We want to say a big red nose thank you to Rebecca Simpson as she leaves us to take up an exciting new role.
Rebecca started with Hearts & Minds in January 2020 just before the covid pandemic and had barely anytime to settle in and get to know us when we went into lockdown. Rebecca’s drive and positivity kept us going throughout 2020 and she never let a small thing like a pandemic stop our Clowndoctors and Elderflowers from keeping up vital connections with young people who were shielding and ladies and gents in care who are living with dementia. She took our programmes and, along with support from the artists, created a virtual programme and some fab digital content that could be shared. As we approached the end of 2020, we thought that we could see light and that in person visits would resume and the world would get back to normal.
As we all now know that did not happen and in a way 2021 was even more challenging as restrictions constantly changed and funding became harder to access due to the number of organisations like ours needing support.
Rebecca still did not let this dent her enthusiasm and belief and throughout 2021 she developed several new creative projects and partnerships to run within our programmes. She also, along with our artists, launched Clowndoctors on Call virtual visits for children in hospital and developed our programmes to run as a hybrid of in person and virtual which meant as restrictions changed, we could adapt and still deliver much needed joy, laughter, and magic.
Rebecca was also the driving force behind a lot of our fundraising effort and pulled together an amazing team for the Virtual Kiltwalk raising almost £20k! She also brought on board Corporate Charity Partners who ran several fundraising events which Rebecca always supported in person, and we’ve lost count how many times she has walked round Loch Leven! She also encouraged small businesses to support Hearts & Minds with donations from sales and running events like an online Club Night with top Scots DJs including Graeme Park and a live Club Night towards the end of the year when venues were allowed to hold larger gatherings.
She did all of this with a smile and lots of laughter despite the constant pressures of working through the pandemic. Rebecca is a tour de force and an inspirational leader and so her news that she was moving on from Hearts & Minds was received with sadness by the whole team and also partners at organisations we work with.
Rebecca has now left to take up an exciting new role with Cyrenians and we wish her all the best in her new post. She will be missed greatly and we thank her for being a wonderful CEO.
