The 4th of November marked the start of Trustees Week, a national initiative aiming to showcase and celebrate the vital work of charity trustees across the UK.
As a small charity, we’re totally dependent on the passion, knowledge, and hard work of our Board of Trustees to ensure our creative wellbeing sessions are making the biggest impact on vulnerable children and young people across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
Stick with us for five minutes as we break down what exactly a charity trustee is, introduce you to our own amazing trustees, and tell you how you can get involved!
What is a Trustee?
Trustees are volunteers who help steer and support a charity’s work.
They’re responsible for making big-picture decisions and ensuring the charity is using resources wisely while staying true to its mission. This is called “governance”. In short, trustees keep the charity on track and strive to help it make the greatest positive impact possible.
They play a vital role, not just with strategy, but by bringing their own skills, ideas, and abilities into the mix. For a small charity like Make Some Noise, trustees are crucial to ensuring that we can continue to offer our services to the children, young people, families and carers who need them most.
Who are the Make Some Noise Trustees?
This Trustees Week, we’d like to introduce you to our own amazing, dedicated Trustees. Coming from a range of backgrounds and life experiences, the Make Some Noise Board of Trustees is a dream team full of folks making a real difference.
Nigel Senior
Make Some Noise’s current Chair of the Board, Nigel has been with the charity for several years. His support and passion over the years have meant that Make Some Noise has been able to reach those who need us most – and sustain that reach even when the going gets tough!
Victoria Whitmore
Victoria is the Charity’s Treasurer, carrying out crucial oversight and monitoring of Make Some Noise’s financial position and cashflow, ensuring that every penny is used wisely. With her years of experience in charity finance management, there’s no one we’d trust more with our funds than Victoria!
Rosie Milsom
With a background in fundraising for the arts, including national theatres, and a successful day job as a life coach, Rosie’s skillset and dedication has been integral to Make Some Noise’s growth in recent years.
Julie Tanner
Boasting over 40 years of experience in Human Relations and experience with other local charities, including SCVYS (Staffordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services) Julie is a HR and volunteering extraordinaire, dedicated to supporting the Make Some Noise team with her expertise and passion.
Sohrab Uduman
Sohrab has decades of experience as a music lecturer and researcher. With a depth of musical knowledge – both practical and theoretical – his passion for accessibility to music outside of institutions is plain to see. Originally becoming involved with MSN as part of a Keele University project, Sohrab was so impressed with the quality of our delivery team that he couldn’t help but stick around.
Sean Broderick
Sean is our newest member, joining the board in 2023. As a senior social worker for Staffordshire County Council, and with a host of experience across several Boards of Trustees for charities across Staffordshire, Sean has cultivated a skillset that enables him to support in a range of areas, not least as a speaker and trainer across a range of complex social issues.
Rhys Harrington-Jones
Originally from Stafford, Rhys now lives in Widnes and works as a Sales Director at EV solutions company Zest. Make Some Noise is Rhys’ first Trustee role in the charitable sector, and makes good use of his years of experience in sales, marketing, and PR – as well as his passion for creativity.
What makes a trustee?
To become a Trustee, according to our very own, you need a few specific things.
“I think you absolutely need to want to give something back,” said Rhys Harrington-Jones. “There are many charities out there, just like Make Some Noise, doing an incredible amount with very little. The passion and dedication of the team are vital to making these things work.
“It’s a personal thing, too, this is me giving back. This is me directly doing something. I think that’s important.
Julie Tanner echoed Rhys’ point. She said: “I think you need to be able to add value, and I think you need to care about what it is that you’re doing. It’s important that you get stuck in. There’s no point just being somebody that’s there in name only.
“You’ve got to want to get to know the organisation, get involved, and really know what it is that you can offer and where.”
Chair of the Board Nigel Senior said he believed a collaborative spirit was integral to any Trustee. He said: “Having a board of Trustees with professional backgrounds in different sectors allows for an incredible amount of collaboration, which ultimately benefits the charity.
“You’ve got to want to get to know the organisation,
get involved, and really know what it is that you can offer and where.”
“Our Trustees are all so willing to engage with one another and collaborate. I’m always impressed by how willingly the members of our board give their time and expertise and work together.”
Rosie Milsom added that to her, one of the most important things is passion. Rosie said: “I think you need to be passionate about raising the profile of what it is we do. Make Some Noise does incredible work but we don’t always shout about it. You need to have a real focus on raising that profile to make sure we always have what we need.”
What does a charity Trustee make?
Sorry to disappoint, but most charity Trustee roles are voluntary! However…
Our Trustees made it possible to…
Level Up
Our Level Up Creative Music sessions at the Two Rivers Special Education School in Tamworth provide access to music and the creative arts for young adults aged 12-18. By making it possible for SEND students to play and write music, sing, dance, and generally access the arts with their classmates, we’re enabling new futures for those who might otherwise never experience music.
Upbeat Early Years
One of our most colourful, exciting, and important programmes, our Upbeat Early Years sessions for under-5s allow young children from deprived or at-risk backgrounds across Staffordshire to come and enjoy the basics of music and movement in a safe, secure, and fun environment. Our very talented Make Some Noise creative practitioners might be the ones on the ground, but the important behind-the-scenes work from the Trustees is a big part of what we do.
How can you get involved?
“There’s nothing better than someone coming along to observe a board
meeting because they want to get involved. It’s really heartening and exciting.”
Interested in becoming a Trustee, either with Make Some Noise or another charity? Good news! Our Trustees have some advice for you:
“Get out there and get involved with the charities you care about,” said Julie. “Donate your time and help with local projects to see if it’s a good fit. Like I said, you need to get stuck in, so it needs to be something you’re passionate about.”
“Get in touch, ask to attend sessions, see what you can go along to. There’s nothing better than someone coming along to observe a board meeting because they want to get involved. It’s really heartening and exciting, I think.”
Chair of the Board Nigel simplified Julie’s suggestion slightly: “Come to the office and have a cup of tea. Let’s have a chat about it and see where you fit! We’re a nice bunch, really.”
Thinking about getting involved with Make Some Noise, either as a Trustee, a donor, or a fundraiser? Click here to learn more, or email info@make-some-noise.com. You can also follow our Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn, to make sure you never miss an update!
