Now is the perfect time for Dr Tony Jacobs, a retired dental practitioner, to step into the role of co-opted Trustee.
Tony qualified in the 1970s and always knew about the Charity through his extensive connections and work with the British Dental Association. He was very active at the BDA section and branch levels. He also ran LDC conferences for a number of years, including serving as Chair for three years.
He was very familiar with the collection tins for the BDA Benevolent Fund at events and always felt that at some point in his career, he would help out. We’re delighted to welcome him to the Board.
Tony is very much a people person, and this is reflected in his 40+ years as a dentist in his Manchester practice and in his service to generations of his community.
Embracing technology
Not only that, but he was also ahead of the curve in the 1990s when the dot com revolution brought about huge changes in the way people communicated. In 1997, he formed the online group GDPUK for GDPs to communicate with one another via email and this developed into an online forum.
“I was aware that dentistry can be quite an isolated profession and wanted to set up a community where dentists support one another. I wrote to the BDJ with an outline of how dentists might get together and chat to other dentists. Following this, just 3 dentists got in touch.”
Tony persevered and now GDPUK has 4-5,000 daily visits to the website, making it a very attractive proposition for advertisers and this has evolved into a small online publishing business.
Giving back
Tony hopes to bring those online publishing and marketing skills to his role at the Charity.
“Face to face meetings have declined rapidly and the root and branch system of the BDA and dentistry has changed. Nobody carries cash anymore and traditional fundraising methods such as branch collections have dwindled. We need to be more creative in our fundraising and maximise digital donations.
LDCs are the biggest single source of income for the charity but with NHS donations to LDCs reducing, there is a risk that this income stream will decline significantly.”
Tony has lots of experience in building websites and reaching dentists online, so he will be warmly welcomed on to the Marketing and Fundraising subgroup to support our efforts.
Embracing the learning curve
This is Tony’s first role as a Trustee and he’s looking forward to learning more about the Board and the charitable sector.
No stranger to adversity
Tony certainly gets the most out of life and understands that life can throw curve balls and be incredibly challenging at times.
In 2020, he was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He was on life support being treated for the disease and recovery from it was a long process. He’s so very grateful to the NHS for saving his life.
This experience makes him well placed to understand that the road is not always a smooth one and that people need help in times of crisis.
The future’s bright
Dentistry has been in Tony’s family – his aunt was in the profession – so it’s no coincidence that he pursued this as a career. He’s right to be very proud of his achievements. However, he might have taken an altogether different career path if he had pursued his interest in architecture.
“I have a very 3-dimensional brain and a particular way of looking at things. This has been suited to dentistry but could have equally been applied to architecture.”
After selling his dental practice, Tony has freed up time to pursue a lifelong dream of building his own house. This will be created using a German housebuilding kit. It will be a modern and highly insulated structure and will be completed in 2025.
It’s not all about work
When Tony isn’t building houses or being involved on the Board, he spends time with his wife, Lesley, and their many grandchildren.
“We’re very lucky to have our 3 children all living nearby and we’re a very close family.”
Tony can also be seen on the local golf course and is an ambassador for his golf club of 600 members.
And if there’s any spare time after all that, he enjoys reading a good book and watching his local team, Manchester United, play football.
Tony is looking forward to using his many skills and experiences to support the Charity. Find out more about the Board of Trustees and our Governance.
