ABBEYFIELD - Key Persons
Alison worked as a community carer for seventeen years before joining Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking and Felsted Society in 2017.
In 2021 she took on the position of house manger for Great Bradfords House which involves looking after the general well being of the residents. She is also responsible for a small team which includes the kitchen and domestic staff.
She finds the job very rewarding especially when she sees residents enjoying the many activities.
When she isn't working, she like to cook and spend time with her family.
Barbara spent 35 years working in predominantly in the public sector, with the last 23 years of her career spent working within the education sector. Barbara moved from a teaching role in further education to an administrative role in higher education. Barbara's final post was supporting a Directorate Team and co-ordinating two main areas of activity - Finance and Human Resources.
Barbara's late mother was a resident at one of the houses run by the Society. The Society's compassionate and sensitive attitude towards her as an elderly person who wanted to live independently and yet required practical help to do so was awe inspiring.
Cass Murray joined Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking and Felsted Society in March 2011, whilst still enjoying a part time interest working in fashion on the manufacturing and designing side.
Cass manages the Abbeyfield House in Felsted alongside her small team of devoted and caring staff in a family environment. Being brought up in her family's nursing home she has always understood from a young age the needs of people in care.
Cass enjoys the Theatre and spending as much time as possible with her family.
Catherine Hutley has spent most of her life in Essex. She is the daughter of a farmer from Saffron Walden, married to another and proud of all things Essex. She is past Chairman and Treasurer of the Friends of Essex Churches Events Committee and Past President of the Essex Agricultural Society. She works within the family farming business in the office and administration. Her hobbies include travel, horse racing, skiing, tennis, cycling, fine arts and theatre but most importantly family and friends.
For the first eighteen years after a degree in civil engineering David Summersgill worked in construction for local and central government finishing as a Director in a London Borough. After studying part-time for an MBA at London Business School he became a freelance management consultant, working for the past eighteen years as an associate of Deloitte Consulting acting as a change manager in senior positions in client organisations. In addition David has worked on more traditional consulting assignments for over fifty local authorities, as well as advising the private sector with regard to local government.
Diane joined Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking and Felsted Society in February 2015, having previously worked in recruitment.
Having worked as House Manager at Great Bradfords House, Diane now deals with the marketing of all four houses, coordinating filling any vacancies and fundraising for the Society. As a charity, it is vital that we raise awareness of our aims to provide housing for the elderly, encourage support locally and continue to grow and improve.
Diane lives locally in Great Notley and is mum to four children. In her spare time, she is an avid supported of Manchester City Football Club going to matches whenever possible.
Gill joined Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking and Felsted Society in September 2020 having previously worked in the new homes industry for over 20 years.
Gill joined Diane and the marketing team to help with the sales of apartments at Polly's Field Village and is fully committed to raising the awareness of the Abbeyfield society in the local area.
Gill lives locally and enjoys watching football, gardening and travelling in her VW camper van.
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair
- Trustee of Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking
Ian was appointed as a Trustee of Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking and Felsted Society (ABBFS) in 2004. He is a qualified accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA). Ian's father and mother-in-law have both been residents of ABBFS and spent many happy years there. He was very impressed with the friendliness and compassion shown to residents and wanted to contribute to ABBFS success.
Lyndsay joined Great Bradfords House in October 2017 when Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking and Felsted Society formed their own care team. She enjoyed providing care and support for the residents and became a Care Team Leader before becoming assistant manager.
Prior to joining us Lyndsay worked in Domiciliary Care for 20 years and had worked for the NHS as a registered mental health nurse before this. Lyndsay was promoted to Polly's Field Manager in October 2021 and is enjoying her new role in our amazing retirement village.
Job Titles:
- American Corporation, Cigna, As the Assistant Director, Global Security
Martin started his career serving in Her Majesty's Armed Forces, within the Royal Military Police, where he spent considerable time undercover on the Drugs Investigation Team conducting covert operations for both the Military and Civil Police Forces in the UK and working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in various Embassies across the globe. He resigned from the British Army following his last tour of duty in Northern Ireland where he was tasked with investigating terrorist related incidents for the Force Intelligence Unit.
After leaving the Armed Forces he pursued a career in the private Security sector, working with both commercial and private clients. His private clients included a high net worth businessman, for whom he worked over 18 years. During his time with him he managed his private security team also managing a diverse portfolio of properties and businesses. Commercial clients included BAE Systems where he was instrumental in setting up the operational infrastructure for the MAI BAE Turkey Systems project working alongside the Turkish Aviation on the TF-X programme.
