Meet the team

Tim Bailey was elected Trustee in 2018 and served as Deputy Chair of the Board from 2021 until November 2023 when he was appointed Chair. Tim has lived in Stratford for 50 years, working as a Police Officer for 30 years and ten years as Assistant Head of Sixth Form at King Edward VI School. He is married with two sons and is involved in several community groups including Friends of Rowley Fields. Previously Tim has chaired his local Scout Group, was a Governor at Stratford upon Avon School for seven years and attends St James Church, Alveston. He joined the Trust to help serve the local community and ensure the Trust's assets are used to their best effect.

Josie is a brand marketing and communications specialist and returned to Stratford in 2014 having lived here happily in the early 1990s. After a career in arts, entertainment and sports marketing both in the UK and overseas, she is passionate about putting down roots and giving back to this beautiful town and the community. Currently Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for Birmingham 2022 Comonwealth Games, Josie previously ran Sport England’s multi-award winning This Girl Can campaign aimed at getting more women and girls more physically active. Josie is passionate about the arts and is also a Trustee of internationally acclaimed dance-circus company, Motionhouse, based in Royal Leamington Spa.

Gill is a nominated Trustee, her term having commenced on 1 June 2020. Gill moved to Stratford in 2008 and was elected to the Town Council in 2019. She is passionate about the town and supporting its residents and is heavily involved in several local community organisations. She helped to set up and volunteers with the Avon Valley Community First Responders; is a leader with Stratford Girlguiding and is a volunteer chaperone for several local youth organisations. She runs her own business and a business networking group.

Marion was elected Trustee in 2022. She has lived in Stratford for over 30 years and is married with two daughters. In the past she has worked at both Holy Trinity Parish and Stratford Methodist Church and has served as a school governor at Broad Street Primary School. She was also the Manager at Stratford Foodbank for over six years and now works as an Area Manager for the Trussell Trust. Her role involves supporting food banks across the midlands to introduce financial inclusion advice into their operations. 

Simon Littlejohns was appointed as a co-opted Trustee in September 2022. Simon lives in Stratford Old Town having moved here in April 2015. Prior to that he lived for seventeen years in an outlying village close to Stratford. He is a chartered accountant and chartered tax adviser and runs his own accountancy practice in Stratford. Simon would like to give a little back to the town and sees the co-opted Trustee role as an ideal way for him to contribute in a small way to Stratford’s future.”

Henry was elected Trustee in 2022.  He lives in Shottery and comes from a background in stockbroking and gold and silver exchanges.  Since retiring he was involved as an adviser at Citizens Advice South Warwickshire; acting as a mentor to young accountants and engineers; elected to be a Group Trustee Director of National Grid Electricity Group Trustee Limited; and was a candidate in both the 2019 General Election and the Police Crime Commissioner Election in 2021.  He has a law degree with final-year modules on trusteeship, land and property laws. Professionally qualified as a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Global Management Accountant, Henry has also a Doctorate Degree in electrical engineering.

Lewis is a nominated Trustee, joining the Board on 1 June 2024. He moved to Stratford in 2009 and lives with his wife, Town Councillor Sam McNaught Barrow, and family in Old Town. Lewis has spent two-thirds of his professional career in the arts, most recently as Chief Executive of the Federation of British Artists, a leading visual arts charity based at Mall Galleries in London SW1. In addition to launching major fundraising campaigns, sponsorship and marketing, he was responsible for leading the financial recovery of the charity. Lewis also has eighteen years of investment management experience, becoming a director of Gartmore Group Limited, a London-based multi-product asset management firm. He is now an adviser on cultural restitution issues and is founder of the online resource Returningheritage.com. 

Michael was elected as a Trustee in 2022. He has lived in Stratford for over 25 years. Michael and his wife, Kate, have three children. Kate served as Mayor in 2019/20 and will do so for a second time in 2023/2024. As her consort, Michael was – and will continue to be – involved with fundraising activities and the work of local voluntary organisations and charities. In his professional career, he joined the staff of the BBC in 1971, working in London, then Pebble Mill, Birmingham as a Producer, Writer and Director in Radio, TV and Film Drama, subsequently becoming a freelance in that field in 1982. Now retired, Michael maintains an active interest in the local arts scene both as an audience member and as an occasional director with local theatre companies.

Jonathan was appointed as a co-opted Trustee at the beginning of April 2022 and is a qualified accountant with over 25 years’ experience working in public sector finance and currently works in Westminster. As well as being a finance professional he has an MBA and has been a member of the Chartered Management Institute for many years. Brought up in south Birmingham he has recently relocated to Stratford as he loves the area and can be nearer to friends and family. He has been involved with several charities in the arts, development, and justice areas for over 20 years as a chair, trustee or treasurer. To relax he enjoys the arts as well as watching football and rugby and cycling.

Sarah is a nominated Trustee, her term commencing on 1 June 2024. She grew up in Derbyshire and moved to Sheffield where she worked for many years in the hand tool industry in the sales and marketing departments. In 1986, she moved to the Stratford-on-Avon area and worked on the show and exhibition circuit creating and selling object d'art. 2003 saw a huge career change when she joined the Town Council as the Mayor's secretary on a temporary basis. When the Town Council and Town Trust became two entities, she moved with the Council becoming Town Clerk in 2003.  She remained in post for almost twenty years and took early retirement in 2022. Sarah is married to a former Director of Music at Holy Trinity Church, is  a passionate gardener, an avid reader and completely besotted with her animals.

Mark Tailby was appointed as a co-opted Trustee in February 2023. Mark was born in Stratford, moved away and returned in 2020. He now lives with his family in the Old Town area of Stratford. He is a management consultant, with a property background, and also works in commercial solar project management. He has a degree in Sociology from Warwick University, a postgraduate Diploma in Town Planning and a management qualification. Previously Mark has served as a school governor and has worked with a number of third sector organisations as a consultant which has given him useful experience for his role as Trustee. Mark was previously a non-executive member of the Town Trust, which gave him an understanding of the work of the Trust and an interest in becoming a Trustee to help contribute more fully to their important work in Stratford.

Sundash Jassi was appointed as a Non-Executive Member of the Audit & Governance Committee of Stratford Town Trust in 2013 and within this role has served alternate years as Chair of that Committee.  The post provides an independent perspective to the organisation and supports the Committee with its responsibilities relating to risk, control and governance, and all matters relating to the Trust’s constitution, regulations and corporate decision-making processes. Sundash is employed as Audit Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and has worked there for over 20 years.  She has also served on the Board of Trustees of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra since 2019 and has ambitions to learn to play the piano!

David and his wife moved to Warwickshire in 2016 when he retired from full time work. Since then, he has served as the Independent Chair of the Audit Risk and Assurance Committee (ARAC) for the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA); Chair of Governors for Ferncumbe Primary School in Hatton; Chair of the Forward Education Multi Academy Trust (FET) in Birmingham (a Trust dedicated to only educating children with special needs) and was co-opted as a Parish Councillor for his local Parish Council. Before moving to Warwickshire, he was Chair designate of Governors at a large Primary school, a Trustee at a Housing Association and a Mentor on the Young Enterprise Scheme. He has now retired from these positions and is now looking to continue to use his experience in smaller voluntary roles. During his professional career David held senior positions with Royal Mail and the BBC (and several other organisations) and also held consultancy roles with organisations such as DEFRA, the NHS and Care Quality Commission.