Former chairman pays tribute to Citizens Advice staff

RETIRING Citizens Advice Bureau chairman David Tidy has paid tribute to his colleagues and the services offered to members of the community.

Mr Tidy, 73, retired last month after spending 25 years with the Shoreham and Southwick Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), in Pond Road, Shoreham, first as a trustee, then as vice-chairman, before becoming chairman five years ago.

He said he had enjoyed his time with the CAB, but it was now time to enjoy his retirement: "It is a very worthy thing. I can't think of any charitable activity in the area that affects the lives of so many people in Adur. We can make a real difference to people's lives. I felt I had reached that time when I wanted to touch my freedom."

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The trustees of the CAB are not involved in advising clients, but take a more managerial role, as Mr Tidy explained.

"The way the CAB is set up is that those on the management board and the trustee board are directors. It is our job to see the bureau is properly and effectively run, to tackle the more strategic problems and to help the manager in every way we can, and to see the objectives of the management are in every way fulfilled," he said.

Mr Tidy said he had seen many changes at the bureau during the past quarter of a century, including new legislation being brought in and the IT revolution.

"The citizens advice movement has always been professional," he said. "Over these last 25 years, it has had to keep pace with pronounced changes in the environment in which it works. The system has had to become more IT focused. Citizens advice lives or dies by its database."

For full story and pictures, see the Shoreham Herald.