Deborah Griffin OBE, Chair of Trustees Ken Cowen, SOHK CEO & Founder
Like many “businesses” we have had a year or more of virtual meetings and so it was very enjoyable to get together with other Trustees and the leadership team in July to discuss and challenge each other on the direction of the Charity for the next 5 years. We hope to publish our new strategy soon and look forward to sharing it with all our supporters.
As Ken explains later, SOHK has adapted and changed to continue to support our beneficiaries during this difficult time. We are very thankful to those foundations and corporate supporters who have allowed us to adapt our delivery methods and postpone courses. Our many individual supporters also went above and beyond ensuring that Le Jog and other fundraising efforts were hugely successful in growing our unrestricted income. Financially we are in a healthy position to allow us to emerge from this pandemic to reach more children and adults who will benefit from their involvement with SOHK.
Two of our long-standing Trustees resigned this year. Dave Thomas who had been with SOHK since its inception in 2012 completed 9 years as a Trustee and Olly Spry who joined the Board in 2014. I thank them both for their time, commitment and wisdom over the years. We have co-opted two new Trustees Yasmine Hafiz, who had previously been seconded to SOHK from the Civil Service, and Robert McKillop, already a committed supporter of our Scottish team. Hopefully you will meet them both in the future. I am very excited about the next year as we celebrate 10 years of the Charity. From a base of financial stability and good governance, our new strategy and the commitment of our Trustees, staff and supporters we can only continue to help more people, in more places.
Thank you, as ever, for your support and encouragement.
For almost two years now, not a day has gone by when the work of SOHK has not been touched by the shadow of Covid 19. Especially in the early months of the first lockdown, it is fair to say that the pandemic totally dominated every discussion and decision; and it had to – all of our schools were closed, save for a relatively few number of children. All of our ‘in person’ adult courses were immediately paused (for how long, none of us knew) and of course all of our planned fundraising events were either cancelled or postponed.
One thing we were all completely certain of was that we wanted – and needed – to get back to full delivery as quickly as possible, whatever the barriers that stood in our way. Why? Because the adults and children that we exist to serve as a charity - many already trapped in poverty – became even more vulnerable overnight. For far too many of the children we work with, being ‘locked down’ in their homes was nothing short of disastrous, not least because ‘home’ is often the source of their trauma; but also because they became dislocated from their friends and also of course, the stabilising and trusted input of School of Hard Knocks. How we very quickly put aside any feelings of self-pity and got ferociously proactive is the story of this year’s annual report. Our traditional approaches were either adapted or, for a period of time, completely re-shaped.
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Suffice to say, I have never felt more proud of my colleagues, as brilliant online resources and courses were developed and disseminated far and wide – often in areas way beyond our normal reach. The leadership team blew me away and the sense of collegiality and of connectedness, despite not being able to physically be together for the first few months was a career highlight.
One thing that gave us huge assurance in those early days was that we knew we had a wonderful group of supporters, funders and volunteers who genuinely had our backs.
So if that includes you…. A very sincere and heartfelt “thank you” from all of us.
