stafford Furniture Exchange (SFE)
Trustees
Chairman: Dave Brown – A Resident of Stafford but spends his working days in the Housing Strategy Department of Stockport Borough Council. When he is able to relax Dave enjoys the Cornish countryside and the British waterway system.
Vice Chairman: Cyril Moore – A Devonian who has now lived in Stafford for 40 years. An electrical engineer by training Cyril rose to be Managing Director of GEC Alstonholme Switch Gear before retiring in 2003 and becoming a trustee of the SFE. Although a keen walker Cyril can often be found leaning on a snooker table on a Thursday night.
Company Sec: John Langford – Another native of Stafford John is well known within the community for his work in support of the third sector which he couples with his role as Senior Partner in Nowell Meller a respected local Legal Practice. John, like Cyril Moore, is a passionate walker so diversions down country lanes can be a feature when the team meets.
Trustee: John Beckwith recently joined the SFE Board of Trustees and is becoming an increasingly active member. Born in rural Essex he lived in Nottingham before moving to Stafford in the 1970s. He has been married to Fiona for 36 years and they have two grown up children.
Initially John worked for Stafford County Council as a strategic planner before moving to Staffordshire Probation Service as their Research and Information Manager. He strongly believes in the ability of people to change for the good and that the work of the Probation Service is effective in helping the rehabilitation of offenders.
He retired last year and regards his time with the Furniture Exchange as an opportunity to support a worthy cause and a means of keeping dementia at bay for as long as possible. John is a keen cyclist which he seeks to combine with stop-offs in rural pubs. This enables him to follow another passion – real ale. He is also committed to having as many holidays per year as possible.
John Beckwith
Co-opted Trustee: Roy Dart – Another Devonian, coming from a farming background, Roy has resided in Stafford for nearly 40 years now. Since retiring from MAFF in December 1999 Roy has engaged in a wide range of Rural Development Consultancy when demand and time allows. Leisure and pleasure to Roy is helping out his son who has a small farm in Cornwall but he also looks for the Exeter City result on a Saturday evening.
Treasurer: Alice Blagg - A keen walker – and Lakeland lover Alice is our treasurer and keeps us on our toes and asks awkward questions
Staff
Operations: Nick Malyon – Another native of Stafford, Nick joined the SFE in September 2009 after a career in the retail and media marketing sectors involving management responsibility. Nick avoids all conversation involving football. However if you want to know anything about motor bikes just settle back and listen.
Driver & fixer: Gareth Davies – A long term resident of Stafford but compared to most of the above he is a youth. Gareth has experience of large scale warehouse management and MOD procedures which has instilled a degree of discipline to the SFE organisation. Football was Gareth’s game and he was an accomplished goal keeper before retiring from the game and securing his diving badges after sampling the activity in Egypt.
Volunteers
John Dixie. A likeable gently spoken chap. He is never happier than when tinkering with his camper van.
Matt Jackson. Matt knows every one in Stafford and can happily replace the radio for non stop chat.
Geoff Holmes. Fancy spending some time with the goons? That’s what you will get when working with Geoff fortunately no one has fallen in the water…
Sue Clapham. Clever and capable, Sue works in the office and welcomes clients to Stafford Furniture Exchange, helping them to choose furniture after advice.
James Middleton. With a quick wit and dry sense of humour, Jim is the newest volunteer to join us. Some say he enjoys an occasional pint of beer!
Roy Edensor. He is one of our big men – Roy is a gentle giant whose smile will brighten your day – while he shakes your hand and breaks it.
Mick Worrall. Hailing from Wheaton Aston, big Mick’s knowledge of sixties music will astound!
Jim Pratt. A Stoke lad Jim Works Wednesdays and likes to work at the gym – which is good for lifting heavy items.
Chris Hawkes. Chris has been with us for ten years and is really well liked – he’s making a Lancaster bomber.
A good turn out for our Christmas party 2010!
Day-Glo delights – we take the safety of our volunteers seriously.
Our fundraising event in August. Hard work but we raised over £400!
Our first appearance at the Stafford Jobs Fair brought us over 7 new volunteers. Nick, Gemma and Gareth manned the stand which was a great success!
