RO Election January 2012

Returning Officer Statements for the January 2012 election.

Q&A session [1]

Carole Marland, Hayle & St Ives

I’m Carole Marland (aka Carole Sixmum) I live in Cornwall with 3 of my children and my daughter’s partner. I’ve been involved with Freegle since before the move and before that since 2007 when I was asked to cover on our local group. I then progressed as owner/moderator on our neighbouring group Hayle & St Ives and have been there ever since! I am relief moderator/owner on several groups and step in, as and when required. Whilst I’ve taken a back seat on Central for the past year due to personal circumstances, and I withdrew from the recent reps election because I discovered something that would have a large impact on my life in the future and I couldn’t possibly give my attention to such a big undertaking without feeling that I was letting people down. Also if I don’t know how to do something, I will ask. I feel that I am able to undertake the task of Returning Officer as I could give it my full attention. I have a vast experience in administration /secretarial work, as editor of a magazine I meet deadlines and I’m happy to work either as part of a team or alone. I also have skills in IT and I’m not afraid to learn new skills. I treat everyone with respect and respect other people’s viewpoints. I consider myself to be approachable and non-judgemental! Thank you for reading and good luck to the other candidates.

Joy Abbott, Mid and North Devon

Hello, I live in a small village in North Devon with Elaine Willis who is both my lodger & Business Partner, we keep both tropical & cold water fishes, and I am the proud owner of both the Mid & North Devon Freegle groups and am also one of Elaine’s Mod’s in her Torridge Freegle group. Unlike a lot of you when I started the MidDevon group in October 2009 – it was the 1st Brand new Freegle group! - I did it without much knowledge of how to do things, although I had been a moderator in both the Bideford & NorthDevon Freecycle groups we didn’t have any training at all, was just told to accept members if they sounded OK & moderate their messages, so it’s been a new experience for me, and I’m learning all the time. From the time I left school in 1950 until 1957 when I became Self Employed I worked as a kennel maid and also with children. In 1957 I joined my Mum who had several Guest Houses & a Private Hotel, we sold the latter in 1966 and did various other jobs before becoming a Kleeneze agent in 1975, my Mum joined me & we became Joint agents and our aim was to become Main Agents which wasn’t very easy at the time as our Upline didn’t like any of his agents becoming one! however when he retired I joined Bill’s group & he gave us a lot of help and we made it! I am also on some of the Working Groups and try to take an active part in them, and if I were to be elected I promise you that I would do my best to help the current RO and also anyone else who asked me.

Paul Thompson, Ascot Freegle

My involvement with Freegle began in September 2009 when dismissed from Freecycle for suggesting that more consideration should be shown for the volunteers. It was clear that the break point had been reached for many and a few days later I started a Yahoo group known as Freegle Forwards. Several dozen volunteers joined and in true grassroots spirit, a fury of activity commensed. Through the work of many, websites were created, spreadsheets built and Freegle launched.

In December 2009 I was elected as a Freegle Rep. I served with that team for two years. While challenging, that opportunity has been a great experience. I am amazed by the quality team with which I have had the privilege to work.

I have just resigned from that team as I no longer have the time to properly participate and believe someone else will use the position more productively. However, I want to continue contibuting to Freegle as an organisation and am pleased to stand for Returning Officer. This role will strike a better balance between the time that I have to give and the responsibilities of my personal life.

I believe I possess organisational skills which are well suited to the Returning Officer role. My job often requires me to analyse data, which I believe is vital to the office. I am quite at home with spreadsheets, having been a major instigator of using Google Docs and Spreadsheets within Freegle. And having worked extensively as part of the Freegle Geeks team, I believe my computer skills would be very useful as a Returning Officer.

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