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Meet the Team

Patron

Barbara Dickson

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We are very honoured to have as our Patron, Barbara Dickson OBE, the well known Scottish singer and actress.  


In her recording career, Barbara has earned 6 platinum,  11 gold and 7 silver albums. She is the highest selling female Scots album artist of all time.  

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She was awarded an Olivier Award in London for her work in  the theatre in ‘Blood Brothers’ and won a second Olivier for her role as Viv Nicholson in ‘Spend, Spend, Spend.’ Further acting  awards have included Best Actress in a Musical from the  Liverpool Echo for her own show, ‘The Seven Ages of  Woman.’ 
 

Barbara was invested with an O.B.E. by Her Majesty the Queen  in the 2002 New Year’s Honours. In addition, she has garnered  many honorary awards from Universities and Education Institutions throughout the UK.

 

Married with three grown up sons, Barbara lives in Edinburgh.  The paperback edition of her autobiography ‘A Shirt Box Full of  Songs’ has recently been published and her latest studio album  is called ‘Time is Going Faster’.

 (Barbara Dickson biography - 2022 )

Barbara is delighted to be Patron of The Open Door, Edinburgh.

Staff

Our staff are all qualified for the jobs they do, or are in training under our supervision.  Sometimes they are both; already qualified but studying for a further qualification, which is something we always encourage.

Trustees

Our Trustees, who are also our Company Directors, are responsible for the operation of The Open Door and take the policy, strategic and financial decisions which determine what our services are and how we run them.

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About half of our trustees are appointed by the local churches with which we have been involved since our foundation in 1982.  The rest are invited to join on the basis of the skills and experience they bring to The Open Door.

Volunteers

Our volunteers are too numerous to name individually, and they do many different things.

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Read more about what they do in our Volunteering section.

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Volunteers are the backbone of The Open Door.  They are the salt of the earth and without them we would cease to exist and our organisation owes them a huge debt of gratitude.

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We always welcome new volunteers.

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