From estate agent to Care Trust chief 

A former estate agency MD and now Chief Executive for Aylsham Care Trust since last October, Philip Macdonald believes that God has guided his career since hearing from him in a gospel meeting in his twenties. Tony Rothe reports.

Philip was born and brought up in a Christian home in the then coal mining town of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, where Mum and Dad took him to church each Sunday. By the time he reached his teens, he testifies to believing in God but not really accepting that God could and would make a difference in his daily life.
 
He graduated from the University of Huddersfield with a degree in Business Law but, deciding that the legal profession was not for him, entered the estate agency profession at the tender age of 21.
 
It was not until he was 25 that Philip remembers clearly God speaking to him one Saturday evening at a gospel meeting and it was then that he committed his life to Jesus. He says that from that point, he has always tried to live out his faith in various aspects of his life, not that it’s always been easy.
 
Philip spent 13 years as Managing Director of a large estate agency group, comprising 46 branches throughout Norfolk, Suffolk, East Cambridgeshire, and North Essex, responsible for house sales, financial services, lettings and new homes, managing a multi-million-pound business.
 
Philip is chair of the board of YMCA Norfolk where he has been a trustee for some eight years, working closely with the executive team to deliver a range of services to support young people and to give them the opportunity to develop, grow and thrive.
 
As an Elder at Surrey Chapel in Norwich, he has chaired the management team at the church for the last ten years. He says “It is rewarding to be working with other members of the leadership as we seek to share the wonderful news of Christ in our community and seek to grow in maturity as a group of God’s people”.
 
Philip joined Aylsham Care Trust as Chief Executive in October 2021, a registered charity formed over 35 years ago to support people in Aylsham and the surrounding area to live independently and well and feel a sense of belonging in the community.
 
Philip said: “I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to join the ACT team and consider it a real privilege to have been asked to lead the organisation on this next part of its journey. ACT is already established in the community and our aim is to continue and to grow our services to improve the well-being of the community in and around Aylsham. I am excited about all that lies ahead.”
 
Along with the ACT management team he intends to evolve plans to enhance and develop the range of services provided by the ACT to meet the needs of the community and secure a sustainable future for the trust.
“Amongst other things we hope to extend the provision of our café and we are shortly to apply for registration with the Care Quality Commission to meet the growing demand for care services in the area” he said.


Read our previous story about Aylsham Care Trust (ACT).

The image above is courtesy of ACT.