Colin, who has a strong retail and people management background, took over the role from Joyce Harkness, who after 10 years at the helm, retired from her role as the social enterprise manager at SHAX on the 30th September 2024.

Colin joins SHAX from Tesco Extra Dumfries, where he was the home shopping manager for 12 years, in that time he has seen the operation grow from using nine vans delivering daily to an operation that uses 19 vans daily, growing a delivery operational area that encompasses all the Dumfries and Galloway postcodes. During this time the department has grown from 70 colleagues when he initially joined to managing over 170 colleagues during the COVID crisis.

Prior to this, Colin worked in a variety of retailers throughout the country starting work at 16 as a part-time shelf filler at Gateways on the Isle of Wight, after five years moved to the home counties in various stores helping management when the need arose to becoming a Lead manager in Safeways in 2001 in their flagship store that had just been built in Kensington High Street in London.

Around 2004, he moved to Sainsbury’s in Hertfordshire fulfilling roles such checkout manager, fresh food manager. In 2008 an opportunity arose in Tesco Dumfries for a customer service manager which he fulfilled, the position was made redundant in 2012 and he moved to home shopping manager where he helped grow the department to double its operating vans as well grow sales by 400%. During his time at Home Shopping, he also found time to complete a degree in retail management. Many colleagues were coached and went on to fulfil many other management roles with Tesco.

Over the last three years, he has spent most summers volunteering at a local charity helping them with a summer programme of events. This has helped Colin decide that he wants to do more to help the local community, so this opportunity at SHAX is the ideal chance to fulfil that ambition.

While this is a big change, Colin admits he is ready to take on the challenge of leading SHAX.

SHAX is a homeless support charity established in 2012 and located at The Crichton in Dumfries. They support individuals and families, who have, or are facing crisis due to poverty and/or homelessness in Dumfries and Galloway. They also meet the increasing demand for Emergency Starter Packs containing home essentials for those who find themselves homeless or in temporary accommodation. 

SHAX is largely self-funded through the sale of quality pre-loved furniture, household items and clothing. It therefore relies heavily on donations and on volunteer support to reduce its costs and to generate income. As a social enterprise, every penny it makes is reinvested in the organisation to ensure it can continue to offer this much-needed service in Dumfries and Galloway.

As Colin begins his new role, he aims to ensure that SHAX continues to be there to support local people in times of crisis and to provide valuable employment, volunteering and work experience opportunities too. Securing funding, raising awareness, maintaining and building relationships, generating donations and in-kind support, maximising sales, improving the retail experience and working conditions and protecting the planet are all top priorities for Colin and the team as they plan for 2025 and beyond.

He said: “Joyce and the team have done an excellent job at SHAX over the past 10 years, in what was an extremely challenging time for most individuals and organisations. I would personally like to thank Joyce and my new colleagues for their commitment to SHAX and I congratulate them on their successes.

“Joyce is continuing to support me with projects during this initial transitional period, and for that I am also grateful. We all know that times are tough and that SHAX services are needed more than ever, so my job is now to ensure that SHAX continues to be here to support those who rely on our services, to provide opportunities for employment and volunteering and to fulfil our ambitions to minimise landfill and to protect our planet.

“We can’t do this without the amazing support of those who make donations, those who work and shop here, those who partner with us and those who fund us, so a big part of my role will be to maintain existing relationships and to form new ones to help drive future growth. While we have a fantastic location here at The Crichton, we are mindful that our retail experience and working conditions in our current showroom could be better, and so I also look forward to working with the trustees to improve the day-to-day experience of our staff, volunteers and customers in any way I can.”

Ian Callander, chair of SHAX, said: “As a Board, we are delighted to welcome Colin to SHAX and to appoint him as our new social enterprise manager. Thanks to Joyce and the staff team, we are in a strong position, but there are challenges ahead and so we very much look forward to working with Colin and utilising his vast skills and experience to navigate these challenges and to find new ways of achieving success and fulfilling our ambitions at SHAX.”