Martin Wheeler (Chairperson)

During Martin’s time as a member of the steering group, he has taken the opportunity to attended and take part in wide range of events and training courses, Health and Safety and Premise Management, DBS checks, Logistics of financing Community Business, Governance and Legal Structures, food hygiene, effective energy saving, writing grant applications, allergen awareness, Committee and Trustee Roles and responsibilities, recruiting and retaining volunteers’, preparing for an AGM, Churches as Business Venues, Business planning, EPOS tills. He has also visited a number of community shops in the area and networked with other community groups.

Martin said: ‘This has all been an invaluable experience and has added greatly to the skills I am now able to call on. Serving as chair of the steering committee over this past year has been a great privilege and I am extremely proud of what we as a team have been able to achieve.’

Martin enjoys spending time supporting community events and activities and is part of the team producing the monthly free newsletter for the village. He was involved in the successful listing of the local pub Blacksmiths Arms as an Asset of Community Value in 2013, one of the first pubs in Staffordshire Moorlands to achieve the protection of ACV listing.

Martin has over 40 years of experience in the Service and Support Sector where communication skills, problem solving and working on time critical projects are key.

Karen Bateman (Secretary/Treasurer)

While Karen has been on the Management Committee, she has served as Secretary and Treasurer. Karen have been involved with setting up the legal structure of the company, produced and managed the community share offer, applied for several grants many of which we have received including £20,000 from the share booster programme, £1000 from Persimmon Homes, £1000 from Arnold Clark and £1000 from We Love the Moorlands. She manages the website and social media pages, and promotes, advertises and organises events at the Centre.

Karen has completed the food hygiene certificate and attended many training sessions with the Plunkett Foundation, Support Staffordshire and the Heritage Trust Network on running community business and community shops, governance, fundraising, allergy awareness, dealing with energy costs and premises management. She has also visited several local community shops to gain information on how they are run.

Karen is now looking at applying for larger grants from The National Lottery, SMDC and the Community Ownership Fund to fund the renovations and changes to the Centre.

Karen has worked in Finance and Accounting roles for 20 years and is AAT qualified. She has experience of working in the retail, tourism, hospitality, education and events industries and has also held retail supervisory roles.

John Brammer (Vice-Chairperson)

John is now retired but is a qualified joiner with 45 years’ experience. He has already put this to good use in the Centre by refitting and painting the doors and making a new frame for the stained-glass window at the rear of the Chapel room and refitting it. John is a former Chairman of the North Staffordshire Caravan Club and has been the BKV Co-ordinator for the last 5 Years, during which time the village have always claimed a prize coming 1^st once, 2^nd once and 3^rd once. (There was no competition in 2020 and 2021 due to Lockdown, but John still ensured that the village was looking beautiful).

John is also on the Kingsley Holt Community Fund Committee and was involved in the steering group to obtain the grant and get the new equipment installed on the recreation ground in 2019. John can often be found litter picking around the village and also volunteers each month to deliver the newsletter.

Steve Rollett (Committee member/Health & Safety Officer)

Steve moved from Sheffield to Kingsley Holt 15 years ago. Having worked in Engineering for many years in various companies, taking in supervisory and lower management roles which included quality control, health & safety and risk assessment. In the past Steve has been a director in a community takeover of a swimming baths and believes in community ownership.

Julie Sadler-Wright (Committee Member/Safeguarding Officer)

Julie moved to Kingsley Holt in June 2021 with husband Pete to experience a change of life in the country and to be part of village life, Julie has family connections to Staffordshire and has spent all her life visiting family and walking in the beautiful countryside. Julie currently works for Staffordshire County Council after moving from Northamptonshire County Council.

Julie has extensive experience of working with children and families and wanted to be part of this project to support village life and to enhance and develop opportunities for local children and families. Since joining the committee, she has completed food safety training and will be refreshing her extensive safeguarding training. Julie will support and advise on safeguarding and child protection matters, alongside supporting with refreshments and events due to take place in the Centre.

Heather Fallows (Committee Member)

Since joining the committee Heather have been busy sourcing furniture and other equipment for the centre and renovating it.

She has been baked numerous cakes to sell at fundraising events to raise funds for the Centre, and supervises the kitchen during events. She has obtained her food hygiene certificate and has attended online information sessions on allergy awareness and running a community shop.

She is now busy trying to keep the centre clean and tidy, decorating and repairing things until the major work begins.

She has been an active member of the village, i.e Best Kept Village Group, Kingsley Holt Methodist chapel (which she has been attending since she was 4 years old ) and many other activities.

Pete Wright (Committee Member/Deputy Safeguarding Officer)

Pete moved with his wife Julie in June 2021 after falling in love with the people and the area following Julie’s influence. Peter has recently retired from 33 years of public service and wanted to put some of his newfound time into supporting village life and helping to keep the Methodist Chapel building at the heart of the community. Pete brings a wealth of experience in working with the public and supporting communities.

Jeremy Fallows (Committee Member)

Jeremy’s role on the committee is general maintenance, keeping lawns manicured and general tidying up. Jeremy and Heather have renovated the chairs and painted the school room, they still have plenty of work to do yet.

He likes to keep active in the community, and help with the Best Kept Village Group, and is a member of the Community Fund Committee.

Diana Wheeler (Committee member)

Diana moved to Kingsley Holt in 2010 along with her husband, Martin and quickly became involved with community functions. 

Her career has involved work briefly in the civil service, the electronics industry and the care sector. Diana and Martin ran a small electronics support company for 18 years. After moving to the village, she worked in the community mainly with elderly clients as a home help.

Since being involved with the Kingsley Holt Centre project, she has been involved in helping on the sales stall and attended visits to other community shop and cafe outlets to gain information on how they operate. 

Diana has also attended online information sessions covering topics such as responsibilities in running a Community Business and recently Allergy Awareness for food outlets.

Christine Brammer (Committee member)

Christine has many years of retail experience; managing an art shop for 10 years and working for Alton Towers retail and WH Smith. She has experience of supervising staff, ordering stock, balancing tills and customer service.

She is keen to put this experience to good use by helping to set up and manage the community shop/café. She has been heavily involved with the project so far by volunteering with many of the fundraising stalls to help raise funds in the last few months and has visited several community shops to find out how they operate.

Christine has been involved in many community activities in the village including BKV and delivering the newsletter.