Mug chairman's positive influence

I READ an article on page 10 of Wednesday 26 April's edition of the Guernsey Press about Trevor Kelham stepping down from his role as chairman of Male Uprising Guernsey (Mug). I think it is only fitting that I write a letter stating the positive impact that this man has had on my life and I hope that he reads this letter, or that one of his many friends directs him to this letter, as I think what Trevor has accomplished, especially regarding the phenomenal success of his charity, is simply fantastic. While I attended college I decided to participate in the Institute of Directors shadow managing programme and I was assigned to Standard Chartered to shadow manage Trevor Kelham and see what life was like as a director.

This experience changed my life, as I have articulated to Trevor plenty of times since.

There are a lot of positive characteristics that Trevor possesses, but one that stands out is his generous giving of his time. He has a family, a successful charity and is a director of a massive company yet still took time out to see how I was getting on and this continued after the shadow managing programme had finished.

Since then, I got top grades in my college course and I attend a university in Manchester. However, I still get emails from Trevor asking how I am progressing and giving his support.

I recently obtained a job, with Trevor as my reference, and he gave the most glowing reference that my manager has seen.

Now I must reiterate, he has a family, a successful charity and is still running a massive company. He did not need to do any of this, especially considering how busy he must be. Yet he did and I will be entirely grateful for his advice, time and mentoring that he provided me with for the last three years and I thought it was only fitting that I shared this experience with members of the public to highlight what a brilliant man Trevor is. However, it comes as no surprise that I am not the only person he has had a positive influence on.

So I am writing this letter to Trevor with a simple, yet poignant, message: thank you for your time and advice.

I hope everything goes well in whatever you choose to do and I hope we maintain contact through the next stages of our lives. It is a shame that there are not more people like you in the world.

KEVIN HAINSWORTH,

Notre Maison,

Clos Des Isles,

Les Banques,

St Sampson's,

GY2 4AP.