Celebrating and harnessing hope at special staff event

We’re proud that our charity supports people from Greater Manchester and Lancashire, with our teams and services spanning a distance of 620 square miles. 

It’s really important that, with people working across such a large area, we all take time to come together, celebrate our achievements and look ahead to what’s next too. 

Here, Patrick O’Dowd, our director, talks about a recent event which enabled us to do just that… 

Hope. 

It’s a really important and at the heart of everything we do at Caritas Salford. 

Our charity works alongside people helping them as they transform their lives with dignity and advocating for changes that reduce poverty and promote justice. 

This is something that’s especially at the forefront of all of our minds during this Jubilee year, and is something that was, therefore, central to a special event that staff took part in earlier this month. 

Our annual staff conference has become a key date in our yearly diary, with everyone coming together to share news, shape strategy and – importantly – celebrate the successes and hard work that has been done right across our charity in recent months. 

Collaboration, whether between our own teams or externally with partners and others in our local communities, is central to everything we do so events like our annual conference are incredibly important.  Information sharing, relationship building and ensuring we’re all working together as effectively as possible is vital when ensuring our work across Greater Manchester and Lancashire can continue. 

This month, 60 staff gathered together at Broadhurst Park, home of FC United, for the annual staff conference, which was this year themed around hope. 

Hope isn’t wishful thinking.  It’s at the very heart of who we are.  

Hope means believing that poverty, homelessness, exclusion and displacement are not the final word.   

Hope is powerful because it changes how we act.  It can keep us from despair when things are tough.  It can fuel creativity.  And it can remind us that small acts of love or tiny actions really can – and do – transform lives. 

Hope isn’t an add-on to our work at Caritas, it’s at the heart of everything we do. 

Whether staff are working front-line in the services we offer across Greater Manchester and Lancashire, or are in one of our departments that help us drive forward our charity in other ways, we’re all really proud to work together as one extended team.  

Gathering together staff from right across that team is a great way to focus our minds, especially at a time when we are operating within a complex external landscape. 

There’s much turmoil in the world and there are lots of challenges – some acute and some longer term – that people we work alongside are facing.  In times like these, keeping that hope alive is so, so important. 

As people face these many difficulties, demand for our services is arguably higher than it has ever been and it’s also a challenging time to deliver those services as funding is stretched and the cost-of-living still continues to impact what we’re able to deliver. 

I’m proud that at the conference staff remained focussed on the hope we provide and that the needs and wishes of the people we work with remained at the centre of all our discussions.  We routinely use coproduction across the organisation, with people accessing our services feeding into plans for their future direction as well as activities and systems. Listening is so important – but then acting on what you have heard is vital too. 

One of the highlights of our annual conference is always to say thank you to staff and to award those with long-service as well.  It’s fantastic that so many of our staff remain with the organisation for so long, including one member of staff who was marking 40 years here this year.  That breadth of knowledge and experience gained over many years, combined with newer team members who each also bring their own unique skills and expertise is a great mix. 

We have lots of exciting plans coming up for the rest of the year and for 2026 and beyond too. 

We will share those soon so do watch this space and – if you’re not already – please sign up for our email newsletter so you can hear all our updates first. Click here now…

A sincere thank you to all of our staff and volunteers for their amazing contributions and dedication – and thank you to everyone in the wider Caritas community too.  We couldn’t do what we do without you. 

You keep that hope alive and drive forward change that really does help people to transform their lives.  Now and for the long-term too. 

Thank you.