You may know that we have a fantastic new Chairperson, Tony Toynton, but there are a few other changes around Santuary Towers (an entirely virtual venue for now)…

You’ll no doubt be pleased to know that Roger Pask, the well-loved outgoing Chair and SiC founder, is still a Trustee. He continues to be active in the organisation, and now focuses on accommodation and supporting Appeal Rights Exhausted asylum seekers.

Gemma Driver replaced the much-missed Tazmin Mirza, as Development & Communications Coordinator, and is available Monday – Thursday every week; sanctuaryinchichester@gmail.com.

Rebecca Zeman is stepping down from her role as Trustee and Fundraising Committee (FRC) Chair. Having given her all on SiC’s fundraising since the organisation was founded, she felt it was time to hand over to someone new. Rebecca was an outstanding FRC lead and oversaw considerable successes within a short space of time, including SiC recieving charitable status and a number of grants. Thank you Rebecca, you will be sorely missed! Looking ahead, the FRC has a bright future, with Tony Toynton taking up the reins as lead.

Duncan Barratt is in the process of becoming our Trustee leading the Nations United football project. Thank you to Steve Gough and Jon Bowra, who both left recently having worked so hard and given so much to setting up and running the initiative. Duncan will work with Danny Potter, the football lead at the University of Chichester, who manages the student coaches training the players. We’ve just had news of a 3-year grant for the football project, from the Sussex Community Foundation, which will allow us to develop it and related activities. Read more about the funding and the impact of the project on young refugees and asylum seekers…

Finally, here’s an ‘organogram’ of SiC, so you can see who does what in the organisation. This diagram is live and constantly evolving.