Staveley Community Trust - People
Staveley Community Trust is a membership organisation. The members are the heart of the organisation. Our aim is for everyone in the locality to be members of SCT. They will be able to vote on decisions and select the Trustees. Everyone who invests in the share offer are automatically a member. There are currently 170 members of Staveley Community Trust. Minimum membership - one £1 share.
Foundation Members
When Staveley Community Trust was formed, the members of the Abbey Development Group became the foundation members. They are:
Marian Carey
Michael Flynn
Deborah Michel
Louise McBirnie
Alan McBirnie
Robert Perkins
Andy Pimblett
Fran Richardson
Heather Stobart
Karen Tredwell
The Trustees
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead, author and cultural anthropologist.
Boyd Gilmore, Trustee
Boyd has lived in Staveley since 2018. He considers himself fortunate to be living within and to be a part of the wider Staveley community. Now retired, he is able to be more actively involved in local community life and service.
As well as being a parish councillor, Boyd is a founding member and volunteer with the Staveley with Ings Together (SWIT) which organises the local Warm Spaces, Food FareShare, the Community Larder and the Young People of Staveley (YPOS) projects.
After moving to Staveley, Boyd was involved with the Crook B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North) project:constituted as a Community Benefit Society. In this role he was involved in fundraising, planning and physically digging in and connecting over 300 properties in the wider Crook locality (including parts of Nether Staveley) with hyperfast fibre-optic broadband.
In the past he has been a governor / trustee of a multi academy school trust as well as being a trustee of several charities.
For the majority of his working life Boyd was a GP in rural Lincolnshire while also being involved with GP training and was an appraisal lead for Lincolnshire. In the latter part of his career he had roles with the Royal College of GPs and was a GP speciality adviser to the Care Quality Commission. In retirement he continues to be involved with the Cumbria Faculty of the RCGP.
Deborah Michel, Secretary
Deb has lived in Staveley since 2010. She is largely retired but continues to work in an advisory strategy to a residential special School.
Deb is a parish councillor and leads on the Staveley with Ings community plan. She is the co-ordinator and founding member of Staveley with Ings Together (SWIT). This was started during the pandemic and now runs the Warm Space Project, Food FareShare and the Community Larder.
Deb is an educational psychologist by profession and led a team of psychologists across south Cumbria. Her professional interest and innovative approach to social and emotional development gave her the opportunity to lead the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning programme for the Department for Education. This was a multimillion pound project that rolled out a comprehensive teaching and training programme into all Local Authorities and schools in England.
As a member of The Abbey Development Group, she developed the New Abbey proposal with Fran Richardson, liaised with health and social care and housing professionals, and developed the overall strategy.
Martin Ripley, Trustee
Martin has lived in Staveley for the last three years. He has his own furniture making workshop in the Mill Yard.
Martin has been an active community leader for many years. He was chair of governors at a central London secondary school for around 15 years. He was part of a team of residents in London that was one of the first to purchase the freeholds for all 200 flats in their street. Martin was a trustee of Southend Education Trust and of Basildon Education Schools Trust. More recently, Martin is a volunteer gardener at Holehird Gardens and he hosts puppy Guide Dogs for short periods when their trainers are on vacation.
Martin has always worked in education and training. He set up his own education company in 2007 and has worked with governments and companies around the world, including Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Zambia and the USA. This work has often involved innovation and transformation, drawing on Martin’s experience of delivering complicated changes in education. His work covers schools, assessment, textbooks and Apps, as well as working for companies as diverse as the Civil Aviation Authority, ACCA, CFA Institute and the OECD.
Prior to this, Martin has worked for the UK government and taught in the USA and China.
Martin believes that the Abbey Community Trust can develop the Abbey into a vibrant and leading community hub, supporting people across this local community and wants to work with the team of trustees to help deliver this compelling vision.
Heather Stobbart, Treasurer
Heather moved to Staveley in 1987 with her young family. She loves the community feel of the village and her sons have happy memories of growing up here.
In 1982 Heather trained to be a bookkeeper for her husband's business. For 22 years she was a partner in the business with responsibility for all finance decisions.
Since that time Heather has worked for several local businesses as bookkeeper gaining knowledge of financial control and business growth.
Though at retirement age Heather works for three businesses as bookkeeper and credit control.
As a volunteer treasurer Heather wants to contribute to a thriving, supportive community organization.
Advisory Group
Sally Soady, Blunkett Foundation
Graham Flynn, Box Clever
Graham Collingridge, Architect
Josh Macauley, Westmorland Homecare
Daniel Hughes. Staveley Surgery
Annothai , Staveley pharmacy
Alasdair Muir, Surveyor
Jade Gibson, Community Catalysts