Tracey White | Chair, Customer Member, and Non Executive Director | Our Customer Committee

What inspired you to become a Customer Committee member at Trent & Dove?

At the time of the recruitment for the Customer Committee, I was at a bit of a low ebb following the sudden deaths of my parents and having to sell what was a cherished family home.

I was looking to move or mutually exchange my home with another housing association in Newhall to be nearer to my three siblings so I wouldn't feel quite so isolated.

Luckily for me a family living in Winshill contacted me and, to my surprise, they wanted to move to Newhall to be nearer their family.

After 12 years of living in a street filled with anti-social behaviour, moving to Winshill was a fresh start and a breath of fresh air.

What experiences, both directly and indirectly, do you bring that make you an effective Committee member?

I manage the only way I know how: never give up. There is always a way forward in life.

I bring a wealth of lived experience after living in both socially and privately rented housing.

I have had good careers in hairdressing and retail, reaching management positions in cosmetics/perfumery, homeware and soft furnishing companies.

I have kept up my education with NVQ qualifications up to and including management level 5.

I also attended coaching and life skills courses, and I am qualified to present and run an NHS course Living with a Long-term Condition.

I have been registered as severely partially sighted/blind for nine years, after contracting an eye infection. It means I was unable to continue my love of hairdressing, and I can no longer drive.

However, I'm very proud to say that I have just completed a Foundation Counselling course online through Lincoln University.

What is the most important part of the Customer Committee?

The most important thing for me was being given the opportunity to give something back to my new landlord with my wealth of lived experience in both social and privately rented properties. To feel part of a very customer-driven committee where the tenants’ voices and opinions were actually being listened to and acted upon.

What is your proudest moment in the Customer Committee?

I was invited to the grand opening of the new Stapenhill Community Cafe in its new, much larger location with fantastic facilities. I grew up in that area and community in Stapenhill, and to see people I knew benefiting from having a place to meet, socialise, have a meal and a drink with other customers and friends and family it has a real community feel, and it’s wonderful.

How does the Customer Committee ensure it is embracing Equality, Diversity & Inclusion?

Our activities including fetes, Summer Fairs, Coffee Connect van visits, Warm spaces, Community Cafes and Community Fridges and Community gardens, are inclusive for all customers of any age,  ethnicity or religious preference.

As a fun addition, do you have a favourite quote or philosophy that inspires you?

I do have a favourite poem by WH Auden: ‘Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum, bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

‘Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead scribbling on the sky the message: he is Dead,

‘Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

‘He was my North, my South, my East, my West. My working week and my Sunday rest. My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song. I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

‘The stars are not wanted now: put out every one, Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. For nothing now can ever come to any good.’

While grieving, this poem resonated with me that even in the depths of despair and personal grief, life still goes on as usual for people who are not in that moment with you.