A very warm welcome to Chris Carr who joined LAG in June and Shelley Leung who joined in July. Shelley is LAG’s new learning and development lead and Chris is our new bookkeeper. Both have got off to a great start already, with Shelley holding our first housing focus group and Chris commencing work to improve our systems.

Shelley’s post is funded by a grant from Trust for London to develop LAG’s housing training and resources – which will be practical, relevant and targeted to the needs of the sector. Shelley will be working with legal and community organisations to develop the tools needed on the front line with a specific emphasis on targeting inequality and discrimination.

I am sure you will get to meet Chris and Shelley soon, if you have not already done so. We are thrilled to have them both join the LAG team.

Meanwhile, in August, LAG said farewell to longstanding staff member, Andrew Troszok, after nearly 18 years. Andrew’s main responsibility was customer services, where he earned the praise of staff and customers alike for his friendliness, patience and helpfulness. However, he also helped out in other areas of LAG, most notably manning the book stalls at training events over the years. We wish him well for the future.