It is with a heavy heart but the best of wishes that we share with you today the news that our long time Services Manager Paulette Storey is retiring from the charity.

Paulette joined Pharmacist Support following the charity’s relaunch in 2008 and has been instrumental to the development of a number of its key services, including, the information & enquiry service, specialist advice service (delivered in partnership with Manchester Citizens Advice Bureau who provide service users with debt, benefits and employment advice), the Wardley wellbeing service, student bursary scheme and careers coaching programme. We sat down with our P (as she is affectionately known in the office!) to reflect on her time here at PS.

What are your favourite memories of working with the charity?

Gosh so many. I’ve seen some brilliant feedback from the people we’ve supported telling us what a difference the help has made to their life. While coping with an onslaught of various adversities, people can show such resilience, it’s very inspiring.

I often think back to my first day at work- I met with the Charity Manager in a café in central Manchester as we had no office at the time, and then spent the first few weeks working from home until we moved into our first office.

To mark the 175^th anniversary of the charity, we held an awards event to recognise some of the many people who had contributed to the charity’s work – ambassadors, volunteers, fundraisers and individuals from other pharmacy organisations. It was a brilliant evening and we were entertained by one of our former beneficiaries who had gone on to become an excellent/professional pianist.  On the way home, I remember an expert rendition by the staff of “Thank you for the music”

Peter Noyce was a Trustee and then Chair of the charity for a number of years.  I have many memories of Peter – he was supportive, funny, a great champion of the charity and full of ideas to develop our work and is very much missed.

Following a conversation over Christmas festivities, some members of the team showed an interest in starting to run.  As a result of this, in the New Year, I started a couch to 5k programme for would-be runners one lunchtime a week, with additional homework to be done during the week.  The group were brilliant and completed the programme running 5k non-stop, without (or at least with very little!) complaint.

What aspect of your job will you miss the most?

I’ll miss working with the amazing team here. I’ve loved the feeling of us all working together towards a common goal of providing high quality services to the people who ask us for help.

What would you say was the most interesting thing you learned about Pharmacy during your time here?

When I started  I knew a lot about information and advice giving, but not so much about pharmacy.  I learned that it takes a long time and a lot of hard work to become a pharmacist – four years of an MPharm, another 52 weeks of training and then an exam to pass. Then virtually from one day to the next, you move from being a trainee to being the responsible pharmacist in a pharmacy with all the challenges that can bring.

Finally, what are your plans for retirement?

I have lots of plans for my time once I stop work, not all of them involving running and watching Manchester United!

I’ve joined the committee of my running club and am enjoying working with my fellow volunteer committee members to develop the activities of the club.  I’ve just set up a beginners group there which I’m loving.  It will be nice after all those years of mainly desk work to spend time being active.

Thank you P – we’re gonna miss ya!