Our Chair. He lives and works in Islington and has run a specialist IT software house for over 30 years. He is a chartered engineer, school governor, chair of St Luke’s community centre, secretary of London Capital Credit Union, and represents London and the South East on the credit union national body ABCUL. He believes every area needs a Help on Your Doorstep and that the pioneering and award winning EC1 Connect continues to make a huge difference in his neighbourhood. He is enthusiastic for Help on Your Doorstep to develop as an organisation and continue to deliver community building services like the Good Neighbours Scheme.

was chair of Help on Your Doorstep from its start until 2017 and remains on the Board as a trustee. Now retired, she worked as a local government manager for more than 20 years, most recently as an Assistant Director in Islington Children’s Services, responsible for early years and child care services and services for young people. Before joining local government she spent 10 years as a lecturer in further education and as a community activist, followed by 10 years in local and national voluntary organisations. She has recently been elected Chair of the Cripplegate Foundation.

has worked in the area of Equality and Diversity for a number of years. He worked as a team leader in the Equality & Diversity team for the Department for Children, Schools and Families. He has worked in a number of different government departments for over 25 years, including the European Social Fund; the Small Business Advisory Service and Private Office for the Secretary of State for Employment at the time.

He is currently the Director of Hanley Crouch Community Association, a community hub in North Islington. He is also the chair of the Octopus Community Network and the Hate Crime Forum.

is the former Deputy Leader of the London Borough Islington and the former Mayor of Islington. Councillor Kelly represented Finsbury Park and chaired the neighbourhood group that was primarily responsible for the establishment of the Connect service in the ward. He is a former Editor of Tribune, the Labour Party weekly paper (1987-91) and is a former adviser to the Labour Shadow Cabinet. He is Chair of Voluntary Action Islington.

joined Help on Your Doorstep as a trustee in 2017. Nicola has worked in the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector for over 17 years, including four years in Islington as Programme Director at Cripplegate Foundation and Islington Giving.

Nicola currently works as Managing Director at the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE), empowering people to create change in their communities and improve the lives of others through providing courses, connections and financial support. In her role Nicola works collaboratively with SSE’s network of partner schools across the UK, and globally. Nicola has previously held roles in research, evaluation and policy, including at the New Economics Foundation (NEF), at the Centre for Well-being, and at the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) where she led their social enterprise trading arm, CLES Consulting.

Sorrel Brookes worked in Housing and Regeneration for 30 years in Manchester, Edinburgh and London, leading large scale urban regeneration projects and most recently, led for Homes for Haringey on Business Improvement. She has lived in Islington with her family for 23 years and is currently Lay vice chair of Islington Clinical Commissioning Group. She is also a Trustee on East London Music Group and volunteers as an adviser at Islington Citizens’ Advice. She joined the Board of Help on Your Doorstep in 2017.

Kate is a long-standing Islington resident who is passionate about the borough and its people. She is motivated by affecting positive change. Kate has around 30 years’ experience working in voluntary sector strategic communications. Her roles also encompassed campaigning, parliamentary liaison and media training. She has worked in a range of charities including the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), children’s communications charity ICAN, youth homelessness charity, Depaul UK, and Coram where she was Group Head of Communications. Kate plays an active role in Islington as a volunteer. As well as having volunteered with her local Girlguiding group, she has also supported disabled children and young people in a local adventure playground and tutored English at Years 5 and 10 in schools. Kate holds a post-graduate diploma in Voluntary Sector Management from the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School (formerly known as CASS), City University, London. Living with a long-term health condition, Kate became aware of, and in contact with, Help on Your Doorstep when she received support from its Connect Service.

TBC