MEET THE TRUSTEES

  • Sylvia Watson

    CHAIR OF TRUSTEES

  • Fiona Wheeler

    OBE ACIL

    "I am a former career civil servant, having held many policy posts across 42 years within the Home Office, the Department of Health and the Department for Education. I am a former Woodford primary school governor with responsibility for literacy. I was a Trustee at Bookstart, and am an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. I was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2010 in recognition of my work supporting children and families.”

  • David Jacob

    CHAIR OF THE HEALTH & SAFETY SUB-COMMITTEE

    My name is David Jacob. I have been a trustee since 8 June 2018. After leaving school I became an apprentice typesetter. I qualified in 1969. I retrained in the 1970’s to be a teacher. I spent all of my career in North-East London and Essex.

    After working at Roding Valley High School in Loughton, I retired whilst working at the Children’s Support Service in Harlow.

    I taught a range of subjects, mostly at Secondary level. Latterly I specialised in disadvantaged children and those with Special Educational Needs.

    I am married with two grown up daughters and four grandchildren. I have lived in Buckhurst Hill since 1979.

  • June Chapman

    CHAIR OF THE FUNDRAISING SUB-COMMITTEE

    Born in East Ham as the only child and 5th generation of small family sawdust merchants, June left school at 16. She married Brian at 21 and with two daughters they lived in Cardiff for 6 years where June studied as a mature student with the Open University, Cardiff University and later at University College London (UCL). June volunteered for Chelmsford Citizens Advice in 1986 and currently leads the St Albans Citizens Advice. She taught law at UCL, Governance for Essex County Council and has volunteered as a school governor and lay visitor to police station detainees.

  • Allan Mabert

    TRUSTEE

    I had 40 years of unbroken service in local government, adult education and as a senior manager in the charity sector. I served as a magistrate for 13 years in North East London borough courts. I have been an active member of access and inclusive design groups for major London stadiums and museums. I was proud to represent Great Britain at European and Paralympic level during the late 1970’s.

  • Bernard Mooney

    TRUSTEE

  • Olivia Lowe

    TRUSTEE

  • Satwant Singh

    TRUSTEE

Join the Board of Trustees 

Bedford House currently occasionally has Trustee vacancies (volunteer). Bedford House is in an exciting phase of its existence and has ambitions of growth and development. If you would like to help the board making strategic decisions and plans for financial sustainability, please email the CEO expressing your interest in having an informal discussion with the Chair of the Board of Trustees.

As a starting point you may also find the below link to REACH, the role description and other documents helpful in considering if trusteeship is for you.

Lykke Leszczynski, CEO ceo@bedfordhouse.org

What is a trustee? By REACH Volunteering https://reachvolunteering.org.uk/guide/become-trustee 

“Trustees ensure their charity has a clear strategy, and that its work and goals are in line with its vision.  A trustee’s role in a charity is to be the ‘guardians of purpose’, making sure that all decisions put the needs of the beneficiaries first.

Trustees safeguard the charity’s assets – both physical assets, including property, and intangible ones, such as reputation.  They make sure these are used well and that the charity is run sustainably."