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Alex Downing

Community Restart Development Officer

Alex Downing

Community Restart Development Officer

Alex has worked in Marketing, Communications and Business Development for over 30 years. More recently, she has helped to manage Suffolk’s Covid Vaccination programme which has given her a good understanding of the issues of social isolation and mental wellbeing particularly for older people and the clinically vulnerable.

She comes to CAS with an ongoing passion to assist VCSE’s in helping their local communities to thrive. The Pandemic has been particularly hard on the elderly and those already vulnerable to mental health issues and the grants and support available through the Community Restart Project are critical to helping the county recover and be resilient in the future.

Andrew Simpson

Volunteering Services Officer- Employer Supported Volunteering

Andrew Simpson

Volunteering Services Officer- Employer Supported Volunteering

Andrew Simpson has broad life experience in both business and the voluntary sector.
Andrew worked for over fifteen years in ICT product development, project management and outsourcing for blue-chip companies globally. He provided specialist project work for the MOD, banking, and aerospace before surviving life-changing injuries in 1999. He started working in the voluntary sector with the Citizens Advice Bureau for eleven years having overcome the loss of his right leg and mobility in his right arm. He became an equality & diversity champion and a board member for a registered social landlord representing over 23,000 tenanted properties. Andrew joined Suffolk ACRE in 2006 and then transferred to Community Action Suffolk and volunteers with a wide range of other charities as a trustee and community partner.

Angela Lee-Foster

Suffolk ProHelp Manager

Angela Lee-Foster

Suffolk ProHelp Manager

More than 25 years experience in the voluntary sector at a national and local level as a senior manager and consultant in advice advocacy and public affairs, establishing innovative award winning projects, conducting research, evaluations and spearheading national campaigns. Angela has a passion for corporate social responsibility and probono work that enables the strengths of sectors to coalesce for the benefit of the community. She is driven by a passion for justice and a commitment to improving the quality of lives those in need.

Belinda Couldridge

EA to Chief Executive and Executive Team

Belinda Couldridge

EA to Chief Executive and Executive Team

Belinda has worked in the VCSE sector for some years, previously gaining valuable experience in the statutory sector and before that starting her career in banking with Barclays in Bury St Edmunds.
Belinda provides support to the Chief Executive, Executive Team and Trustees ensuring good governance and smooth running of meetings. She also supports the VCSE Health & Wellbeing Network and the VCSE Sector Leaders Group.

Over the summer months she leads the preparation for the Suffolk Community Awards on behalf of Community Action Suffolk, which culminates in a celebration evening in September, a showcase for the great work being done in the voluntary sector.
Suffolk born and bred, she enjoys travelling the world but always calls Suffolk home.

Bryony Glover

Communications Officer

Bryony Glover

Communications Officer

Bryony is the Marketing Officer at CAS with a background in communications in the charity sector. Before she came to CAS, her roles included managing the social media of a crisis centre and working in communications at a children’s charity.

At CAS, she manages the main social media accounts, produces the external newsletter and works on communications projects across the charity. She is happy to hear from anyone who wishes to get in touch regarding CAS communications!

Caroline Keep

Finance Admin Assistant

Caroline Keep

Finance Admin Assistant

After a successful career in the City Caroline took a career break to raise her family during which time she became involved in various Suffolk and national charities as a Trustee, volunteer and, more latterly, an employee when she set up the finance and administration operation for a children’s wrap-around care provision in Nayland.
In 2016 Caroline fulfilled a long held desire to formalise her accounting knowledge and became a full time student completing her AAT Professional Diploma in 2018. Caroline joined the finance team at CAS in early 2019 and is really enjoying the opportunity to utilise her accounting qualifications and experience working in the VCSE sector.

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Carrie Wright

Insurance Officer

Carrie Wright

Insurance Officer

Carrie Wright has worked for CAS since 2003. Prior to this she had been employed predominately in payroll, initially at Bristol City Council for 5 years, followed by 15 years at TXU.

Carrie has had a variety of roles within CAS, including working on the Commission for Patient & Public Involvement in Health Project and 4 years in the Finance team.

Since 2010 Carrie has been an integral part of the Insurance Team. She uses her finance knowledge, customer care experience and organisational skills to ensure the department runs smoothly and are able to continue to provide an income stream for the Charity.

