Mhairi (pronounced Vari) Doyle has been welcomed to the Board at New Start and is one of three Board Members to have received the MBE. She is also a Trustee with new Start and a Board Member at Birkenhead YMCA, Vice Chair and a Trustee with The Social Partnership and a Trustee and Secretary of the Bootle based BOSCO Society. Mhairi was awarded her MBE for her services to Social Inclusion, especially her work with Street Sex Workers in Liverpool with the organisation Routes Out. She was presented with her medal by Princess Anne on 7th March 2013.

MHAIRI was born in Edinburgh in 1949 to Morag and Tommy Berry and is the eldest of four children, her two sisters, Ann and Willi and a brother, Grant. She left school after completing her ‘Highers’ in 1967 and decided she would like to travel. Mhairi subsequently went over to Paris and worked as an Au Pair for twelve months.

On her return home she had various jobs before she and her partner, Pearson, went to live in Hong Kong, where they were married and had three children, Niall, Simon and Sarah. Pearson was a Civil servant and was actually Mhairi’s mother’s boss when she met him.

On returning to Scotland from Hong Kong, he received a promotion in 1980 and this entailed the family moving down to England. They lived in Ormskirk and in 1986 Mhairi began working for the Unemployment Benefits Service, now DWP, where she gained a couple of promotions before being seconded to Merseyside Tec in 1998 and three years later becoming manager of Wavertree Job Centre.

We are delighted that Mhairi has chosen to be part of our journey at New Start. If you see Mhairi around ensure you say hello and introduce yourself.