We bid a fond farewell to our Chief Executive, Jackie Lodge

“I have been hugely privileged to lead Walton Charity through the past fifteen years. During that time, we have seen many changes as we responded to austerity, the pandemic and now the cost-of-living crisis.

Our recently commissioned research, ‘Under the Radar’, shows us how the nature of poverty has changed in our local area with more working families struggling to make ends meet. The high cost of housing and childcare in Elmbridge, coupled with rising energy and food bills are tipping more families into poverty. The priority for Walton Charity is to continue working with local partner organisations to tackle these issues.

Walton Charity has been working in the local community for over 800 years. Poverty is not new, but neither is our humanity and ability to come together to help others.

As an endowed charity we need to serve the community today but also ensure that we will be able to do so for years to come. We have no doubt that there will be future challenges as poverty and inequality evolve to impact differently on our community.

The ‘CEO baton’ passes to Rob Mills who will, with our amazing staff team, trustees and partners, do even more to support our local community.”