Memorial Service for our trustee and dear friend Chris

Chris had been a friend of ours from the years long before Build on Belief, since he engaged in the service user movement of the early 2000’s, where he met Tim Sampey and Annette Dale-Perera among others. From the very beginning, we viewed the world through that same lens.

Chris was passionate about service user involvement and peer-led services and was a firm supporter of our unique brand of interactive mutual aid. Not only did he function as a trustee for a decade, but for many years volunteered in our Ealing weekend service, where he ran a #music workshop. He was a perfect fit for us, understanding instinctively not only what we were trying to do, but #why. There is at least one member of staff who owes, in part, their employment with Build on Belief to Chris’s gentle encouragement and mentorship.

Chris acted as an advocate for service users for many years, not only with Build on Belief, but also with CNWL NHS Addictions, and Change, Grow, Live. A gentle and polite man, he also possessed an endearing stubbornness when it came to representing and supporting the needs of others and was never afraid to speak ‘truth to power’ if the circumstances required him to do so.

We were enriched by his presence, will be diminished by his loss, and will miss him greatly.

A big thank you to the team of

the Hanwell Community Centre.