Waterlooville Events Team boss steps down after 6 years - meet her replacement

Now the woman behind the scenes of the town’s top events since 2013 will pass the baton on to a new face to give the district ‘new blood’.

Jackie Buckley bowed out as chairman of the Waterlooville Events Team in tandem with the town’s November 24 Christmas lights switch-on.

The festive feat is one of many events the group has championed since its creation more than a decade ago as a government community board.

Under Jackie's leadership it has since become the town’s shining light for fun things to do – putting on Waterlooville’s summer fete, bandstand concerts, Santa’s grotto, Party in the Precinct, arts trail and community cinema.

Jackie said: ‘My ambition has always been to see Waterlooville put on the map and to bring the community together.

‘With new housing schemes the town can be quite disparate – a lot of people weren’t born here, so the community isn’t like those in Emsworth and on Hayling Island for example.

‘But by putting on more events we started to create that, and we've now got 30 volunteers and more than 100 businesses involved.

‘It's been great fun, it’s been a challenge, and it's time for new blood, new ideas and a new way of doing things.’

Now retired, Jackie used to be the chief executive for the charity Relate, which offers relationship support, counselling, therapy and training.

Her replacement at the helm will be Sarah Hall, the director of the Jubilee Road-based shared workspace ZW Coworking.

The catalyst for her business, which launched in March, draws from the same community aspirations that make the events team special.

‘It was all about bringing people together who work for themselves because it can be lonely,' she said.

‘Jackie has been amazing – she's an inspiration – so I’ve got big shoes to fill.

'But because of my business I’m coming at it from a different perspective.

‘We’ve got a meeting in January to talk about some of our new ideas.'

The team hopes to take on a flurry of new volunteers to help with future events as it goes into 2020.

To learn more, or to get involved, find the Waterlooville Events Team on Facebook or email [email protected]