Emma Monkman Emma Monkman - Trustee Expand Emma joined the RAD Board in March 2017. She runs her own motorbike instruction company based in Derby and had heard about RAD through the work of our Wheels to Work project. She is also a mature student studying a Masters in Environmental Politics and Climate Change and is very much hoping to continue on to a PhD. Another significant part of her life is her 4 rescue Dalmatians, aged from 6 months to 13 years. As well as having a driving licence for a car and motorbike, Emma also has a licence for a mini-bus, bus and HGV. In the air she has a private pilots licence for fixed wing, rotary and sea-plane. She has been an active volunteer for a number of charities, most recently British Red Cross, for over 15 years.
Grahame Gilbert Grahame Gilbert - Trustee and Company Secretary Expand Grahame is a Chartered Accountant and is RAD's longest serving Trustee having first joined RAD (or DRCC as it was then) in the mid 1990's. He was involved in the transfer of the charity into a limited liability company and was one of the founding Directors of the company that became incorporated on 18th February 1997. Grahame is the Company Secretary and his expertise is hugely beneficial to RAD. He is a busy man, at work and at play. He has acted and continues to act for a significant number of clients that live and/or work in rural communities - hence the initial and continuing interest and empathy with the activities and aims of RAD. He is always very busy at year end and deadline time for tax returns - so we have to plan the dates of our Board meetings carefully. At play, Grahame has two retired racing greyhounds who ensure he remains active, but as they are sprinters they invariably get tired before Grahame! He has also been a very keen sportsman, although these days participation is generally confined to golf (when time and weather permit) and scuba diving, somewhere far flung and warm (the Maldives is his favourite).
John Haynes John Haynes - Trustee and Treasurer Expand John joined the RAD Board in July 2008 and has been Treasurer since December 2013. He worked as a senior manager in the NHS for over 30 years. John has been involved in the voluntary sector in Derbyshire for over 20 years. He is currently on the Board of South Derbyshire CVS and a member of the Grants Committee of Foundation Derbyshire. He is also active in a number of organisations in his village, Cromford. When not otherwise engaged, he plays bridge quite a lot! John is very generous with his time, attending meetings and working with our Finance Manager to help make sure RAD complies with relevant legislation and regulations relating to our accounts.
Julie Hirst Julie Hirst - Trustee Expand Julie joined the RAD Board in July 2008 having previously been a trustee of Bakewell and Eyam Community Transport and High Peak Citizens Advice Bureau. Her ‘day’ job is public health, working for the NHS for 24 years before transferring to Derbyshire County Council in 2013. Julie’s work focuses on addressing the social factors that impact on people’s health, such as poverty, poor housing and access to services for rural residents. In this role Julie has worked with local GPs and Citizens Advice to place regular Citizens Advice sessions in 99 GP surgeries in Derbyshire. She is also involved in the Feeding Derbyshire programme which aims to direct surplus food to families struggling to make ends meet. Julie’s other paid role is a Tutor with the Open University, teaching Public Health to undergraduate students. In her spare time she keeps on running (more slowly these days) and is working with other volunteers to establish a Parkrun in Bakewell.
Michael Stanton Michael Stanton - Trustee Expand Michael joined the RAD Board in August 2007. He is a District Councillor for South Derbyshire representing the ward of Repton. He has plenty of 'rural' credentials running a farm near Ticknall and his daughter runs an equestrian centre. Michael is also a Director and Trustee of the Derby & Sandiacre Canal Trust.
Richard Walsh Richard Walsh - Trustee Expand Richard has been a Trustee of RAD since December 2014 when he was elected on a very snowy day in Buxton at our AGM. Richard is a member of our Oil Buying Scheme and worked on the development of the scheme to its current 'online' status. He started his career as a chemist and bacteriologist in the water industry before moving into lecturing about 10 years ago. He is currently a lecturer at the University of Derby teaching Business. He as also taught Chemistry and Health Studies at the University - very adaptable. Richard is interested in railways, obviously still a kid at heart, and he is a Director of a company that hires out railway locomotives. He lives in Homesford near Whatstandwell and is a Parish Councillor on Crich Parish Council, along with our Chair Valerie Broom who lives in Crich.
Samantha Beastall Samantha Beastall - Trustee Expand Sam is RAD's most recent trustee appointment having joined the Board in July 2017. One of our staff team, Joe Dugdale, suggested that she might like to become a RAD trustee as a result of working with her as part of Wessington Neighbourhood Development Group. She works for a consultancy and her Director is an author. She's the first point of contact for the business as Office Manager and with a global client base there is never a dull moment. Sam is a Parish Councillor and Chair of Wessington Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. As well as her busying life in the office she also has a small livery yard and two of her own horses. Any spare time she has is spent walking Diesel, her Rhodesian Ridgeback and holidaying in Scotland with her husband. As much as she loves Derbyshire, they are hoping to move to Scotland one day. No doubt they will then spend their holidays in Derbyshire!
Simon Taylor Simon Taylor - Trustee and Vice Chair Expand Simon joined the RAD Board in June 2014. He has a varied background in manufacturing, mining and building materials in four different countries, but is now settled in north Derbyshire with his family. He confesses that becoming a Trustee of a rural charity he felt like a fish out of water, having had a suburban childhood and city-based working life until his mid-40s. This hasn't stopped him embracing the rurality of Derbyshire so that outside work Simon is most likely found clad in some man-made fibre cycling and running (up hill and down dale) and swimming in any pool, river, lake or sea he can find (not much sea in Derbyshire however). Simon brings a great deal of business experience to the RAD Board table. He was elected Vice-Chair in 2016 and has been involved in helping to shape the oil buying scheme and work with staff and other trustees with strategic and sustainable planning ideas. He says, "I am very pleased to have the chance to support the RAD team to tackle rural disadvantage throughout Derbyshire." Simon is also a trustee of the charity Home Start (High Peak).
Sue Douglas Sue Douglas - Trustee Expand Sue joined the RAD Board in June 2014, but this was not the first time she had been involved with RAD. Having worked for Derbyshire County Council for a number of years she liaised with RAD staff as far back as the 1990's and became a Hallmark Assessor in 2012, visiting Village Halls and Community Buildings throughout Derbyshire to assess their compliance with the quality standards. Sue obviously enjoyed university life gaining a Geography degree from the University of Manchester followed by an Urban Design and Regional Planning degree from the University of Edinburgh. As a qualified as a Town Planner she worked for local authority Planning Services in Derbyshire and was a volunteer for Planning Aid East Midlands. Her working life has focussed on economic development, rural regeneration, funding and grant applications and project management - a wealth of skills and experience she is now using for the benefit of RAD. Amateur music making is a passion, she plays the violin and viola in local orchestras and quartets with friends and is Secretary to the British Viola Society. Sue has also been the RAD representative on the Derbyshire Environmental Trust since February 2016.
Valerie Broom - Chair Chair of Rural Action Derbyshire. Expand Valerie has been a Trustee since March 2008 and took over from Mike Crompton as Chair in October 2014. Valerie says, "Personally, being a trustee is very rewarding, largely because of the people involved with RAD. The staff are committed, enthusiastic and compassionate and do excellent work to support Derbyshire people from all walks of life." With most of her professional life spent working in trade unions, Valerie is committed to helping people and fighting for what she believes is right.She is keen to address rural disadvantage and do what she can to help make a difference. She is a Parish Councillor for Crich and also sits on the Board of the Derbyshire Health Trust. She lives in Crich with her husband and 2 cats and enjoys travelling (she's always on holiday!) and yoga.