Meet the Candlelighters family
In 1998, Stephen’s four-year-old son Rocky was found to have a tumour and received treatment at St James’s. Rocky survived for almost three years, leaving the family with wonderful memories, great hope and undented faith. Stephen has continued his involvement with Candlelighters, joining the Board in 2007 and became Chair in January 2014. He ended his role as Chair in June 2020 and remains on the Board as a Parent Trustee.
Keith became Chair in June 2020, taking over from Stephen, after a fantastic six years. Keith’s son Harry was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of three in 2006. Whilst Harry continues with long term follow-up appointments after undergoing treatment at St. James’s Hospital we are glad to have Keith on our board.
Mike Richards was appointed to his current post of Consultant Paediatric Haematologist at St James’s’ Hospital in 1998. He underwent undergraduate training in Oxford and was trained in Haematology in Cambridge and Sheffield before arriving in Leeds. He received his Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Oxford.
Martin was appointed as a consultant in Paediatric Oncology and simultaneously as a Candlelighter’s Trustee in 2005. He loves being involved in decisions regarding which projects are funded, making sure that fundraisers’ hard efforts always benefit patients and families as much as possible.
John has been a consultant neurosurgeon in Leeds since 2010. He joined Candlelighters as a Medical Trustee in 2018. Operating on children and adults with brain tumours is a major part of his daily job. He particularly enjoys collaborating and teamwork to help achieve the best outcomes for the children under his care. He joined Candlelighters to bring his experience to help improve care and support for children and their families.
Sue is not only a trustee she is also the chair of the Harrogate Candlelighters, a group who raise upwards of £50,000 each year to support research into children’s cancer. Sue’s background is firmly rooted in business and offers a commercial eye to the board of trustees.
Chiara is the Assistant Director of Patient Services at Anthony Nolan. Her team fund specialist NHS nursing and clinical psychology posts and are responsible for the delivery of patient and family information and support. Before joining Anthony Nolan, Chiara worked for Macmillan, managing their flagship centre support centre and before that, she worked as a Highly Specialised physiotherapist in Oncology and Palliative Care in London.
Emily joined Candlelighters in her new role as Chief Executive Officer in June 2018 and had previously been Deputy Director of the Charity; she is passionate about ensuring we provide the best possible services to meet the needs of our families. Emily is responsible for the overall management of the Charity and for implementing our plans for the future.
Lucy has been working with Candlelighters since early 2014. She is responsible for all aspects of People including recruitment, learning and development, benefits, payroll, pensions and our volunteers. Lucy is also the Company Secretary for the Charity ensuring we are compliant with statutory and regulatory requirements. As Deputy CEO she is delighted to provide support to the CEO in achieving future plans.
Lawrence joined the team in May 2019 as Head of Finance Corporate Services. He is responsible for all aspects of the Charity’s finances including looking after all the amazing donations we receive and how we budget for and spend that money. Lawrence is also responsible for Corporate Services so helping to ensure the smooth running of the facilities and operations of the charity.
Leanne joined Candlelighters in October 2019 as Head of Fundraising and Marketing and is responsible for the strategic direction of the fundraising department, through the development and implementation of a new strategy, which will protect and significantly grow income. Leanne is part of the proactive and passionate Senior Management Team and is committed to shaping the strategic future of the financial growth of Candlelighters.
Carole has been an integral part of Candlelighters since 2009. As part of the Finance Team, her responsibilities include banking, purchase ledger, booking holidays for our families and processing online giving. Her working days are Monday and Tuesday.
Pam joined Candlelighters in March 2019. As part of the Finance Team, her responsibilities include banking, purchase ledger, booking holidays for our families and processing online giving. Her working days are Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Helen joined the team in February 2019. As part of the Finance Team, her responsibilities include banking, purchase ledger, booking holidays for our families and processing online giving. Her working days are Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays.
Corinne joined the Candlelighters Team in January 2018. She looks after the whole on-boarding process, staff benefits, payroll, pensions and the development and maintenance of our suite of policies and procedures. She is there to support the Candlelighters Team with any HR queries or help that they might need as well!
Tom joined the team as Fundraising Manager in April 2019. He is responsible for providing effective day-to-day leadership of the fundraising team and the development and implementation of our strategic vision to grow income.
Gina joined Candlelighters in March 2017, since then she has held a variety of positions in the fundraising team including fundraising assistant, community and challenge events. In June 2019 Gina joined the Corporate Partnerships team. She works with a variety of businesses across East and North Yorkshire as well as law and finance companies in Leeds.
Kelsea joined the fundraising team in May 2019 and now works within the Community fundraising team offering support to our Community fundraisers Chloe and Sam. Kelsea assists with stewarding fundraisers and manages all things merchandise!
Amy joined the team in March 2018 She has a background in charity programme management; working with young people and with a variety of businesses. Amy is thrilled to be overseeing our Corporate Partnerships, from Charity of Choice to Sponsorship, and loves working with the huge variety of wonderful businesses that support us.
