Introducing our Chief Officer

Knutsford Together’s Chief Officer, Nicola Marshall explains why she jumped at the chance to join Knutsford Together and what her plans are to create a truly successful community project.

After leaving college in 1992, I stepped straight into a corporate world, which is where I stayed for almost 20 years. When an opportunity to work in the community came along in 2012, I didn’t realise quite the impact it was going to have on my life. I quickly realised that working with people, helping to make a difference, helping to change lives is what made me the happiest and gave me a great sense of purpose. I decided from that point on, working in the community, with people, was all I wanted to do.

By joining the team at Knutsford Together, I feel truly privileged to have the opportunity to work in the beautiful town of Knutsford with a wonderful community of people. I am so looking forward to getting out into the town and the wider community and meeting as many of you as I can. I want to hear about your lives, to understand what’s important to you and to your community and if needed, offer our help and support.

It’s clear that Knutsford already has an abundance of caring citizens. People who care about their community and about others. We want to harness that further still by encouraging as many of you as possible to become Local Connectors. To empower you to have the confidence to know how to help others in your community simply by talking. All it takes is a small amount of training. There’s no commitment, no expectation, just conversations with people around you so that more people can get the help they need.

We want offer people as many ways as possible to access support… so as well as our online directory, we’ll be hosting regular talking cafes, talking benches as well as a contact telephone number which people can ring for one to one help & support. The more access points for support, the more opportunities to help, so we are always glad to hear of your ideas and suggestions of how we can be more present in the community.

Our vision and aim is to have 1000 Local Connectors out in the community. If 1000 Local Connectors have 20 conversations a year each, that’s 20,000 conversations that could potentially have a life changing outcome.

I’ve seen first hand the power of conversations, of listening, and ensuring people get the right help. It changes lives. YOU too can change lives.

Nicola x

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