I have known Catherine Goodier for the past eight years, during which she has been a key member of staff at the headquarters of Blind Veterans UK (formerly St Dunstan’s) in Central London. Her responsibilities were principally as the Editor of the Review, this large military charity’s monthly magazine, which plays a vital role in communicating with the 4,000+ members (all of whom are blind), staff, volunteers and supporters. As it has for the past century, under Catherine’s expert hand the Review has occupied a central and very significant role in the communal life of the charity, as members are spread around the country, and in small numbers are even further afield.
Catherine has always been an extremely imaginative, innovative and energetic Editor, contributing in many ways to the quality of life for all those associated with the charity. The Review is literally a lifeline for the members, many of whom are elderly and infirm. She has also played a tremendous part in attending a wide variety of events in the three Training and Rehabilitation Centres around the country, and in numerous gatherings of various sorts designed to enrich the lives of the members, all of whom are blind, and many of whom are also disabled in some way. Her contribution is always very positive and much appreciated.
Catherine’s enthusiasm for the task, and her commitment to enhancing the lives of all those associated with Blind Veterans UK, has not only been impressive and much appreciated, it has also been of the highest order. She is innovative, enthusiastic, fully committed, completely trustworthy, fun to be with, and has been much liked and respected by staff and members alike.
I have no hesitation in strongly recommending her to any potential future employer.
Major General Andrew M Keeling CB CBE
1995 – 2018 Trustee, Vice-Chairman, Chairman and now Vice-President, Blind Veterans UK
I have known Catherine for over eight years through my work with Blind Veterans UK. In that time, Catherine was the Editor of our monthly magazine and I worked alongside her as Contributing Editor.
Throughout that period, I found Catherine to be a very hardworking, conscientious, trustworthy and loyal colleague and I was, and still am, immensely impressed with her approach to work.
Her communication skills are first class and she regularly worked in excess of her contracted hours to get a certain piece of work completed for no additional remuneration.
I would highly recommend Catherine for a position within your company as I know that she will give you 100% and will be a marvellous asset to your business and I would be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding Catherine’s suitability for a position with you.
Colin Williamson, President, Blind Veterans UK.
I’ve known Catherine for 9 years in her capacity as Review editor for Blind Veterans UK. Catherine did an outstanding job in raising the profile of the charity and its cause by really understanding the true motivators and appeal of the charity and its relevance for all its different audiences; internal and external. Her energy, work pace and organisational skills were always very high, delivering great work to a high quality against daily, weekly, monthly and annual deadlines. She is also a prolific networker, developing a great reputation with others and advancing the charities cause amongst thousands of members and volunteers, hundreds of employees, and many different external media, partner, government and charitable audiences.
She acted as a spirited advocate for the charity and members and brought smiles to all those that knew her. I also greatly valued her advice and judgement on all publications I wrote as Chairman, and the continual support she provided in research and briefings to ensure I was up to speed. There are few employees over my career that stand out as real “gems”. She is definitely one of them, and I have no hesitation in recommending her to future employers.
Tim Davis, former Chairman of Blind Veterans UK.
I was involved when Catherine Goodier put together a brilliant public relations concept for New Lodge, a large country house near Windsor which is now a business centre. The house was once occupied by my great great grandfather, Sylvain Van de Weyer, who was the Belgian Ambassador to London, and by bringing together some of his living descendants she successfully linked the history of the place with the objectives of the new owners.
It made an excellent story which was enthusiastically filmed by ITV Meridian for its news programmes. It was only through Catherine’s enthusiasm and skill that such an interesting event was made possible.
Mark Van de Weyer
Catherine Goodier worked with me for six remarkable months at the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. She had in abundance the essential qualities of energy, commitment, enthusiasm and confidence required for a good PR operator. But what made her a ‘stand out’ was her creativity and interpersonal skills which meant she was hugely successful in developing and selling in stories.
Catherine has the rare and valuable combination of abilities to see excellent story angles, know exactly where to place them, which journalists to contact, and how to make the story as appealing as possible. She has excellent interpersonal skills which means that her ever expanding range of contacts respect, trust and like her. As a result, I was able to delegate an increasing amount of the Fund’s targeted media work to Catherine, impressed with her successful delivery.
Her work at the Fund also involved a very detailed and complex event project that took place in the rural shires. She managed a number of external suppliers and had to manage a very important stakeholder. The project was fraught with risk, but Catherine delivered it on time, on budget and to a very high standard.
On several occasions Catherine demonstrated excellent strategic qualities in drawing up media plans and involving in-house and external suppliers and collaborators. She knew which tactics to use, and which skill sets were required to deliver the plans. A great team player and general ‘good guy’, Catherine was a great pleasure and inspiration to work with.
The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
Catherine is the most extraordinarily talented PR and communications expert I have ever come across. Her ideas, approach and vision are inspired by passion, a phenomenal intelligence and deep integrity. In the PR world she has no equal – her gentleness, sensitivity and loveliness come hand in hand with great determination and persistence.
Angela Robson, Writer/BBC Reporter
Catherine Goodier worked as our public relations representative for four years when she successfully raised the Bellway profile by generating constant coverage in both local and national newspapers. Catherine constantly came up with ideas, often unusual, that worked to generate the type of coverage we had never before seen. She has excellent media contacts and is one of the best media negotiators I have worked with.
Chris Edginton, Sales Director, Bellway Homes Ltd, (Northern Home Counties Division)
Marchday is a Commercial Property Investment/Development company based in central London. Catherine handled our account in connection with our project at New Lodge Windsor; a grade II listed Victorian conversion to office suites. We refurbished the building and totally re- branded the scheme. I really enjoyed working with Catherine and found her full of ideas and enthusiasm. Moreover, she was able to turn those ideas into reality through her hard work, contacts and persistence. I would have no hesitation in working with Catherine again or in recommending her to implement a PR strategy.
John Orchard, Director of Marchday Group PLC
