THANK YOU SYLVIA, WELCOME VINOD

After 22 years, Sylvia Alexander-Vine has retired as Chair of West Hill Community Association. She was planning to announce this at the April AGM but she suffered a serious stroke earlier in the month and was unable to attend. The Association sends heartfelt best wishes for her speedy recovery and thanks Sylvia for her tireless work securing the purchase of the Hall, and the day-to-day running of WHCA. For many years she did the Hall bookings, correspondence and administration as well as the typesetting of The Whistler without the help of a computer as, in the early days, everything was done by hand and post! She leaves WHCA with a thriving, well-maintained and well-used community hall. She stays on as a trustee and co-editor of The Whistler. WHCA trustees voted Vinod Mashru, the proprietor of Bright News, to the position of Chair, and Dorothy Lamb was also welcomed as a new trustee.

No, the Mayor (pictured with Vinod), did not inaugurate him as Chair of WHCA, but together with the other trustees, association members, and Whistler contributors, Councillor Brian Fitch and his wife Norah, hosted a small gathering recently in the Mayor’s Parlour to celebrate WHCA’s contribution to the voluntary landscape of Brighton & Hove.

The national annual celebration of volunteers, marked during Volunteers’ Week 1-7 June, recognises the contribution made by millions of volunteers across the UK. In Brighton and Hove, volunteers donate 5.7 million hours every year to our city’s community groups and voluntary organisations. If they were paid the living wage for their work, their donated time would be worth £44 million a year.