Farewell!

Farewell!

Hello all,

I’m sad to say that this will officially be my last blog for NRAS as I am leaving on the 18^th August to start a Beauty Therapy course in September.

I’ve had a great time working for NRAS over the last two years and have learnt so much from not only the team in the office, but also from speaking to our Members and supporters. I’m blown away by the commitment, dedication and passion I see every day from my colleagues to fight this fight against RA, raise awareness, and raise funds to push for better services for patients.

With NRAS going from strength to strength and with the arrival of new staff I am very much excited to see where NRAS goes from here and will be ‘keeping tabs’ to see what’s going on! Our most recent newbies are Sarah Drew, our Data Analyst and Research Intern, and Sarah Ball who has joined the Helpline team as Helpline Coordinator. Some of you may remember Sarah Ball as she used to be our Membership Assistant before Emma Nelson took on the role! We obviously can’t be that bad if she’s come back!

This week, being my last full week before I leave, has been quite an eventful one. We had a staff picnic on Wednesday evening down by the pond in the business park, and were extremely lucky with the weather which allowed us to eat outside on the picnic benches, listen to music playing from Clare’s ‘supersonic audio sound system’ (her car parked next to us with windows down and radio full blast!), play a game of boules which Tameena won followed by a rather competitive game of football and penalty shoot outs! You’ll be relieved to hear that no injuries were sustained by any of the players, even if we were a bit rosy cheeked and puffing out of breath!

 

It was during this football game that I noticed several members of staff had hidden ‘footy’ talents which were revealed to us, and I was rather impressed with the flair and finesse displayed by some when it came to ‘tackling’ the opposition and scoring a goal! Little did I know that Vicky was a dab hand at being ‘goalie’, Val and Lorraine were forces not to messed with when scoring penalties and who knew Peter could score a goal from the other end of the pitch?! I think the player who deserves a special mention though is Tameena, who, after a dodgy tackle between other players, offered to wade into the pond to retrieve the football! It was great to relax a little with everyone outside of work and enjoy the sun after a long day in the office sat at our desks.

I won’t rabbit on anymore, but I want to take this opportunity to wish the NRAS staff, Members and supporters all the very best for the future and thank you all for everything. I’ve had a great time and will take a lot with me from my ‘NRAS experience’.

So, farewell, goodbye, au revoir, auf wiedersehen, ciao!

Charlotte

Administration Assistant