Our Trustees, Patrons, Secretary and Staff

Our Trustees:

VICTA Children Limited’s trustees give their time freely and for the benefit of the charity.

The Trustees roles are:

• To advise the charity and to provide the benefit of their experience in attaining the aims and objectives of the charity.
   
• To ensure the charity complies with the legislation and all statutory requirements and to safeguard the charity’s assets.
   
• To be the charities advocates and ambassadors.
   

They are:

Richard Lewis            Elizabeth Richards

Margaret Topliss        Derek Topliss

Our Patrons:

John Brookes

John is the parent of a visually impaired young woman. John worked tirelessly for the Charity for 13 years providing support to our families and at the same time set up and managed our fund raising activities through the London Marathon, he retired from the Charity in 2007 but still provides support and an insight into the difficulties that parents face in bringing up a visually impaired child. John’s wife Nina was also one of the founder members of VICTA and still provides her support.

Michel Roux Jr  www.le-gavroche.co.uk  www.michelroux.co.uk

Michel Roux Jr took over the helm at the world famous Michelin starred Le Gavroche in 1991. Since then, Michel has won numerous awards for his cuisine and has continued to set the standard for classical French fine dining in London. Prior to Le Gavroche, Michel honed his skills working for master chefs in Paris, Lyon, Hong Kong and London, spending two years with Alain Chapel and cooking at the Elysee Palace for President Mitterand. Michel is also a judge alongside Greg Wallace on Masterchef: The Professionals. Michel has been a great supporter of VICTA Children for many years, he continues to run in the London Marathon and BUPA 10K raising money to help us to provide our services.

Trustees Biographies

 Richard Lewis - Chairman

Richard was Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Open University and is a former Professor of Accountancy at Aberystwyth University. He is currently active as an international consultant in quality assurance in higher education. He brings to VICTA both his background in finance and quality assurance. He is also Treasurer of Action Aid UK and a number of other National charities. He is Chairman of the VICTA Board of Trustees with special responsibility for finance.

 

Elizabeth Richards

Elizabeth is the mother of three children, the youngest, William who is now 20 years old is visually impaired. She, together with her husband own and manage a working farm. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the difficulties that families face in bringing up and educating children who are blind and partially sighted. Elizabeth is a member of the Board of Trustees with special responsibility for our grant programme.

Margaret Topliss

Margaret is a former head teacher and inspector of schools with 35 years experience and brings her expertise in early years and special educational needs for children aged 5 to 18 with profound and multiple disabilities to the charity. Margaret is a member of the Board of Trustees with special responsibility for staff management and training.

Derek Topliss

Derek worked in the computer industry for 30 years and started his career long before the arrival of personal computers! He ran his own company which specialised in providing video conferencing services and facilities. He is a member of the Board of Trustees with special responsibility for liaison with other charities and for marketing and publications. He is also the sponsor of our website.

Our Charity Secretary

Pamela Lewis

Pamela is the Charity and Company Secretary – she has been involved with the Charity since its inception and worked closely with John Brookes, a founder of the charity, who managed the London Marathon fundraising during the years 1993 to 2007. She is a qualified accountant with an MBA and during her young years built up a business, then lectured in accountancy and business administration at university level, and worked for UNESCO returning to the UK in 1984. On her return she established an accountancy practice, which she has now passed on to her daughter. Since then she has continued to provide advice as a consultant to start up businesses. She has a stake in a number of diverse businesses, including one of the leading environmental engineering design consultancies in the UK and US which specialises in the built environment for whom she acts as Finance Director. In her role as Charity Secretary, Pamela has managed the day to day finances and administration of the charity for many years. While she is still very much involved in the Charity she has handed over all the day to day activities to the Director, Tracie Tappenden, but continues to advise on administrative and financial matters and to be responsible for legal and statutory matters.

Our members of staff

Tracie Tappenden - Director

Tracie joined VICTA as a family support worker in 2002. She is married with four children, one of whom is blind. Max is now 20 and at university and her experience in this role is invaluable to the charity. She has been the director of the charity since 2008, and in this role manages the charity and its’ staff on a day-to-day basis. She is also Secretary to the Board of Trustees.

 

Krista Dixon – Fundraising Manager

Krista is a graduate who has been known to the Charity for some years and whilst studying she was a volunteer, supporting visually impaired young people’s activities. She is responsible for all matters relating to the London Marathon fundraising and provides support to “Team VICTA” from the time they apply for a place until they run for us on the big day.

Phil Price – Office Administrator

Phil is a History and Philosophy graduate who joined VICTA from Barnabas Adventure Centres, a company specialising in youth activities. He joined us in June 2009 and is responsible for managing our grant applications and non-marathon fundraising activities. His other duties include maintaining the Charity accounts and general administration.