Congratulations to a Good Friend!

Next week we say goodbye to our good friend Joyce Francis. It's hard to talk about retirement without it sounding as if a person has died, but certainly not so in this case, as Joyce is not only retiring to spend more time in her native land of Barbados (lucky thing) but she is also getting married in April to her partner, Oliver Griffith!

I don't usually write about SEL staff individually as social enterprise is such a team sport, but Joyce is different. She has worked in our movement for over 25 years and was SEL's very first employee. She interviewed me for my job and my predecessor Jonathan Bland for his, and it is hard to imagine life without her.



Joyce is in charge of our HR and Training and is the person who knows the answer to all our IT problems. In 2008 the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown named her as a Community Hero, and she is a hero to all of us. She has been absolutely dedicated to the social enterprise movement and even when it's not the day job she works on the board of  Hackney Cooperative Development in her spare time.
We will miss you Joyce, but it is wonderful to think of you enjoying the sun, sea and surf(!?) in your retirement, you've earnt it!



We are giving our friend a send off at the Betjeman Arms at St Pancras Station at 4pm on Tuesday 29th. If you would like to wish her well and see the rest of the SEL team, you would be very welcome.