Organisation

Chief Executive: Ann Chalmers LLB ACA MBACP

Ann has worked with the charity since 1996 and became its Chief Executive in 2003. She holds a BACP Accredited Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling and a University Accredited Diploma in Bereavement Counselling, and has been involved in multi-disciplinary training of professionals in the area of loss and bereavement for over fifteen years. Ann has extensive experience of running groups for bereaved parents and providing support to families when a baby or child dies, and when children are bereaved. From 1995-2006 she was part of the Bereavement Care Team at Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust where her work involved counselling for both individuals and couples.  She has also provided counselling for staff within the NHS and for children and young people within the voluntary sector. 

Founder: Jenni Thomas OBE

Jenni Thomas OBE, DUniv[BNU] worked in the NHS from 1963-2008, initially in nursing and from 1985 as a bereavement counsellor, where she supported families when a baby or child was dying or had died, and where children had been bereaved. Her commitment to listening to what families said they valued when experiencing bereavement has been at the forefront of all her work. Jenni had the vision to take this forward and founded the charity (then The Child Bereavement Trust) in 1994 where she was Director and later Chief Executive until 2003. She retired in 2008 and continued in her non-executive honorary role as President until July 2009. Jenni has received many awards for her work in the NHS and the charity, including being joint winner of the inaugural Nye Bevan Award for Lifetime Achievement which was presented to her in July 2000 by Tony Blair.  

Founder Patron: Julia Samuel MBACP (Snr Accredited) UKCP Registered Psychotherapist
Maternity and Paediatric Counsellor, St Mary's NHS Trust

Royal Patron: HRH Prince William of Wales

Honorary President: Countess Mountbatten of Burma CBE CD JP DL

Trustees

Mr Vic Robinson FRCOG (Chair)
Consultant Obstetrician
Since qualifying at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington in 1968 Vic has spent a career in Obstetrics & Gynaecology where he also gained experience in Group Analytic Psychotherapy and Bereavement Counselling, subsequently running small groups for parents whose babies were in Neonatal Intensive Care and later providing a domiciliary service for those who had experienced loss through miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or stillbirth. He also trained as a Facilitator in Advanced Communications Skills for Doctors working in Cancer and since retiring from Hillingdon Hospital as Medical Director, has been able to devote more time to the new role of Chairman of Trustees at the Charity.

David Backhouse MA FCA Chartered FCIPD
Head of Learning and Development, Thames Valley Police
David leads the learning and development for Thames Valley Police, which is one of the largest forces in the country with over 8,000 officers and staff. His aim is to ensure that the Police have the skills to carry out the wide range of duties required. Previously David was a director with PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consultants. David has been a trustee from the foundation of the Charity and currently works on the remuneration and risk management sub-committees.  

Camilla Geffen BA ACII CIB
Camilla has worked for insurance broker Willis Limited for many years both as a broker and as an Operations Director. She now heads up compliance for the Energy, Financial and Executive Risk Divisions. She is married and lives in London with her two sons. Her eldest son Edward died aged 8, so she has experienced at first hand the importance of supportive care following the death of a child. Camilla became a Trustee of the Charity in February 2009.  

Sue Hope
Sue joined CBC as a trustee at the beginning of 2006. She has worked in the retail sector in Buying and Marketing for 20 years and has wide experience of working with companies of all sizes in the private sector. Sue lives near to West Wycombe and has been interested in the work of CBC for some years. She hopes to bring her wide marketing experience to CBC to help the Charity become better known and to promote the valuable work it does. Sue is married and mother to twin girls.

Dr Su Laurent
Consultant Paediatrician, Barnet Hospital
Su has been a consultant paediatrician at Barnet Hospital since 1993 and looks after children of all ages from preterm babies on the neonatal unit to teenagers of 18+. Su is responsible for training large numbers of junior doctors and medical students and is particularly interested in teaching all hospital professionals how to provide good bereavement support for families. Su is a mother of three.

Dr Bryn Neal MB BS FRCGP
GP Principal
Bryn has been a GP Principal in Amersham, Buckinghamshire for 28 years. He has been a GP Trainer for most of that time and was a CPD Tutor for the High Wycombe District for over 10 years. In the latter capacity, he was involved in numerous projects supporting individuals' and Primary Care Team development. Bryn has been involved with the Child Bereavement Charity as a Trustee since its foundation and is very keen to support improved communication skills for all members of the Primary Health Care Team providing high quality care for families, especially in the area of bereavement.

