The Road Ahead: 2025

Tim Kidd OBE hosted the Keynote Address.

Tim gave an inspiring, insightful and engaging keynote address by Tim Kidd OBE, former UK Chief Commissioner for The Scout Association. Tim shared how The Scouting Association makes use of data for effective volunteer management and especially of compliance to mandatory training across Scouting's 140,000 volunteers.

Tim has been involved in volunteering in the Scouts for over 40 years, he was the UK Chief Commissioner for the Scouts (the lead volunteer in the UK) for five years and has held many other national appointments including responsibility for the processes and support for volunteers. Latterly he has been focussed on the use of data to help effective volunteer management especially of compliance to mandatory training across Scouting's 150,000 volunteers. Professionally, Tim has worked in computing where he was an executive director for a large charity that provides very large/high capacity networking resources to research and tertiary education. 

Tim's talk covered  how the Scouts greatly improved mandatory learning compliance (starting during the pandemic), the use of data alongside the personal touch and changes that are coming into place for more sustainable volunteering in Scouts across the UK. He reflected on lessons learned.

Jyoti hosted the Impact Measurement 101 workshop.

Jyoti Bhojani is Policy Manager for Health and Wellbeing at Hertsmere Borough Council. She has over 10 years’ experience of working in local government both in London and Hertfordshire. She has led on the delivery of key health and wellbeing initiatives to support the Hertsmere residents through challenges of the last 5 years, which has given her an understanding of how to make projects impactful.

Jyoti also has experience of working in Westminster and in the voluntary sector to support underrepresented communities.

Hertsmere Borough Council

Chris Cloke hosted the Volunteer Safety, Wellbeing & Self-Care workshop with Sarah Yexley.

Chris joined the Communities 1st Board of Trustees in autumn 2019.  He has a career in the charitable sector, having worked for the Runnymede Trust, London Voluntary Service Council, Task Force, and Age Concern England. He was a vice president of the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association, and until recently the independent chair of the Guildford Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel. He is a volunteer with the National Trust at Shaw’s Corner, near Wheathampsted as is slightly crazy about all things Shavian.  During the 25 years he worked at the NSPCC he had a number of responsibilities but focusing on influencing policy, public education, and developing awareness. As Head of Safeguarding in Communities, he became aware of the importance of building and supporting communities. It was this that attracted him to Communities 1st.

Ann Rogers hosted the Volunteering and the Power of Personal Stories workshop with Irina Pirtac .

Ann joined the Communities 1st Trustee Board in 2019. She has a background in IT and business process consultancy in Hospitality, Leisure and retail organisations. Following retirement in 2017, she wanted to support a local charity and was attracted to Communities 1st because it is such a practical organisation and aims to help the charity sector work together to create thriving communities. Ann lives in St Albans, is volunteer with Communities 1st, and enjoys opportunities to walk and cycle in the surrounding countryside.

Sue Pearlman hosted the Trends and Challenges in Charities Governance workshop and the Reflecting on Impact: Celebrating Your Contribution workshop 

Sue has worked in the charity sector for over 30 years. She is a former charity CEO and since 2004, has been a consultant to charities, advising boards of trustees and senior management of charities of all sizes. She is passionate about good governance and understands the challenges for both trustees and their staff. She mentors charity CEOs and is also a trustee of a new charity, Wellspring. She is an associate with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the Lloyds Bank Foundation and Hertfordshire Community Foundation where she is the Lead Trainer on Governance. She was formerly a Chair of the predecessor of Communities 1st, Community Action Hertsmere, and is delighted to be part of Communities 1st. She relaxes by singing in a choir, watching ballet, and being with her grandchildren in the UK and Spain.

Chloe Parker hosted the How do you get the best out of AI and tech workshop with Janinah Mckenzie Knowland 

Chloe Parker from Core Insights has worked alongside charities and their data for over 10 years. She has worked with a wide range of charities to help improve the way that data is collected, stored and reported on. Chloe has supported many charities to find solutions to their digital needs. She is passionate about demystifying data and has years of experience facilitating workshops to draw out requirements from a diverse range of charity teams.

Core Insights

Duncan Lewis hosted the Building Partnerships for Sustainable Change workshop.

Duncan joined St Alban’s based homelessness charity Emmaus Hertfordshire as CEO in May 2021. Emmaus Hertfordshire provides up to 39 people who have experienced homelessness with a home for as long as they need it, tailored support, companionship and work opportunities. He is also Chair of the South East region of Emmaus in the UK and sits on the boards of Emmaus Europe and Emmaus International, helping to oversee the work of more than 450 communities in 45 countries.

Prior to that he was Marketing and Fundraising Director at the youth sports development charity, the Lord’s Taverners for just under five years.

