New Chair takes the helm
November 29, 2023
A new Chair has been appointed at Cumbria CVS, to lead the Trustee team. The Board are crucial for holding the organisation to account and ensuring public confidence, for determining overall direction, and providing leadership.
Sheila Gregory still lives in her childhood home near Houghton just outside of Carlisle. It was at Leeds University 48 years ago that she first volunteered to work with people with learning disability and also met her husband Bob – they have been married 45 years.
Working in the voluntary sector for over 35 years – initially as Marketing Manager for the British Deaf Association and then as Chief Officer at Carlisle Mencap – Sheila’s main interest is invisible disability.
Having previously served on the boards of Laurie Brewis Trust, Cumbria Training Partnership, chaired the Cumbria Public Health Alliance and sat on the Cumbria Third Sector Network Executive, she is now retired and chair of Cumbrian charity “The Triple A Project – All About Autism”.
As a recent carer of a person with dementia and a cancer survivor, Sheila takes an interest in those in need of medical and social care. She also supports a number of animal welfare, environmental and wildlife charities and recently joined the Cumbria Wildlife Trust board. This ties in with hobbies including gardening, birdwatching and fellwalking – and she is currently completing the Wainwright mountains.
In September 2021 Sheila was honoured to be given Diverse Cumbria’s lifetime achievement award. She has served on the Cumbria CVS Board since December 2019 and also served on the Finance Committee. She is a North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust Governor representing CVS.
Sheila said of her step up from Deputy Chair: “I was really honoured to be asked to become the next Chair. The CVS has always been an important part of my life. Over 25 years ago I remember going to meetings at Carlisle CVS when I was newly appointed as Chief Officer at Carlisle Mencap. I wasn’t very knowledgeable in those days and I drank in all the information I got from those meetings with delight. I am so pleased that all these years later I can play a small part in the great work of Cumbria CVS – supporting our voluntary sector to grow and support the people of Cumbria as it does so well.”
Reflecting on the departure of her predecessor Mike Taylor as Chair, Sheila added: “Of course, I have huge shoes to try to fill and I will try my best. Mike is not only a wonderfully intelligent and kind individual, who is always good company, he is also the personification of all a voluntary sector Chair should be. He is fine leader and communicator, always supportive of staff and other trustees and able to tackle complex and sometimes worrying governance issues with effectiveness, skill, and honesty. I personally – and all of the CVS team – will sorely miss him.”
