Yvonne Hulme

Yvonne is a qualified teacher and musician who has worked in music education for 30 years. The majority of this time has been with Cumbria Music Service as a teacher and senior manager, which has enabled her to work with children and schools to maintain quality music provision for all. She has worked in a variety of different school settings as a peripatetic string and keyboard teacher.

Yvonne has also project managed large scale concerts with multiple schools, youth orchestras and has worked with local and national partners to provide a wide range of projects for schools across Cumbria. She is passionate about inspiring every child to learn an instrument, to sing or to further explore their musical creativity. She believes this inspiration often comes from experiencing a live musical performance.

Outside of education Yvonne enjoys playing the violin with local orchestras and ensembles.

Nigel MacLennan

Professor Nigel MacLennan qualified as a chartered psychologist and was made a Fellow of the British Psychological Society for making multiple advances in psychology. He created and published the first process model of coaching, in Coaching and Mentoring, the first tool to enable any normal adult to generate vast numbers of creative ideas, systematically and reliably in real time, on demand, in Opportunity Spotting the first culture management tools in Awesome Purpose the first organisational vision assessment and formation tools in…

Nigel loves taking previously unsolved human performance and leadership problems and gradually creating, testing and refining solutions, using action research methods. And, most enjoyably of all, sharing the new techniques to enable others to improve their performance. Nigel’s main role is leadership coaching of CEOs, MDs, directors and senior managers, and providing psychotherapy for executives and professionals.

Nigel was one of the trustees of the Institute of Management who introduced best practice governance that facilitated the award of chartered status, to the now Chartered Institute of Management. He was elected President of the British Psychological Society and led the organisation towards the legal and regulatory compliance expected by the Charity Commission.

Terry St Clair

Terry is an English folk singer, acoustic guitarist and songwriter. For over forty years he has performed in clubs, concerts and festivals throughout Europe and the USA, plus numerous times on TV and radio around the world.

His songs have been used in several films including the 2006 Mike Binder film The Upside of Anger starring Kevin Costner.

Although enjoying and being completely at home on the concert and folk club stage, Terry has often moved away from the mainstream folk scene, preferring to take his music to a much wider and more diverse audience. Street performance has a long and credible tradition. Holding a crowd of tourists, shoppers or workers on their lunch break, with a few songs and a bit of chat is rewarding, but he believes this is a natural stage for folk music.

Keith Sansum

Keith has worked for various organisations over the years – British Rail, Tesco, the police (as a police community support officer) but it was his interest in local, community matters that led to him co-founding the Clarendon and Westbury Community Association in the 1980s. The Association helped to raise money to buy an old school building for the community, which became an important hub for meetings and events; a space for people to connect with each other and discuss matters of local concern. Keith was instrumental in arranging meetings between locals and the Home Office minister to address local concerns and in his capacity as local councillor, has worked with numerous outside agencies such as the police, councils and MPs to address issues at the heart of the community. He’s been a local town councillor for twenty years, a local county councillor for 13, and a local district councillor for 25 years. The important work he has done through being on local councils has seen him be a passionate advocate for the local community and up until January of this year, he continued to keep the community association in the public eye.

Football is his other passion. Although now retired, Keith was a local football referee for 25 years and ran a children’s football team for children in deprived areas with little or no social skills. Through football and a love of playing, he taught them valuable team skills, helping to integrate them more into the community. (His lifelong work to help his community and especially children in the more deprived areas very much resonate with the ethos of Playground Proms).

Sue Stapely LlB (Hons) FIPR FRSA

Sue is Playground Proms’ Chair, a solicitor and strategic communications consultant, specialising in discreet reputation, crisis and issues management. Her clients include arts organisations, professional partnerships, independent schools, charities, financial and government institutions and high-profile individuals. Sue’s previous appointments have included some years as a director of award-winning communications, branding and design agency, Fishburn Hedges; as Head of Public Relations for the Law Society of England & Wales (the professional body for all solicitors); as a partner heading a family law team across three offices of solicitors, Heald Nickinson; as manager of two Citizens’ Advice Bureaux while taking a law degree and a first career with BBC TV of ten years making programmes.

Sue took a law degree and qualified as a solicitor while her sons were babies and after a successful period in private practice she she was then invited by the Law Society to run all communications for solicitors in England & Wales. Throughout this time, she was one of the leading spokespeople on legal matters, appearing regularly on Law in Action, Today, Newsnight and Question Time, as well as acting as one of Jimmy Young’s ‘Legal Beagles’ on his radio programme for some years. She is still a quite regular media commentator.

In addition to her professional work, Sue has always undertaken pro bono (unpaid) legal work and helped set up LawWorks, the national pro bono movement. She mounted the campaign for Sally Clark, wrongfully convicted of murdering her two babies and imprisoned for three years. When the verdict was overturned this case was described by the High Court as the “worst miscarriage of justice” it had seen.

Sue chaired the 300 Group (the campaign to get 300 women MPs) and stood as an SDP candidate in the 1987 General Election. She served as a Board Member of the South West Thames Regional Health Trust, the London Ambulance Service, the National Consumer Council, the government’s Countryside Agency and was a founder board member of the Media Standards Trust to raise standards in journalism.

Passionate about the performing arts from her time with BBC TV drama, Sue has also always played a voluntary role in this field. She is currently a Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company and has sat on the boards of several theatres including the Royal Court and the Brighton Dome & Festival. She was a Trustee of the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art for 15 years and helped raise funds to create a £28m theatre and rehearsal block in Hammersmith, London.

Now settled in the Cotswolds, Sue lives with her husband, a retired management consultant and she is increasingly involved in local politics and arts. For more information, please see her Who’s Who entry or www.suestapely.com.

Photograph by Andrew Ogilvy Photography

Sujesh Sundarraj

Born in India, Sujesh moved to London in 2005 to pursue his Masters in Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Society from Brunel University. Since his days in academia, he has worked both frontline and managerial positions within the private and charity sector working with adults with learning disabilities and autism followed by eight years working for the local government within commissioning in adult social care. He is currently working as the Commissioning Manager for Learning Disabilities and Autism and is very passionate about social care. He has been primarily focussing on enabling the systematic and meaningful involvement of people with learning disabilities/autism and their carers in the planning, design and delivery of services and strategies, to improve their quality and outcomes.

He has a long-standing relationship with music. He grew up singing choral music in India; subsequently travelling across the country participating in and winning several gold medals in inter-university music festivals. He has since co-founded the band ‘Flying Tailor’ in the UK with releases including Inner Picture, 2015 and Shapes of Freedom EP, 2016. He enjoys going to music festivals, cooking dinners for friends and travelling.

Estella Thomas

Estella Thomas is currently part of Admiral Group's Emerging Talent Programme, a two-year initiative designed to provide placements in various areas of the business. Estella graduated from Cardiff University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Laws degree and began her career at Admiral thriving in legal roles for five years before deciding to explore new career paths. Admiral's supportive environment has allowed Estella to expand her horizons and develop her skills in different areas. She is currently serving as a travel insurance underwriting assistant. Estella is passionate about business project management and enjoys roles that involve a creative aspect.

Estella has always been an avid fan and supporter of the arts in a variety of forms. From the age of 9-17, she was a trumpet player and played within various bands in school and locally. As an adult, Estella regularly attends local rock gigs and enjoys playing bass guitar with her new band, Elsewhere. Estella has previously been part of an acoustic duo, playing Hub Fest in Cardiff in 2023. Estella has also been an avid fan of poetry and has taken part in local poetry open mic nights within her community.