Our trustees

We have 8 trustees who have a wealth of experience and skills.

Andy Murphy has been our Chair since August 2017. He is one of the founding trustees and, between 2006 and 2009, ran the EC1 New Deal for Communities programme, where Help on Your Doorstep began life as ‘EC1 Connect’. He has worked in the public and not-for-profit sectors for nearly forty years and currently runs the St George the Martyr Charity in Southwark. He was also Chair of Voluntary Action Islington for five years, until 2014.

Don Kehoe is our Treasurer. 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.

Colin Adams MBE 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.

Professor Matthew Humphreys MBE works at Royal Holloway, a College of the University of London. His research field is European Environmental Law, with a particular interest in aspects of social justice developed from the sustainable development principle. He has previously worked at University of East London, Kingston University, the University of Surrey, and Anglia Ruskin University.

From 2005 until the end of the programme, Matthew Humphreys was Chair of the EC1 New Deal for Communities (NDC) scheme, a £53 million urban regeneration initiative. Under his leadership the project based in the southernmost part of the London Borough of Islington delivered a remarkable transformation. 

Phil Kelly 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.

Nicola Steuer 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.

Frances Carter 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.