Long-serving charity boss announces plan to step down

The long-serving chief executive of YMCA Derbyshire is looking forward to “new adventures” after announcing she is stepping down from the role after more than 20 years.

Gillian Sewell has said that the time is right for her to hand over the reins to somebody else so that they can write a new chapter in the charity’s long and proud history.

With its headquarters in London Road, Alvaston, YMCA Derbyshire is an independent Christian charity, which has been supporting young people in Derby and the wider county since 1847.

Its work spans housing, lifelong learning, early years and childcare provision, youth and community activities, and vital poverty relief programmes.

Together, these services create the essential building blocks for a safe home, improved wellbeing, skills development and real opportunities for children, young people and adults to thrive.

It is a huge undertaking and a far cry from what the organisation was offering when Gillian arrived 26 years ago, when it was primarily known as an accommodation provider for people who needed help and support in their lives.

While this is still a central part of its provision, its service offering is so much more, in that it plays a wider and deeper role in the lives of the people it helps, recognising that early years’ intervention and wrap-around care is as important as offering someone a roof over their heads when their lives fall apart.

Gillian said: “I arrived in this job in 2000 when there were 18 staff working on one site and I am very proud of what we have all achieved since that time.

“I feel I’ve done everything I can and it’s time to hand over to somebody else.

“It’s been a real privilege doing this job for as long as I have. I believe that I have been a custodian of something that is unique and special and which has changed the lives of so many young people.

“We journey with them, we become their family and we love them, and I have seen so many examples of how giving young people a sense of belonging and purpose makes a huge difference. Those are the memories I will be taking away with me.”

Gillian started her career at the YMCA in 1992 as a youth and community student in Leicester, having taken a somewhat circuitous route via catering college, having spent four years in London working with sisters of St Joseph of Peace.

It was during this time that she first worked with people who were homeless, but it took another career shift – working at Leicester Forest East service station on the M1 – before she realised that helping people was her vocation.

It was after eight years in the YMCA that Airdrie-born Gillian arrived in Derby as chief executive, moving into her office in London Road and beginning her 26-year transformation programme.

Gillian will complete her last day later this year – and is set to be appointed the High Sheriff in Nomination for Derbyshire next year.

She will also continue to work in a voluntary capacity with the Tale of 2 Cities Fund: Early Years, which is a Derby-wide initiative to raise money to support nine community nurseries.

Gillian said: “I will certainly be keeping busy, and I’m really looking forward to visiting places in the city and county that I haven’t been to before as High Sheriff in 2027.

“It’s a huge honour, and what makes it special is that although I wasn’t born and raised here, I’ve come to love Derby. Everyone who lives here is so proud of it and I feel really at home here.”