Retiring Individual

23rd May 2025

Depending upon when you read this message it will be the start of the longer bank holiday weekend, and for some the start of a half-time break. I hope, whatever you’ve got planned,  however long you’ve got away from school, college or work, that you’ve got some time set aside to recharge the batteries and that you can find some time for yourself, as much as for others.

Usually when we get to the end of the term, rather than the end of the half term, we take the opportunity to say goodbye to staff members. However, as some of you will know,  in the last couple of weeks, and out of kilter with those timings, we’ve said goodbye  to a number of valued staff, across all of our institutions.

In each case it was a retirement and not early retirement, with a couple of staff well past the typical retirement age. Without being too biblical about this, one of the metrics within which we work might be; “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Known rightly as ‘The Golden Rule’. This is very important. I would hope that you’d want everyone to reflect this approach; an underpinning tenent of this Trust. If you would want this approach for yourself then you should be willing and happy to support that approach for others.

Each of those members of staff, who have left us in the last few weeks, is  going on their own terms. They’ve chosen the time that they want to retire and, in each and every case, for very positive reasons and whilst they’re in good health. They are looking to a future whilst reflecting upon the time that they have given us. Between them there is almost seventy years of commitment to our institutions and, more recently, the trust. They built relationships with their colleagues and with the children and young people. They have made enormous contributions to our work and have been able to enjoy working with and alongside other people; be that the children, young people or the adults.

That’s wonderful! That’s just what I want for myself and what I would want for you.

In these times when we might be encouraged (or manipulated) to dislike, distrust or even hate I would hope that we could all embrace a truly inclusive and celebratory culture.

‘One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today’’. Dale Carnegie

‘Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples’. George Burns