Meet the Team

Carol has been teaching at an Upper School in Royston for over 40 years. She has taken a particular interest in the pastoral side of education especially students with mental health problems. 

She has been the Senior Teacher responsible for Safeguarding for 15 years and the school’s drug education specialist.

 Working for her community, Carol was a Town Counsellor for 10 years. In addition to her Trustee role, Carol has also been a group volunteer with Stand-by-me since the beginning in 2014.  

During a long career with HSBC Bank, I have worked in variety of senior finance roles – mainly in London, but also in Paris (twice), Amsterdam, Mauritius and Hong Kong. I retired in December 2014.

I joined Stand-by-me as Finance Trustee in September 2018 and am constantly amazed by the dedication of our staff, volunteers and Trustees.

I live in Hitchin with my partner and I have two grown up children from a previous marriage. My hobbies are golf, travelling & watching football (I am a season ticket holder at West Ham FC), and I enjoy good food and wine. 

Keith was born, brought up, lived for most and worked for his entire career in Hertfordshire. Before moving to Letchworth in 2014 he lived in Welwyn Garden City, with his wife of over 40 years, where they raised their two sons.

Whilst Deputy Head of a St Albans school, following a succession of students experiencing the death of a parent, he devised a model for schools to support young people.  This is now the basis of ‘Contact-me’.

He retired in 2010 when he was Head of Hitchin Boys’ School.

I have been a volunteer with Stand-by-me since its inception benefitting greatly from the training programme it offers. Before retirement I worked as a School Nurse and Health Visitor later moving into a clinical management role. I recognise the benefit of providing support to children who have experienced bereavement and am enthusiastic to support this work.

I’ve spent more than 30 years working in media and communications. A trained journalist, I began my career in news-stand magazines, before moving into the world of marketing at a large London agency where I held several senior positions. I now own my own Hitchin-based marketing consultancy, which I combine with the occasional business journalism assignment.

I love working with Stand-by-me as it’s an opportunity to use my skills and experience to help give something back to some of the young people in the local community who need it most.

I’m 43, proud father of 2 and nearly 9 years married to my wonderful wife (She didn’t actually tell me to write that!) I have been running my own business since 2010 in the area of financial advice. I live in Hitchin, having moved from London in 2020 as part of the great escape from the city! I love football, I’m a huge England fan and will be going to Germany this summer for the Euros. In my spare time I can often be found playing Lego with the kids, going for a day out with the family, riding my road bike in the wonderful countryside of N.Herts or watching a box set with my wife.

I’m passionate about supporting children and young people as my own Dad died when I was 10 and back in 1990, I didn’t have access to the type of support SBM delivers. I didn’t cry for 8 years, not even at the funeral, such is the damaging impact of being told “to be strong for your mum and sister’s, you’re the man of the family now”. All well intentioned, but not something easy for a young person to make sense of. This is why I want to support the charity through time as a volunteer to listen to children and validate their feelings. As fundraising trustee, I want to help push forward with the funding of the great work SBM do, which is changing lives. 

My name is Bobbie and I have been a volunteer since 2019 and an associate volunteer trustee since 2020 and have lived in Hitchin for 30 years. I am an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA), and work with Young People and adults, helping them understand and navigate the trauma they have experienced.

I have a BA in Early Years, and this has been crucial in understanding how children develop and how they learn, helping them understand their feelings and emotions and how to express them in a safe space. My background includes working as a Pre-school Deputy Manager and Family Support Worker, where I have learnt that actively listening is the most important part of my role in my job and as a volunteer for Stand-by-me. 

Bio to Come