Hi all, while its normal to say why you are standing for election, I thought having been at the forefront of Hack Oldham since the very start I should explain why I have decided not to stand for re-election this year.
As I mentioned I have been leading Hack Oldham since 2014 when we first started meeting in the Bank Top Tavern, I formed Hack Oldham Ltd, moved us in to Hardcastle Street, closed down the limited company, formed the Social Enterprise, developed the constitution and worked with Oldham Council to get us into Yorkshire Street.
During that time, I’ve learned a lot and most of it has been overwhelmingly. I’ve seen businesses start, develop and grow. Social enterprises like If Oldham who now employ 10 staff come from nothing, ran events that saw the launch of local businesses, developed the idea of Funded with Food which help kickstart the nationwide expansion of Chatty Café and we have seen several of our volunteers develop skills and gain employment.
I’ve had to make sacrifices over the years, giving up my business to remove a perceived conflict of interest that might have hindered the lease being issued, had to put in a lot of time and money and now being left with no choice but to step down from my role in the space to allow it to continue following the recent loss of funding.
It has been a great experience, but that’s not to say it hasn’t taken its toll. I now need to focus on starting a new business from scratch to put food on the table and to pay those pesky bills and as such I cannot put the time and effort into Hack Oldham that it deserves.
It’s now time for some fresh blood (nominations are being taken on discourse) to take the lead, this is your space, take it forwards as you see fit.
I’d like the thank you all for your support over the years however It’s now my turn to sit back and enjoy what the space has to offer…. And possibly complete some of these projects I’ve got sitting around.
If you are interested in joining the board and think you can help grow the organisation further then the first step is to become a member here and then put your name forward, any member over the age of 16 can put themselves forward to sit on the board.