Meet the trustees!
#TeamDKC
Chris Edwards has been Chairman of Derby Kids’ Camp committee and a trustee of the Charity since 2010. Having been a volunteer with DKC for over 25 years, Chris is also an active member during Summer Camp. He has a number of years experience as a summer camp leader, but is now happy to sit back with a cuppa as deputy and let some of the younger volunteers have a go!
With many years of management experience in the commercial sector at CIE-Group where he is marketing director, he delivers expertise in management, sales & marketing and brand awareness to the Charity. Chris is also an experienced foster carer for Derbyshire County Council and a very proud dad!
Cat Howourth joined DKC in 2010 as a summer camp volunteer and during that period has held various committee roles in fundraising and Volunteer Rep. Alongside her committee role, Cat is also one of our camp leaders on Summer Camp.
Having honed her fundraising skills at DKC, Cat now works as a fundraiser in her day job. In her spare time, Cat is a keen dancer and choreographer and participates in a number of musical theatre productions.
Tommy has been involved in DKC for over 15 years, having first volunteered at summer camp in 2008. Secretary is the second role he has held on the DKC committee, having previously been Treasurer.
Tommy makes a living as a Hydrogeologist, protecting the quality of groundwater in the East Midlands which is used as a water resource, for example in drinking water.
Stuart joined the board of trustees in November 2023. Having spent the last 35 years in the world of corporate accounting and administration in roles such as Finance Director and Chief Operating Officer, he is now semi-retired and operates as a non-executive director with the company he has helped to run for the last 30 years.
Away from work and upgrading the DKC accounting systems, Stuart can be found on the golf course or supporting his local grass roots football club.
He is determinedly resisting calls to volunteer at the next Summer Camp, but we’re a persuasive lot so watch this space!
Leane has been on committee as a Volunteer Organiser since September 2015, before moving to take on the role of Camp Organiser in 2020. Leane brings her fantastic organisational skills to the role, which involves booking everything that’s needed for camp to run smoothly – from coaches to day trips, food deliveries and on-site activities!
Leane’s day job is working as a primary school teacher in Derby
Kerry joined Derby Kids’ Camp in 2022 – supporting with the Volunteer Organiser role in the run-up to camp, and as a summer camp volunteer supporting her week’s camp leader team. She dived straight into committee and stepped up to take on the Volunteer Organiser role in September 2022.
Kerry brings a wealth of experience from over a decade working in education. She currently works as a primary teaching assistant and PE & sports lead, as well as having lots of experience with forest schools and working with children with SEND.
Hannah joined Derby Kids’ Camp as a summer camp volunteer in 2012 and quickly joined her brother George as an enthusiastic member of the fundraising team the following year.
Hannah has been a key contributor to the charity’s recent online marketing activities and has stepped into the role of Publicity Officer to encourage further online activity.
Hannah runs a digital marketing agency in Nottingham.
Ben started volunteering for Kids’ Camp in 2016 after signing up through university. Although he isn’t usually a camping lover, Ben loved Kids’ Camp so much, he continues to return each year to support. After volunteering for quite a few job roles on camp, he prefers working in the medical tent. He also enjoys all of the walks we go on with camp and it is something he does with the spare time he has.
Ben works as a primary teacher working with Key Stage 2 children which is something he’s been doing since he left university.
He continues to develop his role by taking part in extra courses to further support children with additional languages, special needs and safeguarding concerns.
Joining DKC on summer camp of 2013, George was given the job of equipment lead assistant where he was able to call on his experience as a scout leader to keep camp standing. George quickly became further involved with DKC equipment joining the committee in 2014 and taking joint lead of equipment in 2015.
George has also previously been the Treasurer and Volunteer Organiser as part of the committee. After several years of rebuilding the internal digital systems and processes for DKC, George has stepped into a new role to lead the digital transformation of the charity.
In George’s time away from the DKC spreadsheets he is an engineer at Rolls Royce and enjoys walking camping and making things in his home workshop!
Non-trustee management team
Our trustees are supported by additional members of the management team:
Rob has been volunteering with Derby Kids’ Camp for over 10 years, taking on several roles including summer camp volunteer and more recently a deputy camp leader and Medical Officer.
Rob brings extensive medical experience to the role and currently works as a Paediatric Charge Nurse.
Paul first volunteered for Derby Kids’ Camp in 1996. From 1997 to 2009 he served on the committee in a variety of trustee roles including 6 years as volunteer organiser, during which time criminal records checking was introduced for all volunteers. In 2009 he became camp leader and has been part of a camp leadership team since that time. For several years has participated on the committee as the non-trustee safety advisor.
Paul is a mechanical engineer working for the Health and Safety Executive’s Science Division (HSE SD). Paul and his team contribute to HSE accident investigations and prosecutions.