Julia Samuel MBACP (Snr Accredited) UKCP Registered Psychotherapist
Maternity and Paediatric Counsellor, St Mary's NHS Trust
Julia Samuel is Counsellor for Paediatrics and Maternity at St Mary's Paddington, where her role involves seeing families who have children or babies who die, and training and supporting the staff. She also has a private practice where she sees families and individuals on a wide variety of issues.  She worked to help establish and launch the Child Bereavement Charity (formerly The Child Bereavement Trust), and as Founder Patron continues to be very active in many aspects of the Charity's work.  Julia has been a Primary Tutor at Metanoia Institute for 9 years, training adults on a BA course in counselling. She is also Honorary Fellow at Imperial College, London and is a member of the London End of Life Care Pathway group.

Mark Seldon FCA (Treasurer and Company Secretary)
Chartered Accountant
Mark qualified as a chartered accountant in 1968 in Birmingham and then spent two years in Dallas Texas before returning to London.  He then spent five years in industry followed by 10 years in commercial property, including acting as financial controller and Company Secretary for Wates City of London Properties plc and finance director of Arundell House Securities Limited.  Since 1991, Mark has provided independent financial management support to small and medium sized businesses in a variety of different fields, including the charitable sector, the travel industry and both retail and manufacturing sectors.  Mark has been involved with CBC since its birth in 1994 and has professionally worked with the Charity since that time, becoming a Trustee in 2002.

Patrons

Lady Lucinda Dashwood
Lady Dashwood was delighted to welcome CBC to West Wycombe. The Snowdrop Walks and other events held in the beautiful West Wycombe Park have been a great success and she looks forward to supporting them for many years to come.

 

Alexander Dickinson
Alexander has been a supporter of CBC since the death of his elder son George in April 2000. Having raised the finance in 2001 for CBC to establish a bereavement support post in his native North East of England, Alexander is now working with the law firm Dickinson Dees, of which he is a partner, to increase the number of donations made to CBC through bequests by Will. Dickinson Dees have prepared a "Guide to Giving by Will" for CBC, including a draft clause for making a charitable gift to the Charity. This guide is available from CBC in the "ways to give" section of 'Support the Charity' above. 

Will Greenwood MBE
Will was inspired to become patron of CBC after the emotional care he received following the death of his first son Freddie. "Being in the winning World Cup team has given me a higher public profile. This is a privilege, and it would be a great waste not to do more to speak up for others. It also gives Freddie's short life more positive meaning."

 

Photo courtesy of Action Images Plc.

 

Nigel Havers
Nigel has long been a supporter of CBC, regularly playing the full course on our Golf Days organised by Sandy Bosher and Pattie Horrocks.  We are delighted that he has agreed to formally support our work as a Patron.

 

Patricia Hodge
Patricia Hodge is an actress whose career spans over thirty years of continual involvement in all aspects of the media. She has been nominated for six major awards, and won an Olivier Award 2000 for her work at the National Theatre.

 

Flappy Lane Fox
Flappy has worked incredibly hard to raise funds for CBC, through her memorable Carol Concert in 2001 and many other events including The Private House Polo Challenge and The Mitsubishi Badminton Horse Trials in 2005. Flappy's son, Harry Sidebottom, died when he was just 24. She has a particular interest in making sure children and young adults are helped.

 

Antony Worrall Thompson
Having cooked up a storm for CBC at Jill Poll's summer balls in Henley over many years, Antony has kindly agreed to join us as a Patron. Antony was very generous in nominating CBC on the two occasions he has won 'The Weakest Link', and continues to support the Charity's work in many ways. www.awtrestaurants.com

 

 

 

Louise and Paul Woodbridge
Louise and Paul Woodbridge became involved with CBC following the tragic death of their beloved two year old twins Betsy and William in September 2004. They became patrons in 2006 and have continuously supported the Charity in numerous ways, including organising a St George's Day Clay Pigeon Shoot which raised over £47,000 in its first year. They are currently working on the development of a new rose to be named "Precious Love" in memory of Betsy and William, which will be launched in 2010.  Louise and Paul have also shared their experience at a CBC seminar on the subject of bereavement by sudden death to help all the agencies involved to understand what is important from the family's perspective.

Jill Poll
Jill Poll, Managing Director of Polystat Limited, has been involved with the Charity since it was founded in 1994, when she spoke at a bereavement workshop about the death of her baby daughter Ellen. When Ellen died, there was no support offered to the family, which is why Jill felt so strongly about supporting CBC. She and her family, including husband Howard, Ellen's twin brother Sam and sisters Lorna and Louise, have supported the Charity in numerous ways including organising hugely successful balls in Henley with the help of her awesome organising committee, "The Party Bags". These balls have funded many CBC initiatives including Ellen Poll Bursary places on a Diploma in Bereavement Counselling, the production of the CBC book Farewell my Child and the Charity's Family Bereavement Support Service.

