News

We’ve had loads more new faces join various teams at Derian House over the past couple of weeks. Get to know them by reading on below!

Karen Switzer – Shop Manager, Preston

Our new Preston Shop Manager has worked in retail all of her life. She’s done everything from supermarket chains to clothing, and aswell as previously working as a hairdresser, is also a trained barista!

Karen veered into clothing retail when she left England to live in Guernsey over 12 years ago, where she then proceeded to work at international clothing brand Peacocks. Her family moved back to Preston shortly before the pandemic hit as her partner’s son turned 16 and there were no job opportunities for him out there.

Guernsey’s loss is our gain however, as Karen has spent her entire career working for the big fellas and helping to line their pockets, so she’s looking forward to ‘giving back’ and making a positive change by working in charity retail and helping towards our common goal – raise as much money as possible for our families here at Derian House.

Outside of work, Karen enjoys reading, and she LOVES a good serial killer documentary. Interestingly, our new shop manager has also starred in a film – she played an extra in 1978’s International Velvet, filmed at Camelot!

Sara Bilal – Assistant Shop Manager, Preston

Sara is no stranger to charity retail – our new Assistant Shop Manager in the Preston store has spent three years working and volunteering at Age UK and Barnardos, respectively.

Sara is looking forward to getting started in the shop, and she’s an advocate for charity shops in general, wanting to rid of the taboo surrounding them and allowing people to understand how cheap sustainable it is to buy from them as well as sharing the work we do at Derian House with members of the public. She also loves a root through a donation bag so you’ll find her sorting through the treasure trove of donations we receive daily!

The Leyland lass is a self-proclaimed people’s person, and in her spare time loves looking after her grandchildren and visiting charity shops. She also enjoys reading and a good ITV drama!

Connor Glass – Shop Assistant, Horwich

Due to the success of our previous Kickstarters, we went out and employed some more! Kickstart jobs are funded by the Government for six months to offer exciting opportunities for young people to gain valuable work experience, and Connor is our latest recruit who will be working in the Horwich shop.

After studying bricklaying at college, Connor wanted to get a job, and the Kickstart Scheme led him to Derian House! He’s really looking forward to meeting new people and making friends, and communicating more with others. He’s also excited about using his first wage to treat his family.

Outside of work, Connor is really into gaming, and can even take consoles apart to fix them!

John Pilling – Family Counsellor

John has joined us here at Derian House after a 17-year stretch in education, the last seven years of which he spent at Parklands High School as an educational psychotherapist. Our new family counsellor was aware of a student of Parklands called Sally, who sadly passed away at the hospice, and since then had been checking his emails incase any jobs came up.

For John, there’s no greater honour than working in the capacity he does with families, and he’s really motivated and excited to make a difference and allow families to open up and accept their feelings in his counselling sessions.

The dad of two is looking forward to getting to know our families, our grandparents, our siblings, and of course our children and young people. Working collaboratively with our Family Support Team and hospice staff is something that John can’t wait to do, as he’s used to working on his own in education.

Outside of work, John is dad to Alfie (7) and Daisy (5), and loves keeping fit by running (he’s partial to a charity marathon), cycling, and even football! All of John’s family are super excited for him to be starting at Derian House, and can’t wait to get involved in our fundraising events!

Kirsty Blackburn – Clinical Educator

Last but not least in our lineup is Derian’s new Clinical Educator, Kirsty. The lead cancer nurse at Alder Hey has joined us after an expansive career which has seen her work in children’s oncology and palliative care at Manchester Foundation Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital and even Ethiopia.

Kirsty moved back up north after giving birth to her three-year-old, Isaac, to be around family, and hasn’t even had the chance to explore Chorley yet due to the pandemic! Because of her varied backgrounds in special palliative care and education, Kirsty saw the job role at Derian House as an amazing opportunity to marry the two together a whole five minutes away from her house!

Kirsty is really excited to join the hospice at a time when our services are expanding and we’re collaborating more with other facilities in Lancashire and South Cumbria, so she’s looking forward to educating both internally and externally. She’s passionate about developing people, so what better place to do so than her local children’s hospice where we’re certain she’ll make a difference.

When she’s not clinically educating, Kirsty is busy being mum and she’s also currently hooked on feet-up yoga! For those still reading, this niche hobby of hers gives you amazing core strength by standing on your head!