Neville was chair of our charity for 25 years and served on our Financial Board for the last 10 years, bringing important strategic and financial expertise from his career as a chartered accountant.
He has been involved from the outset of West Sussex Mind, originally working with Worthing Mind in the late eighties to set up a day centre for local people with mental health problems. The NHS gifted one of its former ambulance stations in Durrington to the charity to set up the centre.
At that time, there were just three staff delivering mental health support and social activities, such as art and woodwork, to local people in what is now our Gateway building in Durrington. We have experienced substantial growth since then.
“West Sussex Mind has grown from an organisation with three staff to one that now employs 118 people,” says Neville. “I’m very proud to have been closely involved with West Sussex Mind throughout this period.”
During Neville’s time as chair, [then] Worthing Mind secured the first successful Lottery funding award in West Sussex to establish a drop-in centre called The Hollies in Worthing. The charity also benefited from Neville’s connections with other voluntary organisations where he served as trustee, including Worthing Homes and Northbrook College, with Worthing Mind service users doing gardening for Worthing Homes and following bespoke courses at Northbrook College.
Fellow West Sussex Mind trustee, Bob Smytherman, said: “We would like to thank Neville Pressley for his outstanding contribution to West Sussex Mind over the years. We are particularly grateful for Neville’s years of service as chair and the excellent financial and strategic expertise he has brought to the organisation from his career background as a chartered accountant.”