GAVCA Training: Biographies of our Trainers

 

Our trainers have a wealth of experience and come from a variety of backgrounds. Follow the links below to read more about individual trainers.

Read feedback from past attendees of our courses.

Chris Hickey has been an independent consultant and trainer in the not for profit sector since 1999. He has extensive senior management experience at strategic and operational levels having been the CEO of a national charity. Chris has given much of his own time to working with voluntary organisations and charitable trusts. He has been on the Board of 5 different voluntary organisations and is currently a Non Executive Director of Gloucestershire PCT, Chair of Carers Gloucestershire and a Trustee of Cheltenham Centre for Change.

Sally Pickering is the Chief Executive of the Gloucester Association for Voluntary and Community Action, which supports and represents the voluntary and community sector in Gloucester and Cheltenham (where it is known as Cheltenham VCA), and also provides some countywide infrastructure services including its training programme and the GlosAssembly

Christine Stockwell is a qualified and experienced social worker who moved into freelance work as a trainer about 12 years ago.  She is a trained mediator, working for Bristol Mediation for 7 years. She has trained staff and volunteers in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Rubicon Solutions UK™ specialises in the provision of Wilderness First Aid training for those working, travelling or living in rural, remote and outdoor environments.   They also provide accredited first aid training meeting HSE regulations and recommendations for First Aiders at Work or Appointed Persons for small businesses.

Janet Roberts is a national trainer from Tendering for Care and has trained hundreds of people including running specialist workshops for Supporting People Teams, VCS infrastructure organisations and Residential Care Associations. She is one of the few people in the country offering this essential focus on all our futures and has been invited by us to run her course here in Gloucester

Rob Allison is a freelance trainer and also works for Coventry Voluntary Service Council, where he has organised AGMs since 1994, as well as advising various other organisations. He has wide experience in development and governance issues.

Beth Whittaker is a PR and communications consultant with 30 years’ experience. She specialises in  lifelong learning and rural and urban regeneration issues, working mainly in the community and public sectors.

Claire Smart has for some years has been the Commissioning Manager for Children and Adults Social Care and is now The Director of Strategic Procurement for Gloucestershire County Council.

Camilla Hale has worked as a manager and project creator in the voluntary sector for 33 years, in the arts and community development sectors. She is a mentor and life coach and is currently Organisation Development Team Leader for GAVCA and supports organisations in business planning for their futures.

Karen Leduc is the Volunteering Development Worker at GAVCA during which time she has designed and delivered training, specialising in topics around volunteering .  Previously she was the Assistant Co-ordinator for Victim Support in Stroud.  Karen has wide experience as a teacher, legal assistant and as a volunteer running play schemes, being a school governor and as a classroom assistant.

 

Feedback

Did you feel the course met your needs? How will it help you in your daily work?

  • Yes, will help me focus on what is needed
  • Yes has provided a “process” to help us prepare for building a new website
  • I found this course answered my questions well. It will help tremendously in my daily work
  • Very useful. Have followed this in my annual budgets
  • Yes very useful. Good to think about the role of a manager and where I need to develop
  • This course shines out as the most effective I can recall, and has helped me to understand
  • the whole procurement issue much better
  • It was informative, helpful and it was interesting to hear other people’s views
  • We now have an environmental sustainability policy in place and are implementing it


What did you feel about the trainers’ approach to the training and knowledge of the topic?

  • Good presentation, comprehensible and comprehensive
  • Very good—no “jargon”. Very clear and clearly well informed about the topic and the
    Voluntary Sector
  • Lots of useful knowledge and positive approach
  • Easy going, kept it common sense and then stretched it a bit
  • Excellent, very knowledgeable and good delivery - open and friendly
  • Loved the approach, very engaging and felt very confident in their knowledge and ability

 

Any other comments?

  • Thank you for making a difficult concept much clearer
  • It was an excellent course
  • This was really useful and did “what it said on the tin”. Thank you
  • Group participation in the afternoon very helpful
  • The course was exactly what we needed it to be. It was professionally delivered and very interesting
  • Enjoyed the course, thank you