In Your Shoes - Chris Duke

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Chris is the local contact for the Archie Foundation in Tayside. The Archie Foundation raise money to support local sick children in the Tayside area. Their recent work has includeded raising £2 million to put towards a new children’s twin theatre operating suite. They also help by providing a wealth of Arts, Crafts, Entertainment and Toys for the children in hospital and provide emergency support to children and families when they need it most. If a child needs to be admitted to hospital urgently or unexpectedly, parents might need help with travel costs or accommodation, or cash to buy essential items for their child.

Monday

We are getting really close to opening the new twin theatre suite here at Ninewells, and this week is the art install, so this morning I have been spending my time in the new ward filming and taking pictures of Suzanne Scott’s amazing artwork. It is always good to see where the money goes that we work so hard to raise, especially since COVID delayed this project so much. The majority of the afternoon was spent talking to and hyping up my Win Your Wedding contestants. They must raise the most money for Archie in 2 months and they will Win their Wedding.

Tuesday

Meetings, Meeting, Meetings. It’s not very often that we have back to back to back meetings, but it is a necessary evil of the job. Thankfully, today’s meetings were quite interesting and fun. I started off my day having a chat with Breakfast TV Legend Lorraine Kelly, and ended the day with our fundraising committee (night and day), but 2022 is looking like a productive year for Archie Foundation.

Wednesday

One of the parts of my job that I absolutely love is going into schools and talking to children about what Archie do. I am very passionate about helping children anyway, and my maturity level is as such that I can talk to children on an equal level. I plan on visiting every school in Tayside eventually.

Thursday

Thursday morning is admin time. The boring part of the job, but it needs done. It will involve counting any money that has been handed in, sending emails to donators, potential donators, and tidying up the paperwork.

The art is coming along so nicely down at the Theatre Suite, so much so that it is beginning to look like the “after” picture already. I spent the afternoon showing our CEO around the facility as she hasn’t seen it in a long time. Honestly, it’s like a different room since Monday.

Friday

TGIF?? Maybe. I am more of a TGIM kind of guy because I love coming to work. In June, we have a group of nearly 200 people climbing every mountain in Scotland over 1000m at the same time, it’s called “All The Archie’s In One Day” and it is going to raise a lot of money for us. A lot of these people are doctors from the hospital, so I have been meeting with them today to help facilitate the day and organise what is to happen. I can’t wait for this one.