Trustees
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 thirteen, and a local district councillor for twenty-five 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 twenty-five 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 Stapely, is a solicitor and independent strategic communications consultant, specialising in discreet reputation, crisis and issues management. Before operating independently, she was a senior consultant with Quiller Consultants, London. Her clients include arts organisations, professional partnerships and financial institutions, government agencies, regulators, independent educational and other charities, professional bodies and Royal Colleges, international corporates and high-profile individuals. She specialises in handling the communications of difficult matters and defending corporate and individual reputations to all their critical audiences.
Previously Sue was a Director of Fishburn Hedges, one of the UK’s fastest-growing corporate communications, branding and design consultancies. It doubled its turnover in the five years she was with it, winning many industry awards. On a pro bono basis Sue also worked on several high-profile miscarriage of justice cases, including running the campaign which over-turned the wrongful conviction of Sally Clark and changed the way the judicial system and the media deal with unexplained infant deaths.
Before joining Fishburn Hedges, Sue was Head of Public Relations at the Law Society, the professional body for all solicitors in England and Wales. She mounted public information campaigns, helped establish the BBC’s ActionLine, co-ordinated the Society’s political work, established the network of 125 local law societies, advised on some 75 pieces of legislation and was the main media spokesperson for the Society, appearing regularly on radio and television.
Sue was invited to join the Law Society in 1989 while a partner in law firm, Heald Nickinson, where she shared management and marketing responsibilities, headed the family law department across the firm’s three offices and established the first public affairs department in a UK law firm.
A candidate for the SDP in the 1987 General Election, an elected member of the SDP's National Executive Committee and Chair of the Women for Social Democracy, Sue was the first National Chair of the 300 Group – the all-party campaign to bring more women into political and public life. She regularly took part in television and radio programmes, including Question Time, Any Questions, Newsnight and the Today programme and remains a regular media commentator.
Sue’s first career was with BBC Television, working on a range of drama, news, and current affairs programmes. She then took a law degree and qualified as a solicitor when her sons were babies, while managing two Citizens’ Advice Bureaux and being politically active.
An experienced media and presentation skills coach, having been both a programme maker and a regular contributor to television and radio programmes, Sue provided public speaking and presentation skills master classes at the London School of Public Relations and continues to offer media training with Electric Airwaves. An expanded 2nd edition of her authoritative book, Media Relations for Lawyers, is published by the Law Society.
A graduate of the Common Purpose leadership programme, Sue has attended Cranleigh Business School, is a member of the Law Society, of BAFTA, of the Media Society, of International Women’s Forum, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and of the RSA.
Passionate about the arts, Sue is currently a Governor of the RSC (a former client organisation) and a founder trustee of the Media Standards Trust at Kings College. She recently stood down after 15 years as a Trustee of LAMDA (the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art), having helped create its £28m new theatre complex in Hammersmith which opens this month. She is also an advisor to the board of Brighton Dome & Festival having been a board director for a decade. During the pandemic lockdowns she has been the ‘provocateur’ to the West Midlands Cultural Response Unit, a consortium of arts and cultural organisations throughout the West Midlands all faced with extinction through closure.
Her past appointments have included service on the boards of the Royal Court Theatre, the Young Vic Theatre, the Spare Tyre Theatre Company, the Countryside Agency, the National Consumer Council, South West Thames Regional Health Authority, the London Ambulance Service, Dignity in Dying, Clarity (the campaign for clear legal language) and she was a founding Trustee of the Solicitors’ Pro Bono Group, now LawWorks.
She lives in the Cotswolds with her management consultant husband. Her older son is a civil engineer resident in Melbourne and her younger son is also a lawyer. Apart from the performing arts her passions are books, good conversation and fast cars. For more information please see her Who’s Who entry or www.suestapely.com
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 U.S.A, 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.
Sujesh Sundarraj
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.