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Farewell to Lesley and Suganya

Yesterday (24.9.24) was an emotional day as we held a leaving lunch for two of our longest-serving members of staff – Lesley Spaven and Suganya Subramaniaraja.

They are both saying farewell to MVDA at the end of this month for similar reasons of moving closer to/spending more time with family, and we will miss them both enormously.

Lesley joined us 10 years ago, thinking she’d only be with us 18 months but we’ve managed to persuade her to stay on a lot longer! She has been our Deputy Chief Executive and recently led the development of our successful Volunteering Academy. She has been a pillar of support to the team over the years and contributed so much to what MVDA has become today.

Suganya was our longest-serving staff member of 13 years as our volunteering coordinator. She initially joined us as a volunteer before taking up employment in overseeing much of our work around volunteering support. Suganya is known to so many in the sector having delivered training, forum meetings and supported other organisations with their volunteering. Her passion and enthusiasm will be sorely missed, having been a huge presence within the team.

We wish them both well on their journeys!

There will be some adjustments to the staff team in the background which we’ll save for another news post.

I'm sure you'll join us in thanking them for their outstanding contribution to support the local voluntary sector and involvement in driving forward many collaborative efforts in Middlesbrough and beyond. 

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