Your service, your stories, your Club Rep

By Ash Akhtar, Club Director

Our Club Reps are helping Club Wellgate feel more real in every service. They are there to share ideas, ask questions, celebrate good things and help us feel more connected across Wellgate.

Club Wellgate has always been about our people. It’s about the things that help make work feel better, whether that’s benefits, recognition, the holiday home, career growth, living our values, or hearing more of the good stuff happening across our services.

But Club Wellgate can’t just sit on a website or be something you read about in our monthly update.

For it to really work, it needs to feel part of everyday life in each service. It needs real people helping to bring it to life. People who know their teams, understand what a busy shift feels like, and hear the little stories and ideas that do not always make their way into an email. That’s why we introduced Club Reps.

Your Club Rep is someone in your service

They work alongside you. They are part of your team. They’re not outsiders looking in, and they are certainly not there to make things feel formal, awkward, or to tell tales.

They are there to be a friendly link between your service and Club Wellgate.

That could mean sharing updates, helping people understand what’s available through Club Wellgate, reminding colleagues about benefits or recognition, or passing on ideas and questions from the team.

It might also mean spotting a lovely story that deserves to be shared across Wellgate. Maybe someone in your service has gone above and beyond, or your team has done something brilliant for the people you support. Maybe there has been a funny moment, a thoughtful gesture, a small win, or an idea that another service could learn from.

Those are the things that matter. And if we don’t share them, people may not even know they happened.

One of the reasons the Club Rep community is so important is that it helps us join the dots across Wellgate. It means someone at Rose Cottage can hear what’s happening at Brickyard Court. Someone at Burnham House can hear a story from Wade Court and think, “Actually, that’s a lovely idea. We could try something like that here.”

That’s how we start to feel more connected. Through simple conversations, shared stories, and people taking the time to say, “This is worth talking about.”

Let’s clear something up

I know there has been a bit of misunderstanding in some places, so I want to say this clearly. Club Reps are not there to tell tales on colleagues.

They’re not there to watch people, report on people, or create any kind of uncomfortable feeling in the service. If something needs to be dealt with by a manager, that still sits with the right manager in the right way.

The Club Rep role is much more positive than that.

It’s about helping colleagues feel involved, making sure ideas don’t get lost, and giving people another friendly person to speak to if they have a thought, a question, a story, or something they think could make Club Wellgate even better.

And yes, like anything new, it might take a little bit of time to settle in. That’s normal.

We might not get everything perfect straight away, but we’ll keep learning as we go. The important thing is the intention behind it. We want colleagues to feel part of something that belongs to all of us, not just something that comes from “head office” or appears in a monthly update.

Some changes in the Club Rep community

We also have a few changes in the Club Rep community.

A big thank you to Debbie Joy, who’s been part of the Club Rep community at Sandgate Manor. Debbie is much loved by the team, and we really appreciate the time, care and support she’s given.

I’m pleased to share that Louise Hutchins will now be picking this up at Sandgate Manor, so welcome, Louise.

We also want to say a huge thank you to Dee Williams, who's stepping back from her Club Rep role for now. Dee, it's been brilliant having you as part of the team, and we hope to see you back before long.

Huw Crosby will be stepping into the role to represent The Old Printers while Dee is away.

We also have some new faces joining us. Welcome to Anastasia Rose at Vale House and Oliver Okolo at Burnham House. It’s great to have you both involved.

So, if you’ve not spoken to your Club Rep yet, maybe start with a quick hello.

Tell them about something good happening in your service. Share an idea. Ask what’s coming up through Club Wellgate. Mention a colleague who deserves a shout-out.

It does not need to be a big formal conversation. Sometimes the best stories start with, “Oh, by the way, did you hear about this?”

And remember, you can always reach out to me directly too.

The more we talk to each other, the more we learn about what’s happening across Wellgate. And the more we share, the more we can celebrate the brilliant people, moments and ideas that make our services what they are.