Dame Elisabeth Anne Marian Hoodless, (née Frost; born 11 February 1941) was the Executive Director (1975–2011) of
Community Service Volunteers (CSV, which was re-named
Volunteering Matters in 2015.
She is also a former Labour councillor in North London, and a long-term Labour party member. She was a volunteer Youth court magistrate.
Hoodless is married and has two sons and two granddaughters. She lives in North London.
She is the author of ''Getting Money from Central Government''.
History
Hoodless attended
Redland High School for Girls
Redland High School for Girls was a selective and independent, non-denominational girls' school in the suburb of Redland, Bristol, England. The school merged with The Red Maids' School in May 2016, with the new merged school named Redmaids' H ...
in Bristol and then studied at
King's College, Durham (
Durham University).
In 1962, Hoodless lived in Israel and taught Hebrew as a volunteer to French-speaking immigrants to prepare them for University.
She returned to study social work at the London School of Economics and qualified as a medical social worker.
She was appointed Assistant Director of CSV in 1963, becoming the only paid staff member, since the founding director Dr
Alec Dickson (1914–1994), and his wife, Maura, were volunteers.
She became CSV's Deputy Director in 1972 and was their Executive Director from 1975 to 2011
Hoodless chaired the Network of National Volunteer Involving Agencies (NNVIA)
which included 46 UK agencies, including the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
,
Age UK
Age UK is a registered charity in the United Kingdom, formed on 25 February 2009, and launched on 1 April 2009, which combined the operations of the previously separate charities Age Concern England and Help the Aged to form the UK's largest ch ...
and the
Refugee Council
The Refugee Council is a UK based organisation which works with refugees and asylum seekers. The organisation provides support and advice to refugees and asylum seekers, as well as support for other refugee and asylum seeker organisations. The R ...
until 2001. She was president, Volonteurope; and the Deputy Chair, Speaker's Commission on Citizenship from 1987–90; and was a member of a
UK Department of Health
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwi ...
working group on Strengthening Volunteering in the National Health Service between 1993 and 1996.
Awards and honours
In 1966 she was awarded a
Churchill Fellowship
Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...
and in 1974 was awarded a Commonwealth Youth Fellowship.
In 2004, Hoodless was named
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to volunteering.
She received an Honorary Doctorate Sheffield Hallam University in 2004
She was awarded the Commemorative award for England at the CSV (Community Service Volunteer) Year of the Volunteer awards on 22 January 2006
Dame Elisabeth Hoodless received the Alec Dickson Award at the National Service-Learning Conference in 2009. The award is named for Dame Elisabeth's predecessor, Dr. Alec Dickson.
References
External links
CSV condemns healthcare conditions revealed by ''BBC Panorama''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoodless, Elisabeth
1941 births
Living people
Alumni of the London School of Economics
British humanitarians
British social welfare officials
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Place of birth missing (living people)
People educated at Redland High School for Girls
Alumni of King's College, Newcastle