He spent two spells working at Commonwealth Games England, heading up marketing, commercial and fundraising activity for Team England at the Glasgow 2014 and Delhi 2010 Games. In between he also spent two years as Group Marketing and Development Director of Age UK.

Duncan was Group Marketing Director at FTSE 100 property developer Land Securities between 2006 and 2009.

He held a variety of senior marketing and operational roles at Barclays from 1999 to 2006 and his early career was spent in the travel industry at retail chain AT Mays, RCI Europe and Thomson Travel.

Emmaus 

Irina Pirtac hosted the Volunteering and the Power of Personal Stories workshop with Ann Rogers.

Romanian born Irina holds a degree in Economics and a Masters in Business Administration. She came to the UK in 2004, and began her career following a temporary job in lighting. She now works as a lighting designer for a British manufacturer. Throughout the years, Irina has sought to improve her knowledge in her field whilst keeping a balance with personal fulfilment. She feels  fortunate that she has met people in her personal and professional path that shaped her values and principles. Irina began volunteering with Communities 1st in 2019, first through the food programme and then expanding to the job advice programme and befriending roles. She has recently taken more work commitments and that keeps her away from personal fulfilments wishes, but she hopes to restore the balance soon.

Janinah Mckenzie Knowland hosted the How do you get the best out of AI and tech workshop with Chloe Parker.

Janinah has been delivering contracts for public, private and third sector clients across the UK since 2015. She has extensive experience in designing and delivering impact and process evaluations, developing evaluation reports, conducting qualitative and quantitative research, and reporting on the impact of projects and programmes. Her experience also extends to working as an associate consultant on behalf of multiple founders, funders and trusts, including Big Issue Invest, Birmingham UKSPF (UK Shared Prosperity Fund), Power to Change, and Lloyds Bank Foundation.

June Chapman hosted the Resilience & Overcoming Challenges workshop.

June has volunteered and worked for various local Citizens Advice services intermittently for 40 years specializing latterly in volunteer development. Seeing the impact of law on ordinary people’s lives led her to study and then teach law at University College London where she set up and ran a Law Clinic for undergraduates to give free legal advice. She has volunteered as a school governor, lay visitor to police station detainees and currently as a trustee for a community arts & crafts charity. She joined Citizens Advice St Albans District in 2015 and has led their expansion from helping 6,000 to 10,000 local residents per year.

David Harrison hosted the Discovering Your Volunteer Journey workshop with Julie Yorston .

David is a retired Mechanical Engineer who enjoys outdoor activities with friends, cycle touring, walking, swimming and of course volunteering through Communities 1st. His working career was in manufacturing, 25 years of which was as Technical Director for an international company making cinema screens.

Gez Dunne hosted the Personal Skill Building for Effective Volunteering workshop with Debbie Charles

A curious mind, a lived path and a voice that doesn't play by the rulebook - meet Gez. If you're expecting business as usual, think again! Towards the end of last year, Gez participated in Communities 1st's "A New You" course, designed to help participants improve their social and communication skills. Having found the course so helpful, Gez was approached by the Training Team and agreed to volunteer and help deliver subsequent courses. His confidence has grown significantly and he is extending his volunteering portfolio by developing himself as a digital champion for Clarion Housing.

Sarah Yexley hosted the Volunteer Safety, Wellbeing & Self-Care workshop with Chris Cloke.

Raised in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, Sarah has lived in St Albans since the early 1990s. She has been a trustee at Communities 1st since its inception having formerly been a trustee of Community Central St Albans. Sarah was also a trustee for St Albans Citizens Advice for many years, as well as volunteering at the National Trust estate at Ashridge. Her working life was spent in a number of organisations, and then latterly, as an Interim specialising in HR – having had a number of ‘operational‘ roles in her early career. Outside of the work environment, Sarah lives with husband Mark and cocker spaniels, Buster& Dotty; enjoying many outdoor activities such as walking, skiing, and spending time on their narrow boat, and Suffolk.

Emma Price hosted the Storytelling as a Fundraising Tool workshop.

Emma is a writer, producer, interviewer and storytelling specialist with 16 years' experience. Her work centres the rights and voices of people affected by injustice and her stories have led campaigns, media coverage, films and exhibitions. Emma has produced and overseen hundreds of engagement and fundraising stories and developed consent and ethical storytelling processes for clients including Save the Children, Global Witness, The Health Foundation and Comic Relief. She loves bringing her experience to projects that change attitudes and inspire action – and helping organisations be more ethical, creative and efficient with their content. What Good Stories, Emma's free monthly newsletter, is packed with storytelling inspiration, tips and resources for people in charity communications. Visit storiesbyemma.substack.com to sign up.