"Although I have never been in a choir, I have had a love of choral music from an early age...

...and loved attending concerts with my parents. I also took piano lessons as a child and later worked as a self-employed piano teacher while my children were young. I was choir secretary for Wigan Girls' Choir while my daughter was a member, and first heard of the National Youth Choir when my daughter became a member of the Training Choir in 1999. I then applied to work on the courses as a member of the pastoral team (much to her disgust) and I have been here ever since, first as Head of Pastoral Care and since 2015 as the newly-appointed Head of Safeguarding. I have been employed by local government for the past 11 years, working with vulnerable teenagers in a care setting. This work has given me a wide experience of safeguarding/child protection, and the training I have received has been invaluable in my new role for the National Youth Choir.