After more than thirteen outstanding years as Chief Executive of Bath Preservation Trust, and in the last year staying on to see BPT through the toughest days of the COVID impact, Caroline Kay has decided to step down later this spring. Caroline has worked tirelessly for BPT and she leaves us in good, if reduced, shape to face an exciting and challenging post-pandemic world. She goes with the organisation’s full support and grateful thanks for all she has achieved.

Caroline has led Bath Preservation Trust through a period of considerable change and for many she is its public face. In her remaining time, it will remain very much “business as usual” in the day-to-day running with Caroline remaining very much in charge until she goes at the end of April.

Caroline Kay said, ‘Bath Preservation Trust has meant a great deal to me over the last thirteen-and-a-half years and it was for that reason I stayed on to help weather the storm of 2020. While there are still challenges ahead, thanks to the efforts we put in this year and the encouraging support we have received from external funders including the National Lottery Heritage Fund and DCMS, I am confident the Trustees and the dedicated and hardworking staff team, present and future, will be able to take BPT to an even better place going forward. For myself I now feel able to move on and consider other ways of exercising my professional and personal interests. I’d like to thank all the colleagues I’ve worked with over all those years inside and outside the organisation for their dedicated service and the fun and privilege of their company.’

Thomas Sheppard, Chair of Trustees, said, ‘Caroline’s leadership has transformed the way the Bath Preservation Trust has been run and her leadership during the pandemic has been a vital part of keeping BPT going and planning for the future. As the public face of BPT, she has been an articulate contributor to many of the issues and challenges facing the city of Bath. In giving notice now, Caroline has given BPT time to to plan and prepare for the recruitment of her successor, a process which will be led by the Trustees over the next months. In recruiting Caroline’s successor we will be casting our net wide to find the right person to lead BPT.’