FOND FAREWELL...

A very fond and noisy celebration of the retirement after thirty seven years of Gill Burn, who has run the old peoples support at the Thirsk Community Works social support foundation in Thirsk, in its various guises over the years.

I think the expression “going out with a bang” was designed for such events as this, which started off with a sort of karaoke, continued with a long and tearful account of her life's work from Gill, continued with joyful singing and dancing, with all the fervour of a Christian revivalist meeting, and ended with the cutting of an illustrated cake, lots of bubbly, and a lavish buffet.

The organization has developed over the four decades odd of her service, from the cramped office to one side of the Thirsk Town Hall entrance, to mergers with other organizations to form a much larger venture with seventeen staff, and a legion of volunteers with a mission to make life liveable in and around Thirsk, for those whose needs are not met by official provision where the state increasingly falls short.

Gill's early memories are of an office too small to swing a cat in, having to go outside, and unlock the door to the Town Hall in order to visit the ladies!

More seriously, Gill's specialism has been support for older members of the community, and she has had a particular skill in charming people into becoming part of the volunteer force that make the work of the organization possible.













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