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  1. About us
  2. Meet Our Board

Meet the Board

Board of Trustees

The Next Chapter Board of Trustees is responsible for setting the strategic direction, ensuring that the charity complies with all its legal and regulatory requirements and that the charity’s governance is of the highest possible standard.  We strive to ensure that the diversity of the Board reflects representation from as many sectors as possible including housing, family law, childrens services, health & wellbeing as well as communications, marketing, legal and financial expertise, and equality and diversity professionals.  In accordance with our Women's Aid membership, our board has a majority of women holding Trustee roles, with the key roles of Chair and Vice Chair being held by women.  As Next Chapter is a Charitable Company, board members are both Directors and Trustees of the Company.

Fran Rigo

As a member of our Trustee Board, Fran brings her skills as a qualified solicitor specialising in Family Law and Family Legal Costs.

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Fran is a qualified solicitor who specialised in Family Law and now practices in the specialist area of costs law. Fran embarked upon the Association of Costs Lawyers course in 2015 and qualified as a Costs Lawyer in 2018 with distinction. She now specialises in Family Legal Costs. 

She has also worked as a volunteer at the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and as a peer mentor.  She has experience of working with victims of domestic abuse and is passionate about ensuring that our children and young people have the very best opportunity to overcome the domestic abuse they have experienced.  She is the Trustee lead for our Children & Young People's Service, ensuring that the board understand and consider the implications of decisions on our services for children and young people at all times.

Published: 10th February, 2019

Author: Beverley Jones

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Holly Smart

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Published: 24th April, 2020

Author: Beverley Jones

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Joanna Ronayne

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Published: 23rd January, 2020

Updated: 24th April, 2020

Author: Beverley Jones

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Karen Williams - Chair of the Board

Karen brings her extensive housing management, strategic knowledge of safeguarding and experience of improving support pathways for survivors of domestic abuse to our board.

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Karen has worked in the Housing sector for 25 years and has a wealth of skills and knowledge in the area of Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding.  She has also held the role of Chair of Governors at a local primary school so has governance, risk management and compliance knowledge and skills which she brings to our board. Additionally Karen holds the Chartered Institute of Housing level 5 professional qualification along with an Institute of Leadership & Management level 5 qualification and is the strategic Safeguarding lead for CBH.

In Karen's role within Colchester Borough Homes she is working on improving the pathways for survivors of Domestic Abuse and she is keen to see how she can bring this together with the work of Next Chapter for the benefit of those experiencing domestic abuse.

Karen is passionate about ensuring that the voice of our service users is represented and taken into account when we are planning and designing our services.

To contact Karen directly, please email her at [email protected]

Published: 10th February, 2019

Updated: 24th April, 2020

Author: Beverley Jones

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Kay Caldwell

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Published: 24th April, 2020

Author: Beverley Jones

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Rory Doyle

Rory bring his extensive operational and strategic experience of housing, health, wellbeing, and community safety & development as well as his links into the health and social care networks in North East Essex, helping us develop key partnerships in this area.

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Rory is an experienced operational and strategic leader, bringing extensive skills from his professional background in housing, health, wellbeing, and community safety and development, knowing how important a safe and supported home environment is to wellbeing.

He also has extensive professional experience of how complex people’s lives are and how poor health, inequality, prejudice and abuse can have such a devastating and negative impact.

His work and ethos is to enable people to self care, to use and build on individuals own assets and strengths, but providing support and intervention at times of crisis, which aligns entirely with that of Next Chapter.

Rory brings skills, experience and knowledge of relevant networks and strategic partnerships, including Health and Social Care Economy in North Essex and the Alliance Executive Team leading transformational change in the way health, wellbeing and community services are delivered in North East Essex.

Published: 10th February, 2019

Author: Beverley Jones

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Showing 10 of 6

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    I had to leave as a duty of care to my children and for the fact I couldn’t take anymore and believed I was insane. I went to the council for help and they put me in touch with Next Chapter. Amber was my first support worker and she was the light in a terribly dark time. I doubted myself often as emotional abuse is so hard to prove and is so subjective. But she was with me the whole time when I eventually managed to move out.

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Phone: 01206 500585

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Next Chapter is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales under number 02266883 and registered as a Charity number 1058295. Registered office Next Chapter, P.O. Box 40, Colchester, Essex, CO1 2XJ © Copyright 2019 The Next Chapter (East of England). All rights reserved.