Chris Abraham

Christine Abraham

Chief Executive

Christine Abraham

Chief Executive

Christine is the Chief Executive of Community Action Suffolk and has held this position since March 2019, although prior to this appointment was a Senior Manager at CAS since its formation in 2013 from the merger of several organisations.

Christine has worked in the VCSE sector for over 30 years and in local infrastructure support organisations for the last 21 of those. Over that time, Christine has specialised in various roles: Community Development, Rural Issues & Matters, Children & Young People, Funding Advice & Grant Management and VCSE Resilience.

In her current role, Christine strives to raise the profile of local charities and organisations as well as increase the understanding of the contribution and difference these groups make to local communities and the wider society.

Christine advocates strongly the value and benefits of volunteering for individuals, organisations and communities and is a regular volunteer herself within her local community.

Danny Austin

Danny Austin

IT Support & Development Officer

Danny Austin

IT Support & Development Officer

Danny is the IT Support & Development Officer at CAS. Previous to CAS Danny worked in a variety of roles across the private sector including BT, where he provided a first line IT Support role for systems and internal staff.

At CAS, Danny’s role is to provide a support and development resource for CAS’s IT requirements including day to day IT support of its internal systems. Danny is also a massive part of IT Services at CAS Ltd, where he supports the IT manager in delivering it’s suite of IT products, including being the primary website developer, and developing all of it’s websites. Danny has a real passion towards developing new web systems that can assist in an organisation meeting it’s objectives.

Dave Eagle

Community Enabler Harbour

Dave Eagle

Community Enabler Harbour

Dave has been with Community Action Suffolk since January 2019 where he joined as the Community Enabler for the Harbour Ward as part of the Lowestoft Community Capacity Project funded by Big Lottery Community Fund. Dave is passionate about helping others in the local community and supporting individuals and groups alike to make their ideas a reality while encouraging a sense of pride, aspiration and community led-ownership of projects and activities.

Previously, Dave worked for Access Community Trust as a Business Support Officer, supporting the charity across a number of their services and projects whilst building relationships with VCSE and business communities.

Dave also volunteers at a community station in Great Yarmouth, Harbour Radio, where he has being doing so since 2015. In 2017, Dave was appointed Assistant Station Manager, where he helps support a team of over 50 volunteers across operations and also manages a youth provision project called Harbour Youth Matters, a radio show hosted by, and dedicated to, young people in the community.

Eleanor Patrick

Minding the Gap Project Officer

Eleanor Patrick

Minding the Gap Project Officer

Eleanor, or Ele, has a long career background in the VSCE sector, in social and health care leadership. In April 2018, Ele joined Minding the Gap project as the Senior Administrator.

Ele provides excellent administration support to the overall project and partners ensuring the aims and guidelines of the partnership are met. This includes ensuring records are maintained, documents are completed correctly and checking eligibility of financial reporting.

Ele is also the first point of contact for both staff within the partnership and co-ordinates enquiries from external organisations.

Elizabeth Evans

Support Services Assistant

Elizabeth Evans

Support Services Assistant

Liz joined Community Action Suffolk in 2017, previously having gained 14 years experience as a secondary school music teacher. Outside of work she is involved with the committees of two VCSE organisations within Suffolk.

Liz currently looks after the admin for our training department, uploading courses and events to our website and dealing with training queries. Liz also provides admin support to our Community Development team, as well as the Community Restart project.

Emma McConville

Minding the Gap Programme Lead

Emma McConville

Minding the Gap Programme Lead

Emma is the Programme Lead for the Building Better Opportunities, Minding the Gap project at CAS. Emma has over 24 years of project management experience, with the majority of roles being within the Financial Banking Industry.

CAS is the lead partner for the Minding the Gap project, which is funded by European Social Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund. The project focuses on supporting young people from 16 to 24 who are currently not in Education, Training or Employment. Emma is responsible for the successful implementation of the MTG project across Suffolk and strives to build positive and effective working relationships across the project partnership and with external agencies.

In addition, an important element of Emma’s roles is to ensure the partnership delivers within the European Social Fund rules & requirements for reporting, monitoring, evidencing eligibility and results.

Faye Smith

Volunteering Services Officer – Training and Outreach Officer

Faye Smith

Volunteering Services Officer – Training and Outreach Officer

Faye has over 20 years experience of working within the voluntary and community sector. Her roles have ranged from Project Manager, Coordinator, Facilitator, Volunteer and now within Community Action Suffolk as Training and Outreach Officer.

