Thanks for supporting my fundraising. I am running 🏃🏼‍♀️ the Great Eastern half marathon in memory of my old boss & dear friend Phil. 

I thought about the words of how to summarise this quite a lot. Doesn’t feel real that I won’t be able to text or see Phil for his mentoring & friendship. So here it goes…..

Sometimes in your working career you come across very special individuals. I was lucky 🍀 enough to have encountered this. For that I am very grateful 🙏🏼

Phil was my boss at SBC- a unique manager with a sense of humour, a great listener & coach. He had a lot of drive & passion. We did a serious job but, we had a great time doing it too. 

Phil saw in me what I didn’t even see myself at the time, he believed in me. He believed in our team & our mission at work. He was generous, treated us well & supported us by helping us get our jobs permanently. Phil & Jane invited us into their home. We were a close knit team. 

We were always pulling pranks on each other though. Phil was still laughing about it the last time I saw him. There’s too many to mention but that’s what made it so great, we could just have a laugh & for that moment it made the world a better place. 

He also brought out the competitiveness in me, he once by set me a biking challenge round Grafham waters. He beat me & I never heard the last of it! I’ve got 22 years on you Giles he would say & then would do his little laugh 😆 . He never let me forget that one either. 

As a manager he always wanted to better himself, always learning, never afraid to stand up for what he believed & would stand by the team 110%. 

He was a colleague & was an awesome friend. He had such a tough time with cancer & battled it hard over the years. He was so inspiring & dignified even in his darkest times he would be sharing his pearls of wisdom or taking the mickey out of me! 😊

I wanted to do this run in his honour, as my gesture to him, his battle & to raise some money for MacMillan which helped supported him on his journey. 

Il never find a boss/friend like Phil. He was one of a kind. 💚 Loved by all at the council for his infectious attitude & sense of humour. He could dish it out & take it back too. 😂

So thank you for teaching me how to be a good manager. If I’m half as good as you in my career il be happy. 

Lots of love 

Caroline xxx