Your Trust Rochdale appoints new chairman, David Gelsthorpe
We’re pleased to announce we have appointed a new Chair of the Board of Trustees, David Gelsthorpe who will lead in delivering our recently published five-year Strategic Plan.
David has been on the board as a trustee at Your Trust Rochdale since 2020 and brings a wealth of experience to the role thanks to his background as Curator at Manchester Museum, as well as being a trustee at the Natural Science Collections Association. He first engaged with us when working as a partner on the Dippy on Tour exhibition and programme.
Speaking of his new role, David said: “I am delighted to be the new Chair of the Board of Trustees for Your Trust and would like to express my gratitude to Roger Platt, our former Chair, who has made an incredible contribution to Your Trust in helping us get to where we are today.
“We’ve got exciting plans ahead and I’m looking forward to continuing the exciting plans that have already been set in motion and intend to use my role to support the delivery of these and deliver the best possible future for the people of Rochdale borough.”
Alongside David’s appointment, we’re also proud to launch our new five-year Strategic Plan, which outlines our plans to further enhance the lives of the local community.
“We are here to support people to be healthier, happier, and more culturally rich. People are at the heart of what we do,” said David.
“We are passionate about this and want to build on what we have achieved and push ourselves to be better. To succeed, we know we need to adapt, so have been challenging ourselves to be more collaborative with partners and communities, more environmentally sustainable, more diverse, and have greater impact.”
The new Strategic Plan comes with an updated mission and vision statement, a focus for our work over the next five years: To inspire healthier, happier, and creative people by bringing together Your Culture, Your Health, and Your Community.
“With our new vision in mind, we’re keen to build on the work that we have done to make a real difference in the community,” said David.
“The decisions we’ve made have been led by listening to those who are impacted by it day-by-day, the community in which we’re a part of, so we can deliver more sustainable programmes for the Borough.”
We collaborate with partners locally, regionally, and nationally to drive our vision. Working together with a host of partners, they’re providing their assistance and support to help us deliver our local, place-based goals, alongside our key partner, Rochdale Borough Council.
David reflects, “It has been a challenging few years, but now is a great time to make the most of combining community, culture, and health to be a leading health and wellbeing charity.”
“There are exciting opportunities for investment in people, what we do, and the facilities, and we intend to make the most of this.”