Faye enjoys working with a myriad of organisations across the county. Her main objective is to support and unite individuals and organisations working with volunteers and to enhance and strengthen the great practice taking place across the county.

Faye is passionate about building an inclusive society where everyone feels they can ‘be the change’ and believes volunteering is a pivotal way to achieve this.

Fran Bedding

Frances Bedding

Head of Partnerships and External Relationships

Frances Bedding

Head of Partnerships and External Relationships

Frances Bedding has worked in the public and latterly charity sector for over 25 years in economic and community development with an extended period in external funding. She is an experienced project and programme manager with a history of working with VCSE organisations and businesses across the wider public and private sectors. Frances has skills in economic and community development, project development, external funding, social enterprise, business development, programme management particularly finance and appraisal, and bid writing. She has successfully secured funding for large and small community projects, broadband development, business development and has a particular interest in rural issues, until recently being an active member of the Rural Services Network. Frances is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Institute of Economic Development.

Hannah Reid

Hannah Reid

Director of Innovation and Business Development

Hannah Reid

Director of Innovation and Business Development

Hannah is a member of the Executive Team at CAS with a professional background in Private, Public and VCSE sectors specifically in business management and development.
Hannah has managed and run various businesses including a private training company and a social enterprise supporting young people. Immediately before joining CAS, Hannah was a trouble shooting pub manager working for breweries to problem solve in their Public Houses across East Anglia and the South East.

At CAS, Hannah’s role is to provide strategic leadership for CAS marketing, impact reporting, and development of the charities trading activities with each subsidiary manager (IT Services at CAS Ltd, Business Services at CAS Ltd, and DBS Services at CAS Ltd).

Hannah is also responsible for CAS Innovation and is continuously seeking new ideas, partnerships and ways of working to further develop CAS’s sustainability. She works across the organisation to ensure the charity is able to support the VCSE sector for many future years and is always happy to hear from anyone who wishes to get further involved with supporting the organisation and sector.

hannah.reid@communityactionsuffolk.org.uk 01473 345332

Helen Bateman

VCSE Youth Development Officer

Helen Bateman

VCSE Youth Development Officer

Helen has joined the team as the VCSE Youth Development Officer with a background in youth work and travel, in the public and private sector. Helen is passionate about helping communities to develop great projects and activities for their young people. She spent 10 years with York Young People’s Services, looking after a variety of intensive and open access services, from mentoring, small group activities to detached youth work. Her role aims to build capacity within the community to develop quality youth support provision across Suffolk, by drawing together resources, information and training and building the strong partnerships and networks within the sector. She is very happy to talk through any new ideas for youth projects or help with ongoing support for existing groups.

Helen Cullup

Haverhill South Peoples Forum Community Development Worker

Helen Cullup

Haverhill South Peoples Forum Community Development Worker

Helen joined Community Action Suffolk in November 2018 as a Community Development Officer in Haverhill on the Local Conversation Project funded by the People’s Health Trust with funds raised through Health Lottery East. Helen has worked in the local community for over 25 years both in the statutory and voluntary sector. Her roles have included coordinating play schemes, youth worker, homeless prevention officer, housing options team manager, and leaving care young persons adviser.

Helen is passionate about raising the aspirations of individuals and communities.

Jacqui Wilkinson

Training, Quality Standards and Safeguarding Development Officer

Jacqui Wilkinson

Training, Quality Standards and Safeguarding Development Officer

Jacqui is the Training, Quality Standards and Safeguarding Development Officer at Community Action Suffolk. Jacqui has spent over thirty years in the public and VCSE sectors and has had a varied career ranging from organising national conferences for the judiciary to Training manager to hostel housing manager and volunteer youth worker. Her commitment to the most vulnerable in society has resulted in the recurring themes in her career of: safeguarding, policy development, management, youth work and training. Jacqui has previously set up a voluntary group that supported adults who had mental health support needs. Jacqui is a qualified trainer and youth worker and since moving to Suffolk has spent the last fourteen years supporting the VCSE with safeguarding policies and procedures, training and quality standards.

Jacqui delivers the Equipped to Lead Safeguarding in the VCSE course as well as safeguarding courses and can develop bespoke courses on a range of topics including management and safeguarding.

Jacqui also offers 1 to 1 safeguarding surgeries for VCSE organisations to discuss and develop their own safeguarding policy and procedures.

