Simon's story
Last month we shared Emily’s story and why it is so important to support people with their physical strength following a cancer diagnosis.
Today we hear from Simon, General Manager at Penny Brohn UK. Simon works ‘behind-the-scenes’ at the Penny Brohn UK Centre in Bristol. From managing the hospitality and facilities team to ensure the Centre is welcoming to everyone who comes through our doors, to the odd bit of carpentry, building and decorating work – he is vitally important to keeping everything running smoothly and safely.
What's your life like outside of Penny Brohn UK?
Being a dad of two, Ava and Arthur, my life usually revolves around making sure they get to their respectively clubs and activities. We spend a lot of time as a family doing things together, including walking our 2 year old Cockapoo, Orla.
I like to keep myself physically fit and healthy and go to the gym a lot in the evening. But my main passion in life is my garden. I take a lot of pride in my garden.
I guess I also cannot forget to mention that I have been a Brighton & Hove Albion fan since I was little. I grew up in Horsham, about 20 minutes outside of Brighton, and am a season ticket holder for ‘The Seagulls’ – so a lot of my weekends are spent trekking up the M4 to get to a match.
How did you get into your career?
I originally started out as a Section Manager working in the John Lewis men’s tailoring section. I got my training in Customer Service with them. I really loved the sales side of that role and so moved into Hospitality Sales at two hotels – where I worked at one venue for 10 years working weddings and corporate events.
I then made the decision to move into the Education sector, working as a Commercial Manager at Weston College and I have to admit that I did not find this role fulfilling and wasn’t passionate about the role I was doing, so I applied and secured a role as Customer Service Manager for The Hawthorns Retirement Village in Clevedon.
This job, whilst vastly different to my previous roles came up organically. A Hotel Manager that I worked with previously saw the vacancy and suggested that I would be good at the role. I thoroughly enjoy building relations with the older age demographic well, and I have a passion for people living with Dementia.
I expanded a lot of my knowledge in this role, building up my skillset in working with the elderly and learning more about the clinical side to the industry. You learn so much helping people through their individual journeys and networking with hospitals, day centres, social workers etc. to provide the best possible care. It is a continuous relationship with everyone – staff, nurses, managers of the home, family and the individual involved.
This period of my life helped me to grow a lot as a professional, seeing me move up through the ranks, becoming a Regional Resident Liaison Manager supporting 5 different homes across Weston-Super-Mare and Bristol.
How did you come to be at Penny Brohn UK?
I unfortunately got to a stage where I was actively looking for jobs, and I felt while I was working in the homes that I had the right skills to make a good General Manager – despite not having the direct experience. My background working in the hospitality sector whilst also having that clinical knowledge put me in a favourable position at Penny Brohn UK.
It was a hard decision, moving from a job that I was passionate about and particularly good at. But it was the right time for me in terms of career progression to take on a new challenge.
What does a typical day as a General Manager look like?
There is no point in spending much time planning because no two days are the same. Any plans you thought you might have for the day go out of the window as soon as you walk through the door – there is something someone might need help with or an issue that crops up with the building. I have very quickly had to learn to prioritise the real need and get those jobs done first and then come back to the little bits that may have been raised.
I have recently been undertaking building work projects to help with creating new spaces within the Penny Brohn UK Centre to accommodate the number of staff and tenants that we now have. This is a part of the role that was not expected but has given me a fair few days of manual labour!
I have also been working closely with the Fundraising Team here to get sponsors for the 26 bedrooms we have at the Centre, used by our cancer clients when attending Wellbeing Days and Retreats. We have recently launched the ’25 in 25’ campaign*, aiming to get 25 of the bedrooms (we are lucky that one has already been generously sponsored) here at the Penny Brohn UK Centre redecorated through sponsorship.
This role is very much about communication and building good working relationships with people. I manage the Facilities, Kitchen, and Garden team, to ensure that they all work smoothly. They are experts in their field do not need much in the way of management, but it is all about knowing that they can come to me if they ever need to talk anything through.
Dealing with all the health and safety work that comes with a building as big as the Centre has been a big learning curve. I have had to learn all about fire regulations, ensuring that we have the relevant certificates and insurances for the building as well as expanding our first aid and fire marshal team.
What do you find to be the most challenging part of your job?
The financial constraints are a challenge as a lot of the time the things I want to implement I am not able to do due to strict expenditure control.
Being a team of one can be challenging. I have an incredibly supportive team who I can relay and ask for support but in, my position I am responsible if we have any Centre issues.
Both factors can bring a level of frustration that you are missing things that are important or that you cannot drive things forward in the way that you want to because of the lack of time and resource.
What do you find the most rewarding about working at Penny Brohn UK?
The little wins here in some respects can often feel like big wins. The fact we have financial constraints in place, like all charities do, but that we can get so many little projects over the line and complete within budget and a high standard makes me feel proud of what I am achieving.
Getting feedback from the guests and visitors who come into the Centre brings it to reality what you are here to do. For me, being able to build a strong working relationship with the staff, tenants and clients is especially important.
What drives me is trying to make that difference every day, drive every pound that we can and make a real impact to those that matter – the cancer clients.
*Could you support the ’25 in 25’ campaign?
We are asking businesses to make a gift of £5,000 to sponsor a bedroom for 3 years. Your sponsorship will enable us to breathe new life into the room, replacing the floors and soft furnishings and painting to modernise and bring back the warmth and tranquillity of these vital private spaces.
Aside from the glowing feeling you’ll get from making a monumental difference to Penny Brohn UK and the people we support, there a number of benefits we can offer your business in return for supporting us:
- Your business name, logo and a short bio will feature on the Sponsor Thank You notice in the bedroom for three years.
- Your business name will feature on an engraved copper ‘bedroom sponsor’ leaf on our beautiful Tree of Life in the Penny Brohn UK Centre garden.
- You’ll get an invite for up to 4 members of staff to join us for lunch and a tour to personally hang your leaf on the tree.
- We’ll celebrate your generosity online and in our Corporate Newsletter so your peers can see how great you are!
If this sounds like something you would be interested in finding out more about, please don’t hesitate to reach out to discuss how we can work together.
We’d like to thank Simon for sharing their experience. The words used are preferred by Simon. Penny Brohn UK encourages everyone to use their own words to tell their story. If you have any questions about any of the language used, please email comms@pennybrohn.org.uk.