Jim Herrington

BURY ST EDMUNDS-BASED charity Gatehouse, which specialises in providing local care for the elderly and vulnerable in West Suffolk, as well as running a pioneering furniture recycling project, has appointed award-winning chartered marketer Jim Herrington to its board of trustees.

Mr Herrington has received recognition in the mobile phone industry, the food industry and more recently the business coaching industry for his creative and innovative marketing campaigns.

For the last seven years, he has been involved with Gatehouse's Christmas Day lunch project where he has helped and now leads the team in the kitchen on Christmas Day, cooking a full Christmas lunch for lonely and vulnerable people in Bury St Edmunds.

Mr Herrington said: “Being approached to be a trustee is such a privilege for me. Gatehouse has been in my heart for a long time now with the Christmas Day project, and I simply had no idea of all the other incredible projects that they are involved in.”

He added: “We need the people of Bury and the surrounding district to really support and be aware of Gatehouse and all the activities that it's involved in.”

Chair of Gatehouse and Ipswich solicitor Julia Wakeham said: “We are delighted that Jim has joined us. We are at an exciting and crucial stage in our development. Jim's commitment and his innovative marketing skills will give us a much stronger identity; we have been largely unsung heroes in the past.

“He's not afraid of getting stuck in either, as we have seen in the kitchen on Christmas day.”

She added: “Gatehouse is needed more than ever right now. The number of vulnerable people in these economically troubled times is increasing, and we must be there for them, despite a constant battle for funding from what seems to be an ever diminishing pot of money locally and nationally.”