Janet Perry

Volunteering Services Officer Campaigns and Outreach

Janet Perry

Volunteering Services Officer Campaigns and Outreach

Janet has been with Community Action Suffolk since July 2017. Janet created the pioneering Young Leadership Project across East Anglia, creating a pathway for young people to become Young Trustees. Alongside this role Janet is a Volunteering Services Officer. Janet is responsible for starting Suffolk Action Week and organising the annual Suffolk Volunteering Conferences. Prior to this Janet was a Volunteering and Community Assistant Consultant with the National Trust for the East of England region. She has extensive experience working with young people across VCSE’s sector with Young Suffolk, Careers and Connexion’s service. Open to ideas, approachable and creative; Janet has spent time volunteering with local charities for many years.

Jay Mills

Community Development Worker – Local Conversation in Haverhill South

Jay Mills

Community Development Worker – Local Conversation in Haverhill South

Jay has been with Community Action Suffolk since November 2019 when he joined as a Community Development Worker in Haverhill South as part of the Local Conversation funded by the People’s Health Trust. Jay is working closely with the Haverhill South People’s Forum, acting on residents priorities in regards to health and wellbeing.

Jay has been involved with community projects from a grass roots level for over twenty years including work with the Bury St Edmunds Skatepark Experience to help facilitate one of the best free at the point of use alternative sports parks in the UK. Jay is currently involved with the local experimental music scene and promotes events to give established and up and coming artists a platform.

Previously Jay ran his own specialist sports store which worked closely with the local community promoting events, competitions and everything linked with urban sports.

Jay is excited to be working with the residents of Haverhill South in further strengthening their community, building on their assets and embarking on future projects.

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Jayne Vaughan

Community Buildings, Village Halls and VCSE Organisation Support Development Officer

Jayne Vaughan

Community Buildings, Village Halls and VCSE Organisation Support Development Officer

Jayne Vaughan has worked with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector since 2004. Jayne currently is the Governance and Community Buildings Officer for Community Action Suffolk. Working with organisations and individuals on a one-to-one basis on a range of issues e.g. Trustees, legal forms, social enterprise, CIO and the Community Action Suffolk Healthcheck; Jayne also delivers the ‘Introduction to Trustee Roles & Responsibilities training course.

Jayne is the contact for Suffolk village halls and community buildings for information, support and guidance working with ACRE to offer the most up-to-date information available; helping to shape policy and helping to build a stronger rural economy.

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Joanne Whight

Finance Officer

Joanne Whight

Finance Officer

Jo is the Finance Officer at Community Action Suffolk.
Jo has worked for CAS since 2015 and her role includes day to day financial tasks and assisting with the production of management accounts.

Jonny Wood

Community Restart Development Officer

Jonny Wood

Community Restart Development Officer

Jonny has worked in the VCSE sector as a development officer, volunteer co-ordinator and community worker for over two decades, much of that in the East of England but also in Yorkshire and the South. He comes to CAS with an ongoing commitment to developing, supporting and resourcing Men’s Sheds, working to reduce social isolation and improve health and wellbeing outcomes for (especially but not exclusively) older men. Jonny has also worked with community groups in both rural and urban settings, founded and co-ordinated a volunteer centre in North Norfolk and served as a Regional Development Officer for the national charity ‘Re-Engage’.

A former teacher, Jonny also maintains an active interest in trustee training & development, governance issues and charity law, and is currently a trustee with a lively charity supporting people with disabilities in Great Yarmouth. Away from work, Jonny is often to be found playing keyboards and singing in rock and soul bands in his local area.

Kareena Chapman

Buildings Manager

Kareena Chapman

Buildings Manager

Kareena Chapman is the manager of the Kirkley Centre. She started working for Waveney Community Forum as the finance administrator in 2009 just before they took over the management of the Kirkley Centre in 2010 (Waveney Community Forum was one of the charities that merged to become Community Action Suffolk in 2013). Once WCF took over the Kirkley Centre, Kareena extended her role to cover centre bookings and administration. She took over as manager of the centre in 2014.

There is a small team at The Kirkley Centre and Kareena covers all aspects of the running of the centre from taking bookings and reception duties to arranging lease and maintenance contracts for the centre. Kareena attends local networking events and works in partnership with other groups to bring community events to The Kirkley Centre.

