Tributes have been pouring in for Chris Frost, chief executive of Merton Voluntary Service Council, who died suddenly in her sleep on Wednesday night just hours after collecting the Chair’s Award for outstanding achievement at the Compact Awards.
It was the ninth successive year that Merton VSC had won an award at the Compact Awards, under her leadership.
Chris founded Merton VSC in 1985 and led it ever since. The organisation was recognised throughout the sector as a genuine leader in supporting and implementing the Compact and has won numerous awards for its work since the Merton Compact was launched in 2004.
Last year Chris personally was awarded the Compact Leadership Award.
This year Merton VSC was shortlisted in all six Compact awards and won the Chair’s Award for outstanding achievement (see images, left and below).
A statement on the MVSC ‘Merton Connected’ website said: “This achievement epitomised her love for the voluntary sector in Merton and her firm belief in partnership working.”
Minister for civil society Nick Hurd told civilsociety.co.uk today that Chris was one of his favourite people in the sector.
He said: “I saw Chris at the Compact Awards – a few hours before she died. She had a huge smile on her face and was in her element surrounded by the Merton team of which she was so proud. Chris was one of my favourite people in the sector and is a huge loss. So many of us will miss her wonderful energy and positive outlook on life.”
Simon Blake OBE, chair of Compact Voice, said: “It’s been an absolute joy to work with Chris. She was a radiant optimist and the biggest advocate of the voluntary sector and of the Compact. She was an extremely valued colleague and board member over the past six years. The legacy of her contribution to the voluntary sector in Merton will continue.”
Speaking on behalf of Navca, its CEO Joe Irvin said: “It is with great sadness that we have heard about the death of Chris Frost. Chris was a stellar presence in the voluntary sector and within our movement. She was both loved and admired as a passionate advocate for voluntary action and someone who made the seemingly impossible possible. Our movement has lost someone very special and our thoughts go out to her family.”
On Twitter, Richard Caulfield, chief executive of Voluntary Sector North West, wrote: “Gutted. Worked with her for years, wonderful woman.”
Bernard Collier tweeted: "Sad to hear of friend and colleague Chris Frost's sudden passing. Genuinely lovely person & great mentor. Positive, warm, wise, humorous."
In her nomination for the Compact Leadership Award last year, Councillor Stephen Alambritis from Merton Partnership wrote that for almost 30 years, Chris was key to improving the way that the local voluntary sector relates to and works with the local authority and other partners.
She “consistently championed the sector locally and worked tenaciously to make sure that the sector is at the centre of decision-making and planning”. As a result, he said, she had “brought about real improvements in the lives of the people of Merton”.
Thanks to her tenacity, the Merton Compact had become an adopted policy of the Local Strategic Partnership, was embedded in the borough’s Community Plan, and had brought about a range of tangible improvements to the way the sector and partners work together, Alambritis wrote.
This had increased trust and professionalism between the sector and the council and meant that the local sector is now routinely consulted throughout the council’s budget-setting process to help influence funding decisions.
MVSC was also one of the first CVSs to become a living wage employer.
The Merton Connected website concluded: "Chris will be dearly missed and our thoughts are with her family at this very difficult time."
