Doff Pollard, Trustee
Retired Chief Officer, Tees Valley Rural Communities Council
Doff represents the interests of the rural and outlying communities of the Tees Valley.
Connect with Doff: Linked In
Q&As
When did you join the Board of TVA?
Founder member 1981 of Cleveland Arts to 1986, joined the Tees Valley Arts board 2012.
What interests and excites you about TVA?
It being an arts organisation able to go to where the people are and make work with their engagement in all forms. The organisation is in a position to spearhead relevant specific initiatives and activities responding to the local tempo and character as well as bringing the new and unexplored to the area.
What do you love about Teesside?
The warmth and unpretentiousness of the people and their openers to new ideas and opportunities.
When you were a child what did you want to be?
Trapeze artist.
What is your earliest memory?
Living in a house at the bottom of a hill and the garden being flooded.
What is your most treasured possession?
My wedding ring.
What is the worst job you’ve ever done?
I like to think I have found ways to enjoy all the things I have done and it is the people I work with if it isn’t the work itself.
What has been your biggest disappointment in life?
Missed opportunities have always left chances for new doors to open.
Who is your favourite artist in any artform?
Richard Harris, a landscape sculpture in Grizedale and Gateshead.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
When someone wants or needs something you can give and they can’t pay you for it, give it to them and ask that they repay it by giving to others in need when they have the resources in the future.
Which living person do you most admire and why?
Meg Hoggarth, the first Rural officer for Cleveland. She had the ability to argue for things that were not popular, stand her ground and persist in moving forward. It paid off.
If resources were no object, what project or activity would you most like to see TVA undertake?
Projects which develop a vibrant social culture engaging outside education and work for people of all ages to have an inspiring and creative life.