Charity & Volunteering

Thanks to strong values instilled in me during my upper school years, I have possessed a keen wish to ‘give back’ to areas that I feel impassioned to support. Principally, this has been within local government and health organisations.

Parish Councillor

Since 2011, I have been a Parish Councillor for Ixworth and Ixworth Thorpe Parish Council where I have been a lifelong resident.

I believed that in order to make a real difference to addressing issues and determining solutions, it necessitates you to get involved rather than only ever criticise and this was my underlying influence to becoming a Councillor.

Within a year, I became Vice Chairman and in 2016, I was unanimously elected to become Chairman where I believe I was the youngest ever Chairman of a Parish Council in Suffolk.

Now in my tenth year in leading the Council, I have been involved in a wide variety of matters including the execution of our neighbourhood plan, lobbying for solutions to longstanding problems in a wide variety of statutory services provided by West Suffolk and Suffolk County Councils and championing the enrichment of our community to its fullest potential.

NHS Foundation Trust Governor

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was invited to consider becoming a Public Governor for West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. In November 2020, I was duly elected to serve in this position, representing the West Suffolk Hospital catchment of 300,000 patients.

My role as a public governor working alongside staff and partner governors from key stakeholders in West Suffolk entails me holding the board of non-executive directors to account for the performance of the executive board. Now into my second term, I have held membership on two of the Council of Governors Sub-Committee’s including Chair of Engagement Committee (2022-23) and more recently as a member of the Nominations Committee.

In 2023, I was elected uncontested to become Deputy Lead Governor where I work closely supporting the Lead Governor and in maintaining a conduit relationship with the Chair of the Trust. Since the beginning of 2026, I am now the Lead Governor at the trust.

Atrial Fibrillation Association – Regional Ambassador

I have always held a key interest in supporting charities that have had a close link to either myself or my family.

Following a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation in 2013, my Grandad sadly passed away from an AF-related stroke in 2017 that left irrevocably devastating effects on my family. In 2018, I was invited by a renowned local GP – Professor John Cannon – to become involved in a local NHS transformation project tasked with reducing the impacts of undetected atrial fibrillation in the community.

I became the only non-clinical representative of a multi-disciplinary project team where I led community initiatives to undertake opportunistic pulse checks in the community utilising the only NICE-approved device – AliveCor Kardia. Following the project’s conclusion in 2020, I was then invited to join the Atrial Fibrillation Association as Regional Ambassador for East Anglia where that work has continued.

With the COVID-19 pandemic suspending all our community work, I developed a novel initiative to undertake opportunistic pulse checks in COVID-19 vaccination clinics when cohorts of over 65’s were invited to come forward for vaccination. This inspiring project was recognised in 2022 by being awarded an International Healthcare Pioneers Award where it is widely considered this initiative was the first of its kind in the UK, if not globally.

I continue to raise awareness of atrial fibrillation with talks to a variety of audiences including community groups and clinicians.

A short feature on BBC Look East re: the nation’s first ever opportunistic pulse checks in COVID vaccination clinics

I would be delighted to attend any event that supports our objectives in raising awareness and opportunistically detecting atrial fibrillation.

My WiSH Charity

My WiSH Charity is the charitable body of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. In 2014, and following extensive surgical interventions and treatments by the Trauma and Orthopaedic team at West Suffolk Hospital to my Nan, I created the first and now permanent legacy fund both recognising and supporting the work of Trauma and Orthopaedics. Initially seeking to raise £25,000, the Arthrose Appeal has now existed for over a decade and raised in excess of £40,000 which has funded specialist equipment that NHS budgets wouldn’t have been able to.

For more information on this appeal, please visit – https://mywishcharity.co.uk/appeals/arthrose-appeal/

Royal British Legion

Much like generations past and present, a cornerstone of British culture is its advocacy of Remembrance. It is challenging to find a family who has not had some kind of link to our Armed Forces Community whether it be present day or ancestrally and I am no different.

My family has traced generations of my family who fought in the First World War and then in the Second World War and I have placed a particular interest in honouring the sacrifices they made in the name of King and Country. Beyond wartime service, my Grandad proudly served in the RAF as part of the National Service Campaign based in Scotland.

With all these family connections, it was just over a decade ago that I was invited to become a member of the Royal British Legion and within a short time, I became both Branch Secretary and Treasurer for Ixworth and District Branch. In 2025, I was elected as Chairman for C Group Suffolk Royal British Legion whose activities are very much centred around supporting local branches in West Suffolk and the annual Festival of Remembrance in Bury St Edmunds which I now compere.

I have very much enjoyed fulfilling the objectives of the organisation in these capacities and more recently, have become the Poppy Appeal Organiser for our locality.

It is an honour to be able to support the Armed Forces Community in recognition of my various family connections to this sacrosanct part of British life.