COPING WITH GRIEF | REST IN PEACE DAVE, PREVIOUS CHAIR OF LEAPS

I’ve never written a post like this so you’ll have to bear with me as to whether it makes sense or is even what you would expect for this kind of post…

I’m incredibly sad and broken to say that the previous Chair of LEAPS, Dave Taws, has passed away on the 27^th November. I’ll not go into details, but I will say that it wasn’t a huge shock to the group; but that fact hasn’t made it actually happening any ‘easier’ to hear or to cope with.

I first met Dave in 2017 when I interviewed with him and the founder of LEAPS; Amanda. I’d found a voluntary job with LEAPS on https://do-it.org/ as an Advertising Assistant and decided to apply. At the time, it was my first long-term voluntary job and the first one in the industry that I’d ultimately like to work in, so I was really hopeful that I’d get the position!

Obviously, I got it and attended my first meeting with the group… one thing about Dave was that he was incredibly passionate about politics – something that I try to steer away from because of how controversial it can be – and he spent pretty much that entire meeting completely taking over and talking non-stop about politics! I ended up leaving and crying because I’d been so excited to start there and was so disappointed that it wasn’t what I’d been told it would be. I ended up ringing Amanda and she explained that Dave was known for monopolising meetings and said that hopefully my tears would be motivation for that to stop and for everyone to have the opportunity to speak up about issues that were affecting them.

BECOMING CHAIR OF LEAPS

http://www.leapsonline.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/leapsonline

Around two years ago, I was scrolling through the voluntary jobs on do-it.org when I came across a position of ‘Advertising Assistant’ for an organization called ‘LEAPS.’ I’d not heard of them before and was surprised to find that when I tried to research them, they had no website or social media. Their bio on do-it.org said that they were actually named Listening Ear And Positive Support and are a support group for those who are unemployed; and that they were looking for someone who could publicize the group. At that point, I’d been blogging for four years and had attended quite a few events where I’d been in charge of social media so I felt like this position would give me more experience in doing that. 


I remember getting the interview with the Founder and Chairman in Costa in North Shields and I wore a new skirt that ended up being way too short and tight and I could barely cross my legs! The actual interview (obviously) went well because I have a lot of confidence when it comes to talking about my ‘job’ with blogging and social media, so it was quite easy to tell them about my experience and achievements. They told me right there and then that I’d got the job and the excitement began for my first weekly meeting, which all of the Committee Members and group members attend.

We always joke these days about my first meeting with LEAPS and when I pointed out that I’ve been with them for almost two years, our Secretary said; “we didn’t think you’d last two minutes never mind two years!”