We’re delighted to welcome four new Trustees to our growing team at The Mulberry Centre. They were recently appointed to join our Board and we warmly welcome: Jacqueline Docherty DBE, Nigel George, Suzie Rawcliffe and Dr. Gayatri Shah. They join Aileen McLeish (Chair), Heather Taylor (Treasurer), Joy Pearce (Secretary), Jo Grinbergs, Grace Gibbs, Matt Winkler, Chris Bezant and Piers Allen. Chris Bradley has also stepped down from the Board and we thank Chris for his service and wish him all the best for the future.

We thank all our trustees for their time and look forward to working closely with our four new trustees.  The role of a trustee is a totally voluntary position, which carries much responsibility focusing on the strategic direction of the charity, our financial health, health and safety, employment of staff, and policies and procedures.

Here’s what our four new trustees said of their recent appointment:

Gayatri said: “Working in the field of mental health for the past 22 years I hope to offer my skills and experience as a Trustee. I am enthusiastic about the work of The Mulberry Centre and will support the organisation in making a difference by helping those affected by cancer and their carers. This role also holds a personal meaning for me as I have seen loved ones affected by cancer, hence I am passionate about supporting individuals, families, and carers affected by this.”

Jacqueline said: “In my roles to date, I have been fortunate to have worked both in Britain and for short periods in other countries learning about their health care provision and also as an advisor in terms of hospital management and clinical development. As I have now retired from working within the NHS, I am particularly keen to be involved with the Mulberry Centre and having previously had cancer myself, I can empathise and relate to the clients at the centre within my role as a Trustee.”

Suzie said: “Having always been interested in a patient facing role, I recently retrained as a Physician Associate and for the past 3 years have been working in Acute Medicine at West Middlesex hospital. I now work solely in Ambulatory Emergency Care, seeing patients clinically as well as managing two MDT’s and coordinating patient referrals and flow through the department. I am motivated by providing holistic care to patients and understand the importance of this in long-term conditions, including cancer. This means that I am well placed to understand the services that the Mulberry Centre offers, and I hope to be able to influence development of the Mulberry Centre in the context of the growing demand and with the new diagnostic centre on the horizon.”

Nigel said: “I have worked in the legal profession for nearly half a century. I began my legal career when I was 16 and I qualified as a solicitor when I was 24. During my time as a lawyer, I have worked in most areas of law, but in the last 10-15 years of my career, I have developed an interest in end-of-life care and dementia. These are both areas which are very material to my current legal practice. Since 2014, when I became a member of the Society of Trust and Estates Practitioners, I have dealt exclusively in what has been described as life’s two certainties of death and taxes. Unfortunately, we still live in a society where both death and capacity are often treated as the elephant in the room. I don’t think this is due to a lack of compassion, but more a lack of knowledge and understanding Many people fear saying the wrong thing and do not appreciate that the greatest wrong is to say nothing. The more we can explain the smaller the elephant. When I was first shown around the Mulberry Centre, I was very much taken by the holistic approach, and I try and bring the same approach to dealing with my own clients. The knowledge and understanding that I have obtained relating to death and dementia, I hope makes me a better solicitor. As a lawyer I have sought to reach out to the elderly, LGBTQ, and transgender community, and offer them a warm and safe space in which they can obtain legal advice. I like to consider myself as someone whose glass is perpetually half full and therefore if you have days to live or a closing window of capacity, I will always encourage all those coming to terms with such matters to try and live with joy as well as with sadness.”

Read more about all our trustees here.

How Can the Mulberry Centre Help? 

The Mulberry Centre can help at any stage of your cancer journey, whether you have just been diagnosed with any type of cancer. We offer emotional support, counselling, complementary therapies, workshops on a variety of relevant topics as well as more social activities. If you want to know more, speak to us about your diagnosis or that of someone for whom you are close to or caring for, or you would like to hear more from someone about cancer, early diagnosis and treatment you can call us on 020 8321 6300 or email us on talk@themulberrycentre.co.uk and someone will call you back.