Fermynwoods has received strategic direction and support from a Board of Trustees since it became a Company Limited by Guarantee with not-for-profit charitable objectives in 2005 and an Educational Charity in 2006.
Our current Board members and Trustees are:
Richard Clinton (Chair) is Chief Executive of Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust, with experience across Heritage, Culture, Wellbeing, Regeneration, and Enterprise. Richard previously as part of the Culture Trust supported with the Hat District Regeneration a Creative and Cultural project breathing new life in to Luton Town Centre. Richard is on the board of Northamptonshire Britain’s Best Surprise, which looks to support a vibrant and growing visitor economy in Northamptonshire.
Josh Allen (Trustee) is a writer and Avery Scholar at Columbia University studying architecture with a focus on adaptive reuse and organisational requirements in the built environment. Originally from the United States, he is also a management consultant with a US-based firm specialising in research and analysis for Defense clients.
Morag Ballantyne (Trustee) is a Consultant who works with organisations and artists across the cultural sector to help them to see things differently and to transform what they do. Her expertise is in leading change, building leadership and developing strategy. Morag has worked with many organisations in Scotland, across Northamptonshire and nationally. She is Deputy Chair of the Board of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and a Director of Turned on its Head. She was previously Chair of the Board at The Core at Corby Cube and a Trustee of Royal & Derngate. She lives in West Yorkshire with her husband and has two grown up children.
Michelle Brett (Trustee) is a teacher with over 18 years of experience in education including 10 years in senior leadership across primary mainstream and secondary special settings. She is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and is currently working as an Assistant Head in a special school in Kettering.
Siobhan Currie (Trustee) is an educational and child psychologist with extensive experience of public service to schools, colleges, and families. She is able to apply psychology at systemic and individual levels. She led a multidisciplinary critical incident response team and completed research in that area for her doctorate at UCL (now a research advisor on the Doctorate programme). She is past chair of the British Psychological Society Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Section and the Board of Trustees at Youth Works, an alternative education provision and youth counselling service. Now putting thought and energy into addressing the Climate and Ecological Crisis as a Climate Psychologist, she is active in the Climate Majority Project Climate Courage Campaign and board member of the Climate Psychology Alliance. Siobhan is also active in her local community and one of the original founders of the successful Save Weekley Hall Wood Campaign.
Joe Flavin (Trustee) is an arts leader and director with extensive experience across theatre, performance, and creative engagement for young people. He is currently Director of The Core at Corby Cube, where he has developed arts programmes that actively engage and reflect the local community since 2018. Joe previously worked at Axis Ballymun in Dublin, the Visual Centre for Contemporary Arts and the George Bernard Shaw Theatre in Carlow, and the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. Joe co-founded RED Wednesday Arts and developed The Scribble Sessions, a series of staged readings of new plays by new writers from across Ireland, and is a founding member of The Corps Ensemble, a company dedicated to bringing Ireland’s writing and acting talent to professional theatre stages. He has also written shows for children, including Glimmer, performed at the Otherworld Festival 2017. Joe is a VW Campervanner and wanderer in his spare time.
Graham Keddie (Trustee) has a BA in Painting, an MA in Fine Art Sculpture and is a Member of The Royal British Society of Sculptors. He works as an Artist Curator and has works in American, European and National Collections. He has 35 years lecturing experience including authorship of Fine Art Undergraduate Courses and is a Founding Member of APT? Practice Research Group and gallery202.
Rhona Rowland (Trustee and Secretary) is the Managing Partner of VSH Law, she specialises in commercial and employment law and qualified as a Workplace Mediator in 2012. Before qualifying as a solicitor, Rhona worked as a manager for United Utilities and then as a researcher at Liverpool John Moores University.
Kardi Somerfield (Trustee) is an experienced lecturer and doctoral researcher in Digital Marketing at the University of Northampton, with a focus on creativity, technology and community. Alongside her teaching, Kardi is an artist and founder of FridgeStreet, an illustration-based business celebrating the buildings and stories of Northamptonshire. She is also the co-founder and chair of St Giles Community Group, working with commercial partners, fundraising and volunteers to improve an urban green space.
Dr Anthony Stepniak (Trustee) is currently Deputy Head of the School of Culture and Creative Industries at the University of Northampton responsible for a wide portfolio of creative programmes and is a media and cultural studies scholar with a focus on gender identity and representation. Anthony works with a range of local and national stakeholders centred around the arts and creative industries, on a number of collaborative projects with a shared purpose of community engagement, social impact and student involvement. Anthony has served as executive producer and project manager on a range of funded advertising, promotional and heritage-based commissions.
We are grateful to all the Board members who have supported Fermynwoods since 2005, including
Eppie Anderson
Lyn Blackadder
Susan Bonvin
Mark Burnell
Roger Bullen
Yasmin Canvin
Louise Davies
Barbara Dougan
Patrick Duerden
Andrew Eden
Lee Farmer
Christine Goodwin
Rachael Hargraves
Andrew Hewitt
Kirstin Irving
Veronica Kimbell (former Chair)
Andrew Langford
Valeria Medici
Joana P. R. Neves
Barbara Rawcliffe
Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner
Paul Sibbering
Nick Slater
Tim Smith (former Chair)
Kai Syng Tan
David Tristram
Caroline Wright
Elizabeth Wright