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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

Stephen Kinsella OBE, Prison Patron

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Founder and Patron

Richard Pendlebury MBE 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.

Trustees

Andrew (Chair of Trustes) has significant experience of the charitable sector gained outside of his working career. In addition to being a Finance Director of a specialist rehabilitation care group he is a keen football supporter and musician, playing the piano when time permits. He is married with two teenage children.

Glenn is a former soldier and police officer. He is currently a support Worker with Emmaus Bristol. He is married with a daughter at university. He has a passion for football and supports Bristol City. 

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.

Michael is a Circuit Judge and has over 25 years experience in the criminal law in that capacity and formerly as a solicitor and barrister. Although long retired as a busker he is interested in all forms of live music. A large family keeps him fully occupied.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Liz Thomas (Administrator) is a trained singer and musician and will happily engage anyone in a conversation about the finer points of musical philosophy and analysis. She draws on her experience in charity and financial administration to try to ease the administrative burden on Timand the rest of the team, and to oil the wheels of the charity (usually with copious amounts of tea).

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.

Steve Abley (Team Manager) 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.

Myrtle Lawrence AGSM Cert.Ed. (Musician) 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.

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.

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 family and plays guitar in a covers band, available at a reasonable fee.

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 using therapeutic music in residential homes for the elderly and with adults with learning difficulties. 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.

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.

Fran Key (Musician) graduated with a Music Degree from Bath Spa University in 2010. She has since been living, working and playing in Bristol as a support worker for adults with learning difficulties, and a recording and performing musician in her spare time. A songstress at heart, her voice is her instrument of choice, shortly followed by the guitar and piano. A masters in Music Therapy could be on the cards for Fran in the coming years.

Nick Martin (Musician) is a guitarist with years of gigging experience after cutting his teeth on the circuit with Medallist (signed to Gut Records). He also has a wide variety of session work under his belt, both in the studio and live. Nick's been teaching guitar for about 10 years, and currently writes electro tunes and can be found DJing around bristol.