07/04/2026
After an incredible 40 years of dedicated service, our long-standing trustee Andy and Polly, has decided to step down from their role. While they are stepping away from this position, they remain a valued and much-loved friend of Chinese Wellbeing, and we are deeply grateful for all they have given.
Here's the message from Andy:
The deed is done! After almost 40 years, Polly and I have stepped back from being trustees of Chinese Wellbeing. Chinese Wellbeing started life in the mid 1980s as a series of projects based at the Pagoda Chinese Community Centre, that became known collectively as the Merseyside Chinese Community Development Association (MCCDA). There were two key projects. 1: the training and employment project, which sought to provide members of the community with more routes to employment outside of the traditional catering industry, and 2: the Chinese Carers Project which initially involved the commissioning of research for the King’s Fund Centre on the numbers and needs of people in the community who were carers for elderly and sick relatives and friends.
After several years as an ‘unincorporated association’, I set up MCCDA as a properly constituted charitable company in 1989/90, with Polly and I as initial subscribers under the Chairmanship of the eminent paediatrician Lord Michael Chan, and I took over as Chair when Lord Chan moved away shortly afterwards. It’s been a long time!
MCCDA re-branded as Chinese Wellbeing after Colin and Di joined, and has forged a solid reputation as a highly professional organisation focused on supporting and delivering health and wellbeing outcomes primarily for the Merseyside Chinese communities. In more recent years there has been a focus on support for the elderly, those with mental health issues and those living with dementia, and women.
It has been a privilege to work with such a dedicated staff complement over the years, and with other trustees who have been consistently supportive as the organisation has faced the issues that have challenged the adult social care sector in general. But Chinese Wellbeing has shown itself to be agile and adaptive and I feel that it’s in a good place, and is in good hands. The time was right for Polly and I to step back, though it’s a real wrench after such a long time.
So, I’m signing off by saying ‘Best Wishes’ to Chinese Wellbeing for the next 40 years!
Regards to all.
Andy Green