Chris joined Candlelighters in July 2019 as part of the corporate fundraising team. Having worked in the commercial sector for a number of years, Chris is keen to use his knowledge and experience to support our existing corporate partners in their fundraising activity. He will also be focusing on raising awareness of Candlelighters across Yorkshire and to secure new corporate supporters to further develop our work.
Sean joined the team in October 2017 and provides administrative support for the Fundraising Team to ensure that our wonderful supporters get everything they need. Sean also co-ordinates all of our Challenge Events such as the Great North Run, all of our 10k’s, Half Marathons and Marathons. He ensures that our wonderful supporters get everything they need when preparing to tackle one of our Challenge Events.
Natalie joined the charity in September 2014, and is Head of Family Support. Working for Candlelighters at The Square she is be able to use her skills and personal experience to help families who have, or have had, a child with cancer.
Sarah works on the reception desk at The Square. She also assists with all the enquiries and works hard to ensure that The Square can be a home from home for families.
Vicky joined Candlelighters in May 2016 as part of the family support team. She oversees the Family events & groups at The Square. Vicky is passionate about working with our families and loves meeting various people along the way.
Charlotte is a Family Engagement Worker, who is based across at Leeds Children’s Hospital. Charlotte will work across Wards 31,32,33 and the Oncology and Haematology Day Unit. The main role of the Family Engagement Worker is to support families over at the hospital whether that be helping them to access Candlelighters services or just being a friendly familiar face to talk to.
Emma joined the team in 2018 as a Front of House Volunteer and has since been offered a role in the Family Support Team. Emma provides administrative support to all of the Family Support Team and can also be found assisting on Front of House.
Carly joined the charity in October 2016 and is based at The Square. As well as having personal experience of the effects of childhood cancer, Carly brings experience and knowledge of developing and delivering peer support networks. She is passionate about working with families and will focus on setting up a Family Support Network which will enable families to help each other in different ways.
With the charity growing so much, Jade joined Candlelighters in March 2018 to ensure the effective and smooth running of the charity. Jade is based at The Square, and looks after our family support sites to make sure everything is in place to keep staff, families we support and our visitors safe. Jade is currently on maternity leave.
Kay joined the team in October 2018. She fantastically looks after our offices, keeping everywhere clean and tidy, making our space a beautiful place to work. Kay is also based at The Cottage keeping on top of housekeeping and looks after our families, offering a natter and a cuppa to any families who come through our door.
Helena joined the team in October 2018, managing a wide variety of marketing responsibilities. Her diverse role, allowed her to work across both the Fundraising and Family Support Teams, developing the day to day communications to a wide range of audiences. In 2020 Helena moved into our Family Support team, leading on a new marketing strategy to engage families to our services. Helena works with families and the wider team over at Leeds Children’s Hospital to create new, innovative ways to engage with families across the region. She manages our website, social media, PR, digital design and video.
Amy joined the Candlelighters team in December 2018. She works alongside Sarah in reception making The Square a warm and friendly environment. Amy welcomes and assists families and visitors to The Square. Her responsibilities include, assisting with events and support groups, listening and assisting families with their requirements, and booking families in for support services.
Drew supports our teams by recruiting, training and coordinating volunteers to help us achieve our goals. Candlelighters Volunteers help across Yorkshire by running Family Network Groups, supporting Family Events, 10Ks, marathons and other challenge events, collecting donations, delivering talks and assisting in our offices and the Square.
Having previously worked in higher education and charity volunteer management, Drew joined Candlelighters in January 2019.
Lauren joined the Candlelighters team in January 2019. Lauren works three days in HR and two days admin support for the charity’s CEO.
As part of the HR team Lauren’s responsibilities include providing training, supporting recruitment and developing policies and procedures.
You can find Lauren at The Square Monday to Friday.
Joanne joined the Candlelighters team in February 2019 to ensure the effective and smooth running of the charity. Joanne is based at our Waverley office and looks after all things facilites – from the office re organisation to ordering much needed supplies for all teams across our sites!
Sam joined the team as a Community Fundraiser in October 2019 to work alongside Chloe & Jen in the Community Fundraising team. Sam will be providing support and guidance to communities in West Yorkshire, Goole, Hull and South Yorkshire to assist in their fundraising events and enhance income. She will also be developing and increasing awareness of Candlelighters.
Roz joined the Candlelighters team in October 2019 as Trusts and Foundations Executive. As part of the Fundraising Team, her role involves the planning and writing of funding bids, reporting on previous grants and the research of new funding opportunities.
Gaby joined Candlelighters in February 2020 as Marketing and Communications Assistant mainly supporting the fundraising function of the charity. Gaby looks after our social media accounts and helps to communicate with our community and corporate supporters, coordinates the marketing for our fundraising campaigns, as well as helping with design for our web and print marketing materials!
Meet our elephantastic mascot Champ, a fairly new member to our team but has already made a big impact around the hospital and at events and always makes people smile! Champ loves to go out and about representing the charity and absolutely loves hugs and photos!! You may even see Champ competing in challenge events from time to time being the real champ that he is!