Mary Berry
Mary Berry is one of Britain's best known and best loved cookery writers and broadcasters. She has published over 60 cookery books, including Mary Berry at Home, Ultimate Cakes and The AGA Book, and has hosted several TV series for BBC and Thames Television.  Mary has supported Child Bereavement Charity fundraising events over the years and has recently raised money for us on BBC2's Celebrity Cash in the Attic.  Mary has a personal affinity with the Charity, having lost her son William in 1989 at the age of 19. 
"When William died, there was little support available for bereaved families. Through my links with the Child Bereavement Charity, I have met families who have received and benefited from their services. I think it's a wonderful charity and I am delighted to become its Patron."

Mike Clare
Mike Clare was born in Beaconsfield and at the age of 30 opened a small bed shop in Hillingdon called Dreams.  After 20 years of hard work, Dreams had grown into a national chain of nearly 200 superstores, of which Mike is now non-exec President. He is married to Carol and they have 4 children.

Mike is no stranger to bereavement, having lost his father at age 12, which had a great impact on his young life.  Then in 1999 Mike sadly lost his elder (and only) brother, who left behind a wife and two young children.  The impact of seeing his nephew and niece grieving and coming to terms with their loss at a very similar age to when Mike and his brother lost their father, brought home many memories and deep emotions.

Mike has been a long-standing supporter of the Child Bereavement Charity and  generously hosted a fundraising event at his home in summer 2009.  We are delighted to welcome Mike as Patron of the Child Bereavement Charity.

Sir Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson began his career as a journalist on local papers and ended up as a features writer for the Daily Express and Manchester Guardian.  His first foray into television came when he joined Granada Television before moving to the BBC to join the 24 hours team.  His talk show Parkinson was launched in 1971 and ran until 1982.  He has also had a successful career on radio.  In 1996 Michael launched a Sunday morning show on Radio 2 - which ran for 12 years.  He has won numerous awards and in 1998 was separately honoured for his work in journalism, radio and television.  The same year saw a new series of Parkinson start on BBC 1 lasting until 2003 and winning many awards including a BAFTA in 1999.  In 2003 he successfully transferred Parkinson to ITV until his retirement from the show in 2007. Parkinson was voted in the top ten in a British Film Institute poll of the Best Television Programmes of all time. He was awarded a CBE in June 2000 and a knighthood for services to broadcasting in the 2008 New Year's honours' list. He was installed as Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University in 2008, he has launched his own website, released a CD, started his own Production Company and his recent autobiography, Parky, topped the Best Sellers charts.  In recent years Sir Michael has helped the Child Bereavement Charity in a variety of ways, particularly in 2009 when he was the creator and host of the Ashes Golf Challenge.  This amazing golf tournament featured opposing Ashes cricket captains Ricky Ponting and Andrew Strauss, along with many of their cricketing team mates, battling it out for golfing supremacy.  It attracted major media interest and raised over £75,000 for CBC.  

Ray Winters
 

Ray was invited to become a Patron of the Child Bereavement Charity in 2009.  He and his family have received support from the charity following the sudden death of his wife Tina in 2006.  Ray has spent his career in banking and is Chief Executive of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust International in London. He has two children.

 

 

Daniel Casey 
Daniel has been an actor in theatre, television and film for over 15 years. He is best known to people as Sgt Troy from Midsomer Murders. He is proud to become a patron of the Child Bereavement Charity after seeing how much help, support and comfort they have given to his dear friends Eleanor, Jamie Wroath and their son Samuel since the tragic death of their precious daughter Miranda in 2008. He has seen first hand what an incredibly important support network the Child Bereavement Charity provides to people during the most traumatic and devastating events in their lives. Daniel is looking forward to giving as much support to the charity as he can.

Deborah Grossman
Deborah Grossman has been involved with the Child Bereavement Charity since its inception in 1994. She has been a tireless fundraiser for the charity, volunteering on committees, and at events and conferences. She has been instrumental in the success of our Carol Concerts and other major fundraising events over the years.

Deborah has worked at Birthright (now WellBeing)  - the fundraising arm of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, has worked as a TV Researcher, and is currently a volunteer co-ordinator for the Outpatients Department of the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

Deborah said: "I am delighted to become a patron of the charity. I have been involved since day one and, in the intervening years, have seen at first hand what an incredible service and essential support the charity provides."

Sahar Hashemi
Sahar Hashemi started her career as a solicitor and went on to build Coffee Republic, the coffee bar chain and later Skinny Candy, the guilt free confectionery brand.   She has written a bestselling book on entrepreneurship called 'Anyone Can Do It'.     

Sahar experienced first hand the enormous benefit of bereavement counselling after the death of her beloved mother in 2008, and it was her counsellor who introduced her to the much needed work of the Child Bereavement Charity.  

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