As we all welcome in and pray for a peaceful and prosperous 2023, I wanted to reflect on my personal experience of taking on the role of Administrator at Retreat House Chester. It is now approximately six months since initially accepting the position, and my overwhelming feeling ever since has been one of gratitude and enthusiasm. For those of us who graduated in late 2019, our tentative journey into starting a career was characterized by disruption, tumult, and often downright despair, as we were compelled to navigate an unprecedented series of economic and health challenges posed by Covid-19. At the same time as when so many of us were dealing with loss and grief, we were also faced with the demoralizing prospect of job losses, as well as seeking re-employment in a market that for 18 months seemed to endlessly oscillate between various states of hibernation. For myself personally, receiving medical advice to ‘shield’ for most of 2020 made matters even more difficult, limiting any job searches to ‘work from home’.

By 2022, after two years of working for the University of Chester’s Department of Social and Political Science as a Learning Facilitator, the realization that my true passion lay in the local charitable sector continued to grow. I first heard about Retreat House Chester through my role as a Centre Assistant at St Mary’s Handbridge Centre, when Clare contacted the Parish Office about using one of our spaces for a volunteers’ meeting. Interested in what this small but ambitious charity had to offer, I conducted my own research and gradually perused through the RHC website, Facebook page, Charity Commission page, and information put out by various local, voluntary sector organizations. It was with eagerness and anticipation that I came across the recruitment notice on the RHC website, seeking a Charity Administrator. Those who are familiar with pursuing entry-level jobs in the 2020s, within a career of their choosing, will undoubtedly have encountered the same rejection feedback many times over: ‘we thought you were an excellent candidate, but didn’t have enough experience for this role’. Unfortunately, gaining experience in any given sector depends on the willingness of someone to give you a chance and provide you with it. After receiving this feedback on countless occasions, Retreat House Chester - probably the smallest organization to whom I have ever sent a job application, and therefore with more to potentially lose – were the only ones to give me a chance and allow me to gain this valuable experience.

Working alongside Clare Black, RHC’s Coordinator, my time here so far has been both enjoyable and challenging in equal measure. More than anything, it has been a learning experience; the parameters of which are broader than I could have anticipated. Firstly, I have learned more about what Retreat House Chester does and how its provision of retreats, retreat-related activities, and training resources can act as a model for similar projects in other urban communities. Striving to embed a sense of peace and reflection in the midst of everyday life, particularly at the heart of busy, inner-city environments, is a goal that we can all share. I have seen how the Retreat House project answers a very real and fundamental human need, and does so in an accessible and inclusive way. Secondly, I have built up an increasingly diverse portfolio of skills, experiences, and knowledge, all in relation to the challenges of running the day-to-day operations of a small charity. Whether this is: planning fundraising events; preparing grant-funding bids; drafting agendas and writing up minutes; designing benefactor appeals; creating information leaflets; distributing marketing materials; collaborating with organisations like the Charity Commission – all have given me a valuable insight into how charities are run. More broadly, I have also learned more about how the Charity Sector operates: the importance of public transparency, maintaining a comprehensive set of policies and procedures, and working in collaboration with regional and national bodies such as the Charity Commission, Cheshire West and Chester Council, and Cheshire West Voluntary Action. Thirdly, I have learned more about my home. Through working on preparations for our community outreach project in 2023, Reflective Chester, I have discovered a number of interesting and brilliant groups within Chester’s local charitable and voluntary network. The various charities and local voluntary organisations based here are the heart of Chester and define the city’s civic and community-minded culture. As beautiful and old as Chester may be, a city is about its people as much as its architecture. Working in the local charitable sector teaches you this more than anything else ever could. For all these experiences, I will forever be grateful to Retreat House Chester.

My wife and I share an admiration for the well-known adage, everything happens for a reason. When I come into work, I do so with a sense of purpose, a feeling as though I am working on a project that will endure beyond my time here, however long that may be. I believe that Retreat House Chester gave me this opportunity for a reason, that being the start of my time here as the entry point to a sector in which I hope to build a meaningful career. Thank you to Retreat House Chester, and whatever the future holds I look forward to playing my part in helping our charity to grow.

Michael Mitchell - Administrator