Farewell and good luck to our beloved Phil!

by | Mar 16, 2023

It is with a very heavy heart that we must inform you that our beloved Project Manager, Philippa (Phil) will be leaving us in May. We are heartbroken to see her go, but so thankful for the amazing three and a half years she gave us and the charity. For all those who had the pleasure of meeting her, you’ll know that her energy was infectious. She’ll be sorely missed in the office and at our events and trainings. There is no one quite like our Phil!

See where our dancing queen is off to next and join us in wishing her the very best of luck on her upcoming adventures!

P.S. Keep your eyes peeled for her farewell blog in May. We’ll take good care of her Jeffrey SirMoo while she’s away!

Philippa Norman

Project Officer

After three and half years Beacon is a home to me and it feels very bittersweet to be saying goodbye to pursue the next chapter of my life and career, it will be sorely missed!

I am sure there are people wondering what that next chapter involves and I am excited and slightly daunted to say that I will be heading to Oxford for a bit to live with my sister and obtain my CELTA (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults) certificate so that I am qualified to teach English as a foreign language. The course takes about a month to complete and from what I’ve heard it is a very busy month indeed! I will be learning skills such as language analysis and awareness, language skills, lesson planning and how to actually teach; I think hosting all those webinars and training are definitely going to come in handy!

From there I hope to get some experience in summer schools in the UK over the summer before setting my sights further afield later this year. I would really love to move to Spain for a bit and then maybe somewhere in south east Asia or South America after that. Really, I am just going to see where the wind takes me!

A word from Phil’s friend and manager

“Phil has been such an integral part of our team for the past three and a half years. She joined us when Beacon was still just a team of four people, and mere months into her time with us the world was hit by COVID-19. Despite the challenges, Phil was instrumental in the re-development of our activities, helping us to navigate new terrain and ensuring we could continue to support patient groups in the new online-only world.

Since then, she has continued to go from strength to strength; leading some of our most complex projects, helping us rebrand from Findacure to Beacon, learning how to use the shift key on a keyboard(!), and developing strong relationships far and wide within the community. On a daily basis she provides support, care and hilarity to our small team, and I know I speak for all of us when I say she will be much missed. Whilst we will all be sad to see Phil go, we can’t wait to see what she gets up to on her next adventure!”

Mary Rose Roberts

Chief Operating Officer, Beacon for rare diseases

Thank you for the memories, Phil. We’ll miss you!!