Sterts Trustees
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Chair
Richard Newton-Chance attended Liskeard Grammar school and then had a brief relationship with the Fleet Air Arm for two years before a career change into teaching after gaining a degree at Marjon University. He married Jayne in 1977 and we has three magnificent boys. Jayne writes plays, including Rumpelstilskin for Sterts, where she worked alongside Ewart Sturrock fundraising for the first iteration of the open air theatre. Richard taught in Plymouth from 1978 until 2000 when he was appointed Principal at Queen Elizabeth’s Community College in Crediton until his retirement in 2014. Richard was Chair of SMART, a local Schools Trust until March 2023 and is currently Chair of Learnus Council - a London based educational neuroscience think tank. He also Chairs Calstock Parish Council’s Environment and Climate committee.
Trustee
Bernice Strickland is a proud Mancunian who has in the South West since 1975, with nearly 40 years of teaching and 9 years of retirement behind her, Bernice has been involved in community theatre from childhood. She joined the Sterts in 2005 & has acted, sung, danced, directed & volunteered in almost every area right from the start. Bernice joined the Board in May 2022 and champions the many and varied volunteer roles, especially during what has been a very challenging time.
Trustee
Joy Dent grew up on a dairy farm on the North Cornish coast, then moved to the area and became a founder member of Sterts. She was also one half of the pioneering women’s comedy cabaret duo Rubber Gloves in the 1970s and 80s, writing and performing their own material. As well as raising four boys she worked with Ewart Sturrock on finance and later as administrator of the newly establish Sterts Arts & Environmental Centre. Her background is in business administration and later as project coordinator with environmental organisation, ReZolve based in Bodmin. Joy sings in a local choir and plays the piano.
Trustee
Sarah Lodge's professional life has been spent in Facilities and Property Management in the record and media industries; since moving from Hertfordshire to Cornwall in 2020 when she began a 3 year strategic property management role with Cornwall Council and became a member of Sterts. She has been very actively involved in community theatre for the past 45 years as a member of 6 Herts and London based theatre companies, from opera to straight drama.Having planned a complete career change in Oct 2023, to become a wedding registrar and Pilates instructor, Sarah now has a little more time to devote to the Sterts board, and the exciting times ahead!
Trustee
Katie Brailsford trained at Tring Park theatre school and then gained a BA Honours in Performing Arts at De-Montfort University. She worked as a professional actor and toured with several theatre-in-education companies, performing and delivering drama workshops to young people ages 3-18. One of her most memorable moments was tap dancing on live television with Dame Edna Everage!
In 2000 Katie moved into television production at Carlton Television, working on soap operas and numerous short films as a floor manager/assistant director. In 2009 she was a tour producer and presenter with BBC Birmingham in the marketing and audiences department. In 2017 Katie was selected for the Arts Council’s Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme, the UK’s foremost programme for the professional development of theatre directors. Katie is passionate about accessible theatre and her first experience at Sterts was directing King Charles 3rd which she approached in a non-traditional way.
Trustee
Sam Spake has worked within the Creative Industries for several decades supporting projects for positive change, partnerships and access to the Arts, with established experience in championing entrepreneurship and youth participation.
Currently working for CreativeUK, she manages a creative growth programme, enabling businesses and organisations to develop new pathways for financial sustainability, community impact or developing their creative vision.
Also a trained artist, musician and events manager, Sam is no stranger to producing, offering skills in project management, marketing strategy and art direction.
Bringing a broad range of skills and a passion for enriching peoples’ creative lives, especially in rural East Cornwall, Sam looks forward to helping Sterts build a vibrant future.
Trustee
Sarah Pym left teaching to become involved in the newly formed Sterts charity in 1986 that she helped to establish doing everything - cooking, cleaning, administration, raising funds to build the open-air theatre and programming events. She has Ewart Sturrock to thank for the career in the arts that followed. In 1995 she moved to the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth as General Manager, then came back to Cornwall in 2006 at The Works as Theatre Development Officer later based at Hall for Cornwall working with many of the Cornish companies and venues. Her freelance work has included producing the Connections Festival at Theatre Royal Plymouth , project management for Access Theatre and Cultivate Young Promoters Scheme with RIO. She works with writer Simon Parker as producer of – the arc – staging productions at Sterts and the Minack. She is also Action Learning Facilitator and Arts & Wellbeing Ambassador for Artswell.
Trustee
Euan Hunter spent a life immersed in the field of human behaviour. His working life was spent in research, industrial management, teaching and the last dozen years in consultancy.Now retired his time is spent in singing, painting/drawing, archaeology, sailing, atrocious golf and philosophy, plus, of course, being a Sterts trustee. He was chair of Attik Dance for ten years and is a director of the East Cornwall Society of Artists Ltd.
Trustee
Dan Sturrock graduated from Sheffield University in 1988 with a Bsc in Maths and Astronomy. Over the next 30 years, Dan worked in a variety of major global investment banks including Bank of America, in finance and compliance roles within their legal and risk management departments. Dan’s primary responsibility was to work with wholesale structuring, sales and trading teams to assess and approve potential transactions across various asset classes and ensure they met appropriate reputational and conduct risk appetite standards. Dan’s parents Anne and Ewart Sturrock were founders of Sterts Arts & Environmental Centre.