Twenty nine years ago, at Christmas, Alan Swanson wrote a cheque on behalf of his church, for £1,500 to pay for medicines for an orphanage in Serbia.  He didn’t realise it then but it was the start of a new direction in his life which was to take him all over Eastern Europe.  “That led me to visit Serbia with Oak Hall in 1994,” he says. 

Alan still attends the same church, Harper Memorial Baptist Church in Glasgow, with which he has had a life-long connection, but changed his career without looking back.  By the time he joined Blythswood in 2003, in a management role with charity shops, he had been back to Serbia several times, assisting with aid distribution around Novi Sad.

“I’ve got no regrets about leaving Tesco all these years ago,” he says as he takes on the role of Blythswood’s head of UK projects, taking over from Finlay Mackenzie whose work he has shadowed for several years.  “I’ve enjoyed managing our charity shops and I’m thankful now to work in projects.  It’s not a nine to five job, it’s about people.   

Alan’s new role makes him responsible for Blythswood’s five foodbanks in Highland and one in southeast Edinburgh, and he looks forward to having some input to projects which the organisation supports in Northern Ireland – a community café, a counselling service, Street Pastors and an independent foodbank.  “My objective is that our foodbanks continue to meet the needs of their communities,” he says.  “Being realistic, I can only seeing these needs increasing.”

He anticipates that managing the Shoe Box Appeal, a task in which he has already been involved, will take much of his time, but he is in no doubt that it continues to be worthwhile.  He says: “I have seen the needs first-hand in Kosovo, Moldova and Serbia.  The shoebox brings practical aid, but it also brings hope.  The gospel literature is part of this.  It is appreciated.” 

Alan is a regular at the Keswick Convention where he has frequently manned Blythswood’s stall.  He says: “The gospel is the heart of what Blythswood does.”