Kerry Evans

Director of Finance

Kerry Evans

Director of Finance

Kerry is the Director of Finance and Company Secretary at Community Action Suffolk and is a qualified Certified Accountant. After qualifying, Kerry spent 15 years at Willis Group in Ipswich as a Financial Accountant and Pension Scheme Accountant. More recently Kerry has worked within the charity sector as Head of Finance at Ormiston Children and Families Trust and Free Schools Financial Accountant at The Seckford Foundation. Kerry is responsible for the finance function at Community Action Suffolk and the management of both Brightspace and the Kirkley Centre buildings.

Kevin Burke

Kirkley Centre Administrator

Kevin Burke

Kirkley Centre Administrator

Kevin Burke is the Kirkley Centre administrator, he joined us in 2015. Kevin takes bookings and customer enquiries both on the reception desk and over the telephone. He also helps with room set ups and general centre business.

Laura Butters

Head of VCSE Organisation Development

Laura Butters

Head of VCSE Organisation Development

Laura has been with Community Action Suffolk since 2019 when she joined to take up a newly created post of Head of Voluntary, Community, Social Enterprise Organisation Development. Laura leads a dynamic creative team delivering professional support, guidance and training to individuals and organisations across Suffolk.

Laura aspires to providing Suffolk’s VCSE sector with access to the best possible service in terms of quality of training, access to resources, funding opportunities and customer service from CAS. She recognises and values collaborative working to get the best results.

Laura previously worked for Suffolk County Council in the Early Years and Childcare team. She had multiple responsibilities including managing a team working with individual children, families, EYC providers, Schools and other partners. The diverse role ensured the sufficiency of childcare places across Suffolk enabling children to access their free entitlement and parents to work.

Lorna Hart (Dip CII)

Insurance Manager

Lorna Hart (Dip CII)

Insurance Manager

Lorna has worked for the organisation for 13 years and currently manages Business Services at CAS Ltd – a trading subsidiary of CAS which specialises in insurance solutions for the VCSE sector. Prior to joining CAS Lorna worked for a large commercial insurer for 13 years in a variety of roles including managing call centre teams, customer relations officer and national household insurance trainer.

Lorna’s current role includes developing and growing the insurance business by ensuring the team have the skills, resources and products to retain existing business and secure new customers. Lorna is also responsible for identifying new schemes and opportunities to maximise income generation and provide the main charity with a sustainable income stream.
An important part of Lorna’s role is ensuring Business Services at CAS Ltd is compliant with all FCA regulations, Insurance Law and insurer requirements.

Over the last 13 years Lorna has gained an in depth knowledge of the insurance needs of the VCSE sector, what solutions are available and how to support organisations to solve the issues they face on a day to day basis. Lorna and the insurance team are always happy to discuss any insurance queries or concerns an organisation may have.

Lorraine Light

Senior Community Enabler

Lorraine Light

Senior Community Enabler

Lorraine joined Community Action Suffolk in January 2020 as Senior Community Enabler with a special interest in the diverse coastal communities of Kessingland.

Previous experiences include working in local government encouraging communities to engage with the democratic process and enabling local residents to understand the process of how to become a local elected councilor. Lorraine has also worked with further education colleges and workplace educational advisors to create literacy and numeracy courses around job roles. For more than ten years she managed volunteers with a community radio station, co-ordinating training, outside broadcasts and fundraising events.

Her particular focus is the impact living in a deprived area has on life expectancy, health, educational attainment, employment prospects, social isolation, food inequality and childhood obesity.

Louise Bradshaw

Louise Bradshaw

HR Manager

Louise Bradshaw

HR Manager

Louise has over 14 years experience in working for the voluntary and community sector across a range of areas including business support, marketing, finance and administration. Louise is now the HR manager and data officer for Community Action Suffolk and also manages the DBS at CAS service.

Louise is a member of the CIPD and is responsible for all aspects of HR from recruitment, selection and induction through to employee casework and maintaining and development of policies and procedures. She also oversees the DBS at CAS service and is the lead countersignatory. She responsible for the compliance of the service and advises customers on complex eligibility queries as well as deal with new customers.

Louise has a degree in business which has led to a particular interest in business and organisation development, and enjoys creating and developing systems and procedures to better the organisation.

Louise Fairbrother

Financial Sustainability Officer

Louise Fairbrother

Financial Sustainability Officer

A Community Development Worker in the Sector for 12 years, supporting organisations and communities to thrive. With a keen interest in funding and development and a passion to create a financially sustainable & resilient Suffolk.

