Steering Group

Bev Rolf
MENCAP representative
CAN Steering Group

Bev works for Newark Mencap as a part-time administrator and development worker. She has worked within learning disability services for 21 years, in which she has a lifelong interest as she has an older brother with a profound and multiple learning disability.

I also work for Lincolnshire County Council as a support worker within the learning disability service, and also for Royal Mencap as a visitor for people with a learning disability who have lost both parents - a kind of befriending service.

Newark Mencap, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2008, aims to support and improve the lives and opportunities of people with a learning disability, their parents, carers and families. It does this mainly by providing social and leisure opportunities via activity clubs at Whitfield Street.

MENCAP are always keen to find new volunteers, and offer a supportive and fun experience for anyone who is interested. They have a comprehensive but friendly recruitment process and Bev brings this, along with her wide experience in the voluntary and community sector to the CAN Steering Group.

Julia Hughes

Newark & Sherwood CVS

Julia spent a period spent teaching in a Secondary School in Essex followed by 5 years working in HR for private steel company in Sheffield.

She has worked in the Voluntary Sector for 25 years as a volunteer then as a paid worker and for the last 16 years managing Newark & Sherwood Community and Voluntary Service.

Julia has a BA Honours Degree from Sheffield University and an NVQ Level 5 in Management. She is currently undertaking a Diploma in Performance Coaching in the Workplace.

Michael Manning
Deputy CAN Representative

Mike works for ODEF (Ollerton and District Economic Forum), where he is primarily involved in Community Transport and co-ordinates the Disability Action Team (DAT). He is currently Chair of the Newark & Sherwood Transport to Health Group.

Mike Chairs the Laxton Village Hall Committee and is a trustee of the Visitor Centre and a Parish Councillor.

He is the deputy representative to the Local Strategic Partnership for CAN

Katie Wilson

Rural Community Action, Nottinghamshire

Katie Wilson works for Rural Community Action Nottinghamshire (RCAN) – one of the 38 Rural Community Councils in England which stimulate community action, encourage local approaches to problem solving and raise the rural agenda.

With a focus on community-led planning, empowering and enabling rural communities, Katie has general community development expertise, encompassing a wide range of consultation and facilitation techniques to engage community members both old and young. She also provides funding advice and maintains the funding database for the organisation and the community groups with whom it works.

Katie is Village Halls Advisor for Nottinghamshire, supporting village hall management committees with their village hall projects and providing advice on all aspects of running a community building. She is also editor of Rural Voice – RCAN’s county-wide newsletter for rural affairs.

Prior to this she worked as a Planning Policy Officer and has a first class BSc (Hons) in Geography (Human) and Planning.

Joy Allison

CAN Elected representative.

joy.allison@nandscan.org

Joy and her husband, Dik, moved to Newark & Sherwood in 2004. Joy's voluntary career began in Essex, starting up a playgroup, running a village ladies badminton group and serving on the committees of the residents association, WI and horticultural society. She managed a Crossroads Care scheme before moving to Surrey, where as manager of a Volunteer Bureau and later a Council for Voluntary Service she served as a trustee for a variety of organisations. She was responsible for setting up a voluntary sector Resource Centre accommodating 11 charities with a conference and meeting room facility. She also established and administered community care planning processes in two boroughs and for managed an employee volunteer programme for a prominent American computer company in the area.

She joined her husband in his business in 1996, combining this with returning to active voluntary work. She chaired Surrey Heath Carers Support and represented the Older People's Forum on the Board of the Local Strategic Partnership. During 2000 Joy represented the West Surrey voluntary sector on an Independent Advisory Panel, established at the request of the Minister for Health, to scrutinise West Surrey Health Authority's plans to recover from it's financial overspend.

The CAN Steering Group