The Active Wellbeing Society works to improve the wellbeing of the most deprived citizens in our city delivering projects such as Active Streets, Big Birmingham Bikes, Active Parks and Run Birmingham. During times of uncertainty and change, we strive to ensure that people living in the poorest areas of the city can still access opportunities to support their wellbeing and help to galvanise the communities in which they live. So far we have provided over 7000 free bikes, enabled 250K people to take part in free park activities and running sessions and supported hundreds of street closures.
The Active Wellbeing Society is committed to helping more people, not just in Birmingham but also across other deprived areas of the country. We are now ready to expand our services and support more citizens, building on the tools, evidence base, key relationships and deep rooted community links we have developed to date.
To support our ambition and to enable us to take the next step forward, we are extremely pleased to announce the appointment of Lisa Trickett as the new Chair of the organisation.
Lisa brings a huge amount of expertise to the organisation having held leadership positions in the sphere of public policy in both a political and professional context for over two decades. Known for her strategic thinking and collaborative leadership practice and has worked within the public, private and higher educational sectors, she has represented local government on a range of regional and national boards including the Regional Housing Board and Homes and Communities Agency. Having been elected as a Councillor in Birmingham in 2012, Lisa served as a Cabinet Member from 2014-2018 providing the strategic lead on environmental and sustainability policy and its implementation to address issues including climate change, carbon reduction, flood management, clean air zones, energy security and fuel poverty. She also had the strategic lead for the city’s parks and green spaces.
Responding to the board’s decision to appoint her as Chair to the board, Ms Trickett stated: ‘It’s not often you get chance to Chair an organisation that changes lives and builds community wellbeing day in day out. Joining The Active Wellbeing Society on the next stage of its journey is a great opportunity and I look forward to leveraging not only my experience and networks but also my genuine passion for the cause to support the people of Birmingham and beyond. However, this is a huge task and one which will only be successful through a whole team approach and I’m lucky to be working with a team at the Active Wellbeing Society which is full of enthusiasm, ambition and proven ability to be able to take this next step with confidence.’
Chief Executive for The Active Wellbeing Society, Karen Creavin noted ‘ We are extremely pleased to have such a connected and grounded Chair to guide us through the next few years. Lisa’s experience and connections will be of huge benefit to the society and the citizens we serve. I am very pleased to be working with her. Her passion, determination and enthusiasm shines through and has already made an extremely positive connection with all of the team’.
The interim shadow chair, Ifor Jones, becomes the vice chair. His appointment ensures good strong local connectivity within the wellbeing sector, as well as continuity from all his excellent stewardship through the interim shadow phase.
Although a challenging time, it is also an exciting time for the organisation and the city as The Active Wellbeing Society looks to support and deliver projects including Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilot initiative and the upcoming Commonwealth Games, ensuring that the citizens of Birmingham most in need benefit from these opportunities.
We look forward to Lisa supporting and guiding us through the next stage of our journey.
