Stephen is currently an accredited Community Led Housing adviser supporting Community Land Trusts, Housing co-operatives and the like to provide appropriate housing solutions to their members and the wider community. As Head of Operations at north Manchester Community Interest Company Yes Manchester until recently he was operational lead of the organisation that provides three centres and an on-line presence supporting people into work and training. He has worked  in the social housing and regeneration sector for over 30 years in a variety of roles in the north west. Stephen takes a keen interest in the cultural life of Oldham and has attended numerous Oldham Theatre Workshop productions over more than 15 years.

Jen is a Mancunian born and bred and now lives in South Manchester with her husband and two of her three children.  She is a keen supporter of Manchester community charities and can often be heard expressing her views on parenting on BBC Radio 5 Live as well as other radio networks.

I was born in London but have been resident in Manchester for over 20 years now.  I married a local girl and I love it here.

I have spent the last thirty-something years in the IT industry but my first love are the Arts, especially Music and Theatre.  As well as the joy they bring and their window on what it is to be human, they have a transformative power in the hands of organisations such as OTW which I have been very impressed with over the last few years that I have known and been involved in their work.

Kate’s daughter has attended OTW for the past 6 years and loves every minute of it!  It is seeing that passion, enthusiasm and confidence building in her daughter which has made her a ‘fan’ of the company, coupled with seeing how fantastic the team are with all the attendees.  Kate has a business background, working in HR for the past 20 years with the bulk of her working life being with Peninsula, the UK’s leading HR consultancy firm.  Kate has worked her up the career pathway from a trainee role to now being a member of the board in the role of HR Advisory and Consultancy Director and states that she has achieved this by sheer hard work, passion, grit and determination and more importantly loving what she does and loving people.  Kate splits her time between work and family but being on OTW board gives her something different outside of her professional and personal commitments that is ‘putting back into the community’ and she is excited by the challenge and small part she can play in the growth and development of what is an incredible youth theatre in the town where she grew up.