Anthony Pooley

Many years ago my parents lived in Vernham Dean, only a few miles from Enham Alamein.  As a young man I was fascinated by the name of the village but imagined (because of the picture of old people with walking sticks on the road sign) that it contained a retirement home for military personnel. 

I was therefore delighted many years later in 2004 to learn that Enham is focussed on younger and disabled people – and was even more delighted to be asked to be a trustee.

My first task as a trustee was to use my Shell brand management experience to help the Executive team work its way through the decision to change Enham’s logo. We developed one designed to represent Enham’s focus on tailoring its activities for each individual client.  It has therefore been a joy to be involved in the gradual but deep-rooted move to turn this focus into a real and practical person-centred and client-driven approach to the management of Enham. 

The history, the present and the future of Enham are each in their own way hugely inspiring and about which staff and clients are and have been rightly very proud. But most important of course is the future … and developments that have taken place over the past few years fill me with immense confidence that Enham’s future will give even more pride to clients and staff.

About Tony

Tony gained an engineering degree from Cambridge in 1967 and worked for a number of years on the planning of transport facilities in London, Edinburgh and Dundee.  A change of career was made possible when he joined Shell after gaining an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.  During his 28 years with Shell, Tony worked in almost all its “downstream” businesses and lived in or visited over 50 countries in all four quarters of the globe. He was a founder member of the company’s Business Consultancy based in London and retired from Shell in 2003.
When he was younger and fitter, rowing provided Tony with great enjoyment and sense of achievement. Today he uses his past skill in a more charitable way for a friend who has contracted Alzheimer’s, partly to provide an excuse for exercise with his friend, but more importantly by organising rows for him to help raise funds for a much underfunded research charity.

In his spare time, Tony is trying to learn how to play golf with a bit more consistency than he did in the past!

Tony and his wife Pat have two adult children, one of whom  lives at present in the Middle East with two delightful grandchildren … so grandparents enjoy the grandchildren’s long summer visits to the UK in search of cooler weather.  Despite their reputation, British summers have some benefits!