Phillip Eddens
Vice Chair
I am 55, married and have 4 children, the youngest being 14. I live in Lamberhurst in Kent and travel up to London Bridge on a daily basis where I work as a Grants Co-ordinator for The Royal British Legion. I manage a small team within the Headquarters that assist with the assessment of needs and awarding grants to overseas applicants, manage a number of earmarked funds and give advice and support to UK field staff.
My interests mainly revolve around completing my Masters Degree in Voluntary Administration that is being completed at London South Bank University. What time remains is distributed between my family, my continual but failing efforts to stay fit and work around the house.
My work and my continued education have given me insight into the work of the charities and the continued need. This then inspired me to become a Trustee. The reason I applied for the role of Trustee with BELS was because they support a vital transitional stage of life, that of school to work. They also carry this out in South London where I grew up. My Secondary Education was at Lanfranc Secondary Modern Boys School (as it was known then) in Croydon. It was from there that I had to deal with the issue of a working life. I understood little about what was required or even what I wanted to do. This is where I get the passion from, for this problem. Times have changed dramatically since then and I am aware that far more is being done to assist in this area. However unrelenting effort is necessary because of the continual changing business environment. It is hugely important to work with schools to motivate the 14-19 age group, offer ways to become inspired and give them an understanding of the working life ahead. In some way I hope to be able to assist in this process.
