When I was 16 I went to my school career counsellor for advice. At the time I was interested in volunteering and the counsellor recommended I join a new initiative and from this I joined a new organisation called Youth Central, which supported kids and school students and was led by social workers. It was based at my local youth centre and I got stuck in as much as possible advocating for youth involvement and even getting a Local Councillor to come along. After this I went to university where I studied Military and International Relations and continued my passion for volunteering getting involved in numerous student societies and union politics. My first move into governance was as a School Governor where I served for a number of years and this is where my love for volunteering changed to a passion for voluntary governance.
After this I became involved with an armed forces charity, The Gurkha Centre, as its Chairman of Trustees and then as a Trustee and Treasurer of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Community Association. I volunteered for as many charities and causes as possible, especially student ones such as my union RAG. I enjoyed voluntary governance more than anything I had done previously so I decided to pursue it further, as I am now studying governance qualifications. At the moment I work for examination institute and I am still involved with several charity boards as well as serving as a parish/district Councillor. I have set up this blog to offer advice, experiences and thoughts on voluntary governance (I suspect to most this will seem like mad ramblings)
I offer free advice to anyone interested in the topic governance and charity work, so please reach out. Please do bear in mind I do this voluntarily so I will get back to you when possible.
If you want to talk about an article or want a particular topic covered, please feel free to get in touch.
You can email me via james.cantwell@goodgovernanceblog.co.uk