Day in the life: Terry Baxter

Terry Baxter of Ipswich Town Football Club Charitable Trust, tells us about a typical working day . . .

It is really quite difficult to describe a typical day in my working life. My sustaining role at Ipswich Town Football Club is that of Director of Communications; however since late 2006 I have combined this role with that of CEO of the charity that works with the Football Club to promote active participation in sport, healthy lifestyles and improvement in education standards. Consequently I live something of a split personality work-wise between ITFC and the ITFC Charitable Trust. Perhaps best to describe the day I am experiencing as I write this piece. It is mainly a Trust day today with an earlier than usual start. It’s 8am and I need to speak with some of my management team about a development that will hopefully allow the Trust to grow in strength, at a time when central and local government cutbacks are threatening the future of some of our education programmes. As anyone involved with a charity will confirm, the battle to maintain income streams is relentless, rewarding when successful, devastating when not. At 8.25am, I step outside to take a call from BBC Suffolk’s breakfast programme. Mark Murphy is looking for a comment from the club in response to a mum voicing her disappointment after paying for her son to be a match day mascot. It’s an issue that I am keen to respond to. Wherever possible the club tries to make a spokesperson available and I hope I have illustrated how important all fans/customers are to our organisation. That was the aim!At 8.35am I’m at my desk, catching up on e-mails. I listen to a demo of a radio advert we have commissioned for the Trust. The holiday football courses are an important element of the charity’s work. Not only by fulfilling part of our core ambitions but also as an income generating programme that helps underpin activities where funding is tight. The advert is ok but needs work. This is also the time of year when concert promoters are gearing up and looking for potential venues and partners for 2011. In recent years the club has hosted some of the world’s biggest acts. Two e-mails are offering interesting acts considering stadium tours next summer.

Mark Murphy is looking for a comment from the club in response to a mum voicing her disappointment after paying for her son to be a match day mascot. It’s an issue that I am keen to respond to.

The summer just past saw us host the American artist Pink. After a number of changes in personnel at the club, overall control of this fell on my desk. Thank goodness for a great team at the club who had the experience and ability to ensure a fantastic event went without hitch. It was a quick learning curve for me and I am looking forward to seeing who we can bring to Ipswich next time.Mid-morning and I briefly meet with Simon Milton to discuss an event we are both attending this afternoon. Simon too splits his role at the club between that of academy sponsorship manager and being responsible for player appearances. We will both be attending the official opening of Foxhall House, a low secure unit built by Suffolk Mental Health Partnership. The ITFC Charitable Trust works with the partnership to provide stimulating physical activity to those with mental health issues as part of our ‘Ability Counts’ project. This is a major programme working with children and adults with many and varied challenges albeit physical or mental disabilities. Part of our work with those encountering mental health problems, involved a football tournament held on the practice pitch at Portman Road recently. I managed to grab 10 minutes to get out of the office and watch the action unfold. One of the team leaders working with those involved challenged me to identify the individual mental health issues the players were dealing with...of course, it was impossible. For the duration of the matches, the guys were footballers, like any other person who takes part in our activities. That’s the point I guess.Simon and I arrange to travel to the opening together this afternoon which reminds me, I’ve been asked to say something and have yet to put pen to paper.Late morning and I’m just back from a visit to an area of the Trust that is involved in some of our most rewarding work. Our Team project works with young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who have failed to complete their education, have not gone into education and are unemployed. Our 12 week intensive course involves outward bound experience, community projects, work experience, interview training and CV writing and work toward an NVQ. The scheme, run in partnership with the Prince’s Trust and Suffolk New College sees 75-80 per cent of the young people we work with going into full-time education or employment. The new cohort looks as challenging and enthusiastic as ever. In 12 weeks they will be very different young people, they always are. The afternoon event went well, Foxhall House is an outstanding facility and it has renewed my enthusiasm to develop our work with those facing mental health issues. It is often shocking to hear the stories of those, just like any of us, who can be affected. I make a note to call the Ability Counts team together to see what more we can do.Early evening tonight involves a catch up with the Vice Chairman of the ITFC Charitable Trust. Professor Dave Muller is Principle of Suffolk New College. He, along with Chairman, David Sheepshanks and the independent board of the Trust provide an excellent sounding board and wise counsel. We have great plans for the charity which I believe is ready to ‘fly’ and grow significantly in the future despite world-wide recession and national debt. Tomorrow is a football day. I will host the club’s successful business networking breakfast event (7.30am!) We’ve got a great guest speaker lined up and I am looking forward to it. As the day unfolds I will attend Press conferences, a meeting to develop a strategy for our premium on-line video content and stadium TV infrastructure.At least that’s how it looks at the moment...