Judith Kidd joined Tourettes Action – the Tourette Syndrome (UK) Association as it then was – almost exactly four years ago. In that time, the charity has been transformed and Judith hands over to new chief executive Suzanne Dobson just as the organisation has secured a three-year grant from The Big Lottery.

The Temp

Judith arrived “part time and temporary”, in November 2005, to help out because of long term staff sickness at the Dunfermline office.  It soon became apparent that relocating to London offered numerous advantages and Judith became chief executive in April 2006, overseeing the move to London with sterling help from Muriel Kidd (no relation!)

Big Brother

As chief executive, her major challenges were to work with the trustees to establish a coherent vision and strategy for the charity and to consult with members to establish the needs and wants of people with TS.  Fate interrupted in the form of Big Brother 2006 and housemate Pete Bennett who has TS. There were two staff in the London office, and their phones rang off the hook for three months, often from journalists who were aggressive, abusive, ill-informed and interested only in portraying TS as a hilarious and novel condition. “We nearly collapsed during this time, “Judith admits. “Organisations with large PR departments and consultants would have struggled, and we had no such resources.” The payoff, however, was £420,000 when Pete won – money representing more than two years’ worth of the charity’s usual income.

The Big Brother money allowed the charity to invest in rebranding, service development and the beginning of its research programme, of which the Big Lottery Fund award is a major milestone. 

Achievements

“I am proud that we have been able to introduce a new or improved service every quarter since March 2006,” Judith says.  “These include the helpdesk, monthly ENewsletters, two regional conferences a year, a greatly improved consultants’ list, the Facebook group and our new website.

“The research symposium held in Oxford in 2008 was the basis of our research strategy  and programme, which is now flourishing with the Tourettes Action Research Network, under the stewardship of our research officer Dr Larsson. I am also particularly excited by the Education Network which we set up at the beginning of this year thanks in large part to the work of our services officer Claire Ball.

“Our director of development Hillary Box has secured two years funding which has allowed us to appoint Julie Collier as to the new post of groups support worker. Over time, this will make a major improvement to the support we are able to offer people with TS.

“I have had an amazing and rewarding time at Tourettes Action and very proud of our achievements in the past four years.  I know that Tourettes Action is poised on the brink of many further significant developments and I am particularly pleased to hand over the reins to someone as experienced and dynamic as Suzanne.”