After more than ten years working at MCFB, we are sad to say that Bina Chaudhry will be leaving the staff team. In the long term we are planning to appoint a new Project Leader to lead the Children in Need funded Group Work Project for which Bina was responsible alongside her role as Depute Chief Executive. However, in the short term we are pleased to announce that Bina has agreed to continue leading this project until early December 2015 on a part-time basis and so will still be coming into the office two days a week during this period.

Bina opted to mark her official departure from the staff team in her own unique way: after managing to fit a whole table tennis table in her car, she hosted an after-hours table tennis tournament with members of staff and friends of the agency in our group room. Fun was had by all and many members of staff surprised us with their hidden table tennis talents, but in the end our sessional worker and practice teacher, Anna Portaro, was announced champion in a nail-biting final against Andy Thomas of The Citadel Youth Centre and the evening was rounded off with a hilarious 'round the world' table tennis tournament.

Steve said, “I always remember Nita Brown’s comments (Bina’s first practice teacher at MCFB) that Bina was the most skilled student in communicating and working with children that she had supervised in a long practice teaching career. Along with her skills and passion for group work,  we will miss the sound of jangly bracelets around the building, the smell of lamb curry and the strategically placed copies of the ‘National’ newspaper left in the building. As Bina moves into a new career, we note that she has just missed the nominations for ‘Scottish Business women of the Year’, however we fully expect her to be ‘on the list’ for 2016!”.  On accepting a leaving gift from members of staff and in response to Steve’s speech, Bina said that she had thoroughly enjoyed her time at MCFB and greatly appreciated the range of opportunities being part of the staff team had afforded her over the years. Above all, she said, she would really miss the direct contact with the children and young people. She will be missed by service users, students and staff at MCFB alike, and we wish her all the best for her new venture.