An insight into the funding mix available across the County with key contacts.

Specialist practical support & guidance on being fit and ready for funding

Identifying and exploring possible sources of untapped income & diversifying of current assets.

Developing a funding action plan

Training on ‘Crowdfunding for Success’ & ‘Strengthening your organisation through successful funding’

Funding & Development 1-1 opportunities

Toolkits, example templates, resources & best practice.

Maggie Rayson

Kirkley Community Enabler

Maggie Rayson

Kirkley Community Enabler

Maggie has been with Community Action Suffolk since January 2019 where she joined as the Community Enabler for the Kirkley Ward as part of the Lowestoft Community Capacity Project funded by Big Lottery Community Fund. Maggie is passionate about supporting the local community, individuals and groups to achieve their goals and to create resilient communities, to create a real sense aspiration and pride with a can-do attitude to projects and activities.

Previously, Maggie worked for Northamptonshire County Council as an Education Welfare Officer, supporting schools and families to improve children’s welfare and school attendance. As part of this role she worked with a multicultural community to help create cohesive and inclusive neighbourhoods.

Maggie is particularly interested in supporting groups who are addressing social isolation and loneliness in all ages and promoting resilient communities by promoting positive mental health and dementia friendly communities.

Matthew Grafton

Kirkley People’s Forum Community Development Worker

Matthew Grafton

Kirkley People’s Forum Community Development Worker

Matt has been with Community Action Suffolk since 2015 where he volunteered with the Kirkley Centre team. In 2017 he started the role of Community Development Worker to support the Kirkley People’s Forum delivering the Local Conversation Programme in the Kirkley ward funded by the People’s Health Trust.

Previously he was employed by a local charity which provided support to young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and other learning difficulties teaching skills to overcome the obstacles they experience to gain employment.

Matt is passionate about helping people to improve their lives and meeting their full potential either as an individual, in the workplace or in the community.

Matthew Morling

Matthew Morling

ICT Manager

Matthew Morling

ICT Manager

Matthew is the IT Manager at CAS and has over 18 years experience in the IT industry – 15 of which has been at CAS.

Previous to CAS Matthew worked in a variety of roles in private business focussing on IT Support and website development.

At CAS, Matthew’s role is to provide leadership and management of all of CAS’s internal IT systems, providing day to day IT Support of these but also to head up its subsidiary company IT Services at CAS Ltd, which provides a suite of IT products for the voluntary and community sector. IT Services at CAS Ltd is an income generator for the organisation and this plays it’s part in helping CAS become more self sustainable. Matthew has a real passion for how digital technologies can help all types of organisations become more efficient.

Natalie Lomas

Resources Officer

Natalie Lomas

Resources Officer

Natalie has been with Community Action Suffolk and Suffolk ACRE previously, since 1998. Throughout her time she has worked on various projects and services across the organisation. Currently working in the role of Resources Officer, Natalie is involved with research and mapping for CAS and the VCSE sector, CAS network development, CRM reporting and impact measurement along with supervision of building maintenance for our Brightspace site in Ipswich.

Nicky Russell

Buddy Up Co-ordinator

Nicky Russell

Buddy Up Co-ordinator

Nicky joined CAS in 2018 to work on a project ‘This Community Can’ which, backed by Sport England, aims to tackle rural isolation across Suffolk with volunteer-led activities. Those involved range from toddlers enjoying family fitness to elderly people gardening together. The groups are very different but alike in that they all provide opportunities for activity and for socializing in a warm, welcoming and inclusive setting.

Previously; Nicky ran group sessions and workshops for adults with learning disabilities and is passionate about community inclusion for people who are often marginalized. Nicky is experienced in managing an effective team of volunteers and actively volunteers in her spare time as a driver for Re-Engage and as a dog-walker for the Cinnamon Trust.

Peter Cross smiling

Peter Cross

Insurance Officer

Peter Cross

Insurance Officer

Peter joined CAS in January 2021 as a member of the Insurance Team. He has worked in various underwriting, business analysis and compliance roles within the UK General Insurance industry for over 30 years.

Prior to joining CAS, he worked as a consultant bringing his experience in underwriting, product development and tailoring insurance solutions to the customer bases of a diverse range of companies and organisations. Often his work was in support of transformation programmes for clients in the banking and financial services sector.

