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Patrons

Suzy Dymond-White, former Governor HMP Bristol

Malcolm Archer, former Director of Music, St Paul's Cathedral

The Right Revd Mike Hill, Bishop of Bristol

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Trustees

Richard (Chair of Trustees) has worked in the charitable sector at a senior level for over 16 years. His current roles include Director of Emmaus Bristol, Trustee of Emmaus UK and fundraising consultant to a Church/Community Centre in Bulgaria. He has worked as a volunteer in prisons for 18 years, and has only recently stepped down from the music side of Changing Tunes to work on other projects. Richard is a Fellow of the RSA.

Jane is both a music therapist and a Senior Lecturer. Her clinical specialism is adult palliative care, and child and adult bereavement work. She is on the staff team on the MA Music Therapy programme at University of the West of England. She is also a registered music therapy supervisor. She plays the flute, piano and guitar and sings.

Sharon started working with Changing Tunes when she was a prisoner at Eastwood Park. She responded very well to the music and became an integral part of Changing Tunes concerts when she was released. Sharon has really put her life back together, and is now putting the bad experiences of the past to good use, as she is employed as a drugs counsellor (it was drugs that got her into trouble in the first place). Sharon gives our board a unique insight into our work from both sides of the prison wall.

Dudley qualified as a solicitor in 1970, having worked as a court clerk in Bath and Bristol, then worked as a solicitor in private practice working as a criminal defence advocate. 1988 called to the Bar and then worked on Western Circuit as a barrister. In 1990 made a Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate and sat in London Courts until 1999 when he then returned to Bristol to be the first District Judge in the Magistrates' Courts in Avon and Somerset. He retired January 2008. Interests Rugby, cricket, walking, dogs , travel and people.

Phil is a solicitor and a partner in a large commercial law firm headquartered in Bristol.  He specialises in dealing with businesses in distress and has extensive experience of working with individuals caught up in such businesses. He also acts as a mediator and arbitrator and has been recognised by the major legal directories as a leader in his field.  Although completely amusical himself, he has been a long time supporter of Changing Tunes and a committed fan of the undoubted powers of music therapy.  He is married and has two sons, both at university.

Andrew is currently Finance Director of a national plant rental business, based on the outskirts of Bristol, with significant experience of the charitable sector gained outside of his working career. In addition to being a Chartered Accountant he is a keen football supporter and musician, playing the piano when time permits. He is married with two teenage children.

Kate works in the finance department of a large insurance and investment company in Bristol where she is training to be an actuary. Although not specifically trained in music, she can ocassionally be found propping up a microphone in a karaoke bar!

Richard is a Probation Officer based in Bristol. Prior to that he worked in the homelessness sector. He is married with two children. During his leisure time Richard plays guitar and exercises his creative muscles writing and recording music.

Staff

Tim Snowdon FRSA (Director) has worked in fundraising and senior charity management for the past 19 years, initially with NCH and latterly with Sustrans, where his team won two national Institute of Fundraising Awards. While Tim is not a musician, he brings the necessary business and strategic skills to grow the organisation into a national charity. He is also an accomplished photographer having produced a book of panoramic photos of New Zealand.

Myrtle Lawrence AGSM Cert.Ed. (Team Manager) studied at the Guildhall School of Music and is an accomplished pianist, clarinettist and singer. She is a qualified teacher, with wide experience of private tuition and teaching in schools. As a singer with the NEO she has performed to large audiences all over the country and overseas. She also works regularly as a piano accompanist for recitals and exams. Myrtle enjoys the challenge of working with difficult and damaged women in prison, and has built up some strong contacts with ex-prisoners.

Gareth Hamer (Team Manager) left school at 16 to form a band and spent the next 7 years performing original material at venues across the UK and in Europe. As a session guitarist he has worked in both studio and live arenas including some TV appearances and a concert to an audience of 20,000 in Berlin. He has also given private tuition for guitar and bass guitar. Since spending one too many late nights leaping across a stage, he is now pursuing an interest in music production where he gets to sit down a lot more - it was that or become a drummer. Having joined as Musician in Residence in 2003, Gareth enjoys being a part of the ongoing development of Changing Tunes, and being around gifted people doing what they were made to do.

