We’re pleased to welcome Richard Bennett as our new Chair of Trustees at The Mill. Richard is taking over from Ingrid Abreu Scherer, who is remaining as a trustee. Richard has written a short blog to introduce himself to The Mill community.
I’ve been a trustee at The Mill since mid 2019, it is a brilliant expression of so much that is good about Walthamstow, and I’m proud to be part of its story. I really look forward to immersing myself more deeply in the life of The Mill as Chair of Trustees, and to getting to know the people who make it what it is, now that we’re increasingly able to be together.
I’ve lived in Walthamstow for almost 30 years, and I’ve come to love the place and its people. For most of my life here, though, my work has meant a focus on people and places way beyond Walthamstow’s boundaries, and I don’t feel I’ve spent enough time focusing on the community that has been so important to me and my family. Now that paid work takes up less of my time there’s an opportunity to correct that, and being part of The Mill’s family is one way I hope to make a better contribution.
I’ve spent all of my working life focused on international organisations addressing inequality, poverty, peace and human rights issues. I’ve had the privilege of living in Malawi and the Philippines, and of travelling to many other parts of the world in the course of my work. I met my wife, Belinda, in the Philippines, and it’s been important to us that we and our daughter (born in Manila) live in an area with such diversity for us to feel thoroughly at home here.
After a range of experiences in my early working life, I’ve spent much of the last 20 years focused on how international networks and alliances of organisations can work effectively together and make change happen. It has been humbling to spend time with disabled people taking their rights and inclusion demands to the UN; engineers tackling sanitation challenges in urban slums or the consequences of plastic waste dumping; women driving the agenda on sexual and reproductive health and rights; campaigners for small arms control; and many more.
In Walthamstow, some of these issues directly affect our daily lives and some feel more distant. What’s certain is that challenges for E17 residents are increasingly pressing, and The Mill has a key role to play in helping people to help each other through them. I’m really excited to be here, and look forward to working with everyone at The Mill – volunteers, staff, tenants, groups and their coordinators, fellow Trustees, and drop-in visitors – to make change happen for each other and the community here.