OnMarch 4 2018,when the city of Salisbury was rocked by news of the Novichok nerve agent poisoning, Laurie Bell’s life changed. Admittedly, she was not affected as dramatically as Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer, and his daughter,Yulia.As targets of the attack, their lives hung in the balance. But the incident began a transformational year for Laurie Bell, Wiltshire Council’s director of communities and communications. Overnight she became the go-to person for a world- wide media eager to keep abreast of the story. Days began with briefings with the Cabinet Office, as she managed a team handling the communications messages 24 hours a day. As the recklessness of the attack became apparent and Russia meddled, the realisation of the potential effect on the lives of hundreds of residents dawned. And that’s not to mention the challenge of organising and hosting visits of support from the PM Theresa May, several government ministers, HRH Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and foreign dignitaries. Having been with the council since its formation in 2009, she found herself hungry for a fresh challenge. Fast-forward to today, she is Cheltenham Trust’s chief executive officer, in the role since April this year. Having immersed herself in the operation before any decision making, like any good incoming CEO, she is now talking about the plans for the £4 million-plus turnover 350-employee and volunteer-strong organisation. Set up in 2014, the Trust manages the spa town’s “£300 million iconic cultural and leisure sites”, or in other words TheWilson Art Gallery and Museum, Cheltenham Town Hall, Pittville Pump Room, Leisure@Cheltenham and the 2,000 capacity Prince ofWales Stadium - assets under increasing financial pressure. “The Trust has probably not run as much as a business as it could have. One of the things I had to do in Wiltshire was look at making all community facilities self-sufficient,” said Ms Bell, who at Wiltshire Council had managed a portfolio of council facilities facing the familiar fiscal pressures. “In five years’ time I would like to see what the Trust offers as demand-based, and becoming more self- sufficient. There is a huge opportunity to forge new partnerships.” As you might expect from someone whose
Cheltenham Town Hall
communication skills were honed in the aforementioned international political and social crisis, she speaks clearly, with authority and infectious enthusiasm - not in a way which threatens to scatter her audience to the hills. She will need to continue in that vein to take the 150 full and part time staff on the Trust’s payroll with her, and, just as importantly, the 200 volunteers vital to it achieving its ends. “I would like to double that number. Quite often they bring something else to the table. The Friends of the Wilson are brilliant,” she said. “I would also like to get into apprenticeships as well.We do not do that at the moment.” Ideas are bubbling away, but distil down to her helping the town make more of what it has. Few corners of the Trust’s operation appear to have avoided her forensic examination. “We have the original tram that ran on rails along The Prom in a depot. It has been there for 27 years. The cost of storing it could have paid to restore it and do something with it,” she added. “And then there is the Town Hall stage. There are no wings, which means it cannot host, for example, proper ballet. Why can’t we look at that, perhaps getting a business to help and lend its name to the new stage? I am not against ideas like that.” Her LinkedIn profile describes her as being “practiced in stakeholder and partnership working, including contract management. Event director for a number of large, prestigious events. Experienced in community and stakeholder engagement and reviewing
16 | July 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com
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