Home-Start Wandsworth is governed by a group of volunteer trustees. Their job is to guide and govern the scheme and each trustee brings a different skill. They meet regularly to plan the direction of the charity and lead any activities that support the work of the coordinators and volunteers.
Maria Kinsella, Chair of Trustees
Maria joined Home-Start Wandsworth in 2010 as a home-visiting volunteer supporting families. She went on to become a trustee on the fundraising committee in 2016 and has been Chair of Trustees since 2017. She has extensive experience in a number of volunteering and charity roles including Vice Chair of the Friends of King’s College School, fundraising for Shooting Star Chase, and volunteering for Glass Door Homeless Charity, at the Wandsworth Foodbank and in the Putney Cards for Good Causes shop. Before stopping work to start her family, Maria was an HR Manager for Ernst & Young.
maria@homestartwandsworth.org.uk
Holly Stilgoe, Vice Chair and Fundraising
Holly became a trustee in early 2015, having been a home-visiting volunteer for Home-Start since 2014. She used to work as a criminal defence solicitor at a local firm and has extensive experience of volunteering. She also volunteers with Little Village, one of Home-Start Wandsworth’s local charity partners. She has been Vice Chair of Trustees since 2017, supporting the role of the Chair and leading the fundraising events committee.
holly@homestartwandsworth.org.uk
Karen Robertson, HR
Karen has a wealth of experience in senior HR roles in IT and telecommunications in the private sector and ensures that our legal and contractual obligations to our employees are met and maintained, as well as contributing her general business experience to the management of the organisation. Karen is also a trustee of the Home-Start London consortium.
karen@homestartwandsworth.org.uk
Sam Wemyss, Fundraising and Safeguarding
Sam previously worked in operations management within the investment banking sector. She has subsequently volunteered for a number of charities working on corporate fundraising, education and charity partnerships. She is also a Home-Start volunteer.
sam@homestartwandsworth.org.uk
Kate Swinburn (PhD), Health & Monitoring, Evaluation and Diversity & Inclusion
Kate has 25 years’ experience of working across acute and community settings in the NHS, in academia and in the third sector. She has a professional interest in outcome measurement and disability issues. Kate has experience of, and contacts in, the local health economy (the local CCG and Public Health). She was impressed by the passion and professionalism of Home-Start Wandsworth, and wished to offer her skills to support local families. She brings her professional experience to support strategic and operational planning at Home-Start Wandsworth.
kate@homestartwandsworth.org.uk
Jamie Fergusson, Treasurer and Risk
Jamie began a career in investment management and worked for a number of years with Jupiter Asset Management before moving into roles in private practice as a consultant financial adviser, specialising in investment management and personal tax planning. He became a trustee and honorary adviser to the finance committee of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund in 2012, a charity which provides financial and practical help to doctors, medical students and their families who by reason of mental or physical ill health find themselves unable to practise or in financial difficulties. He joined Home-Start Wandsworth as a trustee in 2015 and was appointed Treasurer in 2021.
jamie@homestartwandsworth.org.uk
Linda Hayllar, Fundraising and Legal
Linda joined Home-Start Wandsworth as a trustee in 2015. Her main focus is on fundraising activities as part of our fundraising events committee. She has extensive experience in a number of charity roles, including as a committee member of Putney Parish Action, for years chairing the Putney Parish Action Ball committee. She was also the Treasurer of the Putney NCT branch. Before she started her family, Linda was a solicitor focusing on commercial property.
linda@homestartwandsworth.org.uk
Preya Chauhan, Community Engagement
Preya joined Home-Start Wandsworth in 2018 as a beneficiary. Having relocated to London at 8 months pregnant, hundreds of miles from close friends and family, a health worker referred Preya to our services. Preya found solace and specialist support through one of our home-visiting befriending volunteers and, once back on her feet, was keen to give back, which led her to becoming a Home-Start Wandsworth trustee in 2020. She enjoys volunteering and has done so with the Red Cross in Ecuador, Greenpeace Birmingham and Nritya Arts, a local Asian Youth Arts organisation. With an extensive and varied career working in the Arts and Health sectors over the past 20 years, including for the BBC and NHS, and her recent experience of overcoming struggles as a new mother, Preya seeks to bring a fresh eye to Home-Start Wandsworth’s programmes.
Preya enjoys embroidery, science fiction audiobooks, and travelling in her new motorhome Bertie with her family.