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Ros Collings

Insurance Officer

Ros Collings

Insurance Officer

Ros is part of the Insurance Team operating insurance schemes for Parish Councils and Village Halls. Ros has worked for CAS for 5 years to provide an essential revenue stream for the charity.

Ros has a background in Personal Lines Household and Motor Insurance working for a large insurance company for 22 years as a senior household underwriter.

Sabrina Ward

Business Support Officer

Sabrina Ward

Business Support Officer

Sabrina has been a business adviser since 2005, originally working for Business Link in Devon and specialising in Training and Development, before growing into a generalist role. After taking some time out to grow her family, Sabrina returned to Suffolk and worked for Suffolk Constabulary in a management role, working on their appraisal process. Moving to MENTA a few years later, returning to business advice and delivering the Start Right programme, Sabrina enjoyed helping individuals to start their business on the right foot. Sabrina has been with CAS for almost 3 years now and loves to help VCSE’s to run and grow and prosper. Delivering the Specialist Business Support service enables Sabrina to mentor Managers and Leaders, and in many cases develop business plans to move projects forward on the right foot. Sabrina also delivers a range of business courses.

Sally Connick

Head of Community and Voluntary Action

Sally Connick

Head of Community and Voluntary Action

Sally has been with Community Action Suffolk since 2017 when she joined as the Good Neighbour Scheme Development Officer. In 2019 she started in role as Head of Community and Voluntary Action overseeing the Communities and Volunteering team. Sally is proud to be leading team of experienced and skilled officers who are committed to making Suffolk communities great places to live and where volunteering is a valued and supported activity.

Previously Sally spent 14 years working in supported housing for young people and before that spent over 6 years working within the field of Mental Health.

Sally has a particular interest in projects that stimulate community cohesion at grass roots level especially as a way to tackle loneliness and isolation.

Sarah Lomasney

Social Investment Partnership Coordinator

Sarah Lomasney

Social Investment Partnership Coordinator

Sarah has over 20 years experience working in charities at both local and national level beginning as a volunteer advocate for Mind in Manchester whilst studying in the city. More recently Sarah has undertaken a variety of roles focussing on best practice in monitoring and evaluation and financial sustainability. At Community Action Suffolk, Sarah is the Social Investment Officer promoting social finance as an option for sustainability of voluntary and community organisations. Sarah delivers training on how organisations can ensure that they are demonstrating the good work of their organisations by measuring social impact.

Sarah Mortimer

Senior Manager Community Engagement

Sarah Mortimer

Senior Manager Community Engagement

Sarah leads on Community Action Suffolk’s community development projects and currently oversees the Local Conversations projects in Haverhill South and Kirkley as well as Rural Housing and community engagement/consultation. Sarah has 15 years experience of working in the Voluntary and Community sector across many areas including grassroots community development, building capacity within communities and empowering them to make positive changes. Other areas of experience include rural issues, rural and community transport and grant management.

Through her professional work, Sarah has been inspired to use her wide range of skills to volunteer in her own community as well as being a school governor.

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Sunila Osborne

Community Development Officer – Rural Affordable Housing

Sunila Osborne

Community Development Officer – Rural Affordable Housing

Sunila has been with Community Action Suffolk since 2007 when she joined as a Community Development Officer working with East Suffolk Parishes to undertake Parish Plans. In 2009 she started in her role as the Rural Housing Enabler, working with all Suffolk rural parishes, communities, Local Authorities, Housing Associations to establish need for local housing and bringing housing developments forward and to remain in perpetuity.

Previously Sunila spent 18 years with Suffolk Constabulary and Suffolk Fire & Rescue as an Emergency Planning Officer.
Sunila is very passionate about supporting these groups, in particular supporting communities to grow and continue to live in parts of Suffolk that they love. Also allowing for these communities to continue being sustainable for future generations.

Tom Hay

Kirkley Centre Supervisor

Tom Hay

Kirkley Centre Supervisor

Tom Hay is the building supervisor at the Kirkley Centre. He began working for Community Action Suffolk in August 2021, having previously had a career in the theatre industry.

The role requires looking after the bookable rooms and the people in them, maintaining the general upkeep of the building and looking after the volunteers, to name but a few of the tasks this kind of role can require.

Tom is also a freelance historian in his free time and has completed work as varied as a full report on the Second Punic War, to finding the oldest fish and chip shop in the country. Tom is looking forward to getting to know the organisation and its people more over the coming months and is happy for anyone to get in touch to discuss anything about the building or organisation