Nancy Parker BA (hons) (Musician) is a lyric soprano. She is a member of the 'Concert Artists Association' and has performed at the Royal Festival and Wigmore Halls. She is a founder member of the vocal quartet 'Kingdom' and the Musical Director for the choir ‘Singspiration’. Having been a scholarship student at the Trinity College of Music Junior Department, Nancy then went on to study singing at the University of East Anglia where she was awarded the Aldeburgh Festival Singers Scholarship in performance. In addition to performing, Nancy also gives private singing tuition to people from a variety of age groups and abilities, ranging from complete beginners to professional performers.

Matt Giles (Musician) is a guitarist and classically trained pianist based in Exeter. An avid songwriter, he has recently produced and recorded his debut album with the independent West Country label, Risen Records, and loves spending his spare time performing his own material around the UK at various events, both solo and with his band. He is very enthusiastic about helping others to develop their song-writing abilities, and is currently experimenting with co-writing for a second album.

Steve Abley (Musician) has been working in music education for over 20 years. He spent much of the time as Head of Music in a large secondary school in Winchester, but also in projects involving a variety of different organisations ranging from The Royal Opera House to Winchester Prison. Originally training as a classical musician majoring in composition, Steve is at home with most styles, but is particularly interested in using and developing current musical styles in Christian worship. Having spent the past 10 years developing community arts projects, he is now writing a series of piano and keyboard books.

Hannah Merriden-Colman (Musician) began playing the piano at the age of eight, and Saxophone at the age of 12. After working for YFC for 2 years with Activate and TVB, touring England and Europe as vocalist and Saxophonist, Hannah moved to Leeds where she gained a BA Hons in Jazz. She then pursued her career as a professional saxophonist performing in the north of England with her own jazz quartet. She also took up residency in several restaurants in Leeds performing solo piano and vocal sets. Alongside this she also taught saxophone, piano and vocals privately. After seven years in Leeds Hannah then moved to Amsterdam with her husband Andrew to pursue her career in Jazz. Hannah is now living in the South West with her family where she is in her final year of her MA in music therapy.

Dave Coles (Musician) has spent several years as a student, and has a PhD in underwater acoustics that in a roundabout way will hopefully save the world. Or perhaps just further our understanding of climate change. An accomplished drummer, guitarist and keyboard player, music is one of Dave's main passions in life, which he loves to share with others. Dave lives near the south coast with his wife, and they are expecting their first baby in March. 

Ricky Payne (Musician) started his musical career in bands at the age of 14, and turned professional after leaving school: composing, arranging and recording his own material as a vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist. In 1983 he went on to be an international cabaret vocalist and recording artist. After 25 years in the music business he became a worship leader and formed outreach band 'Testimony', with whom he wrote and recorded three albums. He is currently working in residential homes for the elderly and with adults with learning difficulties as a music therapist. He has been voluntarily working with Prison Outreach Network since 2003, becoming a Chaplaincy assistant in an Isle of Wight prison, during which time he helped 16 inmates to form a very successful band.

Jonathan Lee (Musician) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, teacher, fine artist and children's author and illustrator. He has released 9 books and multi-media CD through CWR and has many years experience teaching in a musical theatre school, state schools and at University level. Commissions for new music have come from the London Irish Symphony Orchestra and the University of Exeter. It was here that he was awarded his PhD in music composition having studied with Michael Finnissy. He is an experienced choral director, jazz pianist, singer (including solo parts in Verdi's Requiem, Tippets A Child of Our Time and Handel's Messiah) and drummer. Teaching experience has included guitar, piano, bass, and drums tuition in schools and singing in a musical theatre school.

Ralph Burden (Musician) started by playing bass in a rock band with school friends. Moving on to guitar, occasional keyboard and lead vocals, he played as a semi-professional musician, writing and performing his own material before going to university. He has run a number of church music teams and has recently been involved in teaching young people to play, to write songs, and to form bands. He produced a solo album in 2007 and a Christmas album for a group of teenagers in 2008.