To New Beginnings!

Let me start by introducing myself; my name is Oliver Hoare and I’m the newest member of staff here at NRAS. It has been a week since I have taken the hot seat of trust and grant fundraising and I cannot wait to get the funding flowing through our doors.

So, why new beginnings other than the obvious new job I hear you ask. Well shortly before starting here at NRAS (5 days before in fact) my girlfriend and I took the rather grown up set of renting a place together and moving to Guildford! It’s without a doubt one of the most exciting, scary, worrying and amazing steps to take in life, but we were not content with just my new job and the new place, my girlfriend starts here new job on Monday as an orthopaedic nurse! What a 10 days it’s been.

I must admit that I was nervous walking through the door for my first day especially as I’m fast becoming forgotten as a graduate (I graduated in 2009!!!), but what settles you in quicker than anything is the friendly staff and team members here at NRAS who are only too keen to help you. I feel privileged to be working with such a dedicated and enthusiastic team that is so committed to the organisation and I’m blown away by the dedication of our supporters, so a massive thank you for all your memberships, fundraising ideas and sponsored challenges.

As I’m sure you will be aware NRAS will reach double figures this year turning 10 years old. The ‘new beginning’ of our second decade is hugely encouraging and gives us so many fundraising opportunities and what a great response we have had, so well done and thank you.

I’m excited to hopefully be meeting some members in the not too distant future and I’m going to be at the launch of the Leicester group in April, please come over and say hi.

So I will leave you until next time, with a quick thought towards Shrove Tuesday next week (my favourite Tuesday of them all) where I hope you enjoy all the wonderfully gorgeous pancakes that will be on offer and whatever you give up for Lent, hopefully it won’t be too difficult to live without for a while. Thanks for reading and I’m looking forward to updating you on our successes later on in the year.

Oliver Hoare

Trust and Grants Fundraiser