Martin currently works for an American corporation, Cigna, as the Assistant Director, Global Security and Aviation International Markets. He is responsible for the operational threat and risk for all Cigna employees and premises in 21 Countries. Part of his role is to ensure that all compliance matters are adhered to and kept up to date according to the ISO 9001: 2015 along with Business Continuity Planning.
Martin became a Trustee of Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking and Felsted Society in November 2011.
Michele joined Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking and Felsted Society in February 2007 having spent 23 years in the Armed Forces. She joined as a part time Administrative Assistant and has held various posts during her time with the Society including Activities Coordinator, Company Secretary and more recently became the full time Operations Manager but also carrying on with the responsibilities of the Company Secretary.
Michele is responsible for the day to day management of the Society and remains in contact with the trustees to facilitate a responsive and effective management structure.
In her spare time, Michele still manages to coach and play netball and is involved with various committees to do the sport within East Essex.
Pam Fensome lives in Berkhamsted in Herts with her husband and Labrador dog Barney. She has two children and four grandchildren, all who live within half an hour.
Her career started at P&O cruises where she worked for ten years in what was then called Personnel Department. This involved recruiting people to go to sea and managing their leave and sickness. At weekends she visited the ships in Southampton to deal with queries and problems.
She then left P&O to have her first child. To keep her hand in she worked for a local HR business one day a week.
While the children were young she had several part time roles working locally until she joined 3Com, at this stage as part time. It was not long before this became full time and as the company grew so did her roles and responsibilities. Her latter role being responsible for sales teams in South Africa, UAE, Russia, Germany and UK. In 2010 3Com were taken over by Hewlett Packard. Pam worked for them for 12 months before taking voluntary redundancy and retiring early.
This is when she joined Abbeyfield. Firstly as a Trustee and the Chair of a local society. Whilst doing this role she was asked whether she would be interested in becoming the Regional Chair for the East. She continued in this role until last year when the role was no longer required.
Her hobbies are gardening, reading and travelling.
Sandra joined Abbeyfield Braintree Bocking and Felsted Society in 1993 as a Weekend Teatime Assistant at Wickham House.
She was then promoted to Deputy Manager at Georgian House and after 3 years Sandra was promoted again to Manager. When Georgian House closed in 2007 she moved back to Wickham House where she is House Manager.
Sandra still enjoys the everyday challenges and finds her work with the residents very rewarding and is proud of her achievements. This is due to the support that the Trustees, staff, and her family have given over the years.
Tony Cramphorn joined the Society in March 2000 as a volunteer and trustee. He was appointed Treasurer at the time and has helped steer the Society through many changes in the intervening 22 years. His previous experience as Sales Director of then, the largest chain of private Garden centres in the UK, and subsequently as Managing Director, has served him in good stead to provide management and promotional expertise to the business.
In his time administering the finances, the Society has grown from 3 modest homes supporting some 24 sheltered housing rooms to 168 flats, and en-suite studios accommodating around 250 residents. He is a passionate supporter of the aims of the Society to provide local homes for local people especially when they cannot provide it for themselves.
Situated in Braintree, Wickham House opened in October 1993 and was thoroughly refurbished in 2015. Offering a balance of privacy and companionship in a modern town house, the house has… Find Out More
Wickham House was opened in October 1993 and extensively refurbished in 2015. It offers a balance of privacy and companionship in a modern town house and has 17 studio apartments all with en-suite shower rooms. Wickham House has a beautiful landscaped back garden with a circular walk , plenty of seating and a stunning summer house.
17 one bed apartments Bring your own furniture All apartments have en-suite shower/wet room Stair lift & lift to all floors Three meals a day; breakfast, lunch and dinner Manager and a team of support staff on site 7 days a week Out of hours care provided by Care Call Emergency Responder Domestic staff clean your room weekly Visits by GP & District Nurse and Chiropodist Window Cleaning Gardening Emergency call response All property repairs
Situated in Braintree, Wickham House opened in October 1993 and was thoroughly refurbished in 2015. Offering a balance of privacy and companionship in a modern town house, the house has 17 studio rooms. Residents bring their own furniture and have a studio with an en-suite shower room, TV and telephone points. This friendly, warm house for over 65's provides all meals, along with laundry and housekeeping.