Our Trustees Expand Chris Blakemore "I am a retired Accountant and Company Director and became a Trustee of Heartcare in 2001 because I was impressed by the work that it does helping patients to recover who have suffered cardiac problems". "I am a member of The Rotary Club of Aldridge which has supported Heartcare over the years". "I have always been impressed by the effort the Heart Care team put in and after suffering a bypass operation in 2009, I experienced first hand the hard work put into my recovery". Eric Watts "I qualified as an Accountant, Company Secretary in 1956 and spent the early part of my early career in Finance where I became a Director in 1959, I had formed my own Company by 1962 Watts Clift Holdings Ltd". "I held various Director roles at Watts Clift Holdings during my career and became Chairman in 1983 and I am still active in this role today". "I formed Walsall Heart Care Cardiac Trust with Dr Ron McKechnie 1980 and started a Walsall Fun Run with the Aldridge Rotary in 1981 and raised £9000 in the first year". "This continued for 8 years until we could appoint a part time Fund raiser". "We raised monies for the purchase of the properties and borrowed the balance from the Bank". Mark Walsh "I trained as a State Registered Nurse in the early 1980s and I worked for the NHS for 37 years most of this was spent in cardiac nursing. The latter half of my career encompassed a number of managerial and commissioning roles before retiring in 2016". "I have a keen interest in cardiac rehabilitation and during my career had close links with a number of cardiac rehabilitation services across the Birmingham and the Black Country". "I worked for Walsall Manor Hospital for a number of years and referred many patients to Heart Care so appreciated the positive benefits of the rehabilitation service". "This made it an easy decision, to serve as a Trustee and didn't hesitate to take on this role". "I remain committed to helping Heart Care deliver help and support to local patients and hope we can continue, in alliance with the NHS and community to deliver this service for many years to come". Angie Haire "While a Walsall GP for 31 years my patients found Heartcare an inspiring place for rehabilitation for Heart and Lung Disease". "With the help of the dedicated and friendly staff they gain the motivation and confidence to move to a healthy lifestyle through exercise, counselling and healthy eating" "'As a trustee I hope to help Heartcare develop it's services in health and well being for all the people of Walsall" Phil Griffin I am a recently retired NHS senior manager with considerable commissioning, project management and contracting experience . I have always wanted to use this experience to the benefit of the voluntary sector so I was delighted I was able to join the Heart Care Trustees about 18 months ago. I have particular expertise in working with NHS clinicians including consultants, GPs, specialist heart nurses, cardiac technicians and patients. My work involved improving the coronary care pathway in Walsall including rehabilitation services using nationally developed cardiac standards. I am also able to support contract review processes with our local commissioner and undertake a range of Governance oversight responsibilities expected of a Trustee including financial review and risk management . I truly believe that cardiac rehabilitation is a very important part of the heart pathway and as a Trustee I will work to ensure that the services we have developed as a Charity over many years continue to be available to people that need them now and in the future.