A Thank You and Goodbye to Four of our Trustees

Our Trustees are tremendously important to our work and lead us through all that we do and achieve. The last two years have been particularly hard and clear headed, kind leadership has been extremely important, and we have been lucky to have such a proactive and supportive board.

At the end of this academic year, we say goodbye to four of our long-standing Trustees who have come to the end of their terms.  We are very sad to say goodbye, but we want to thank them for all the hours of support that they have given our charity.  Every one of these trustees has been instrumental in the development of CLPE helping us to expand and develop our work and building in new and innovative ways.

Nicky Parker served as our Chair of Trustees since 2016 and we are extremely grateful for the leadership she has shown us through a period of growth and then uncertainty when the pandemic hit. Nicky brought her tremendous experience in publishing and the importance of children’s rights to her role and we benefited from her interest in the long term power of children’s fiction and picture books to broaden horizons, develop empathy and inspire young people to stand up and make a difference.

Elaine McQuade has had a very long association with CLPE and most recently served as our Vice Chair of Trustees for many years. Elaine brought us unique insights about the publishing industry from her long career in children’s publishing and supported our strategic development, board development and helped us to develop our marketing and brand in a positive and strategic way.

Caroline Pidgeon was originally appointed to our Board under our arrangement with Southwark Council and then joined us in her own right when her council term ended. Caroline is currently an elected Member of the London Assembly and has been key to helping us negotiate the political landscape and helping us to ask probing and strategic questions.

Ali Mawle is Director of Cheltenham Festivals and brought this experience as well as her experience as Head of Schools at the National Gallery and as a primary teacher, literacy advisor, Deputy Head Teacher and ITE tutor. Ali was instrumental in our long-standing partnership with Cheltenham Festival and has helped us to reach school audiences across the regions with her strategic advice.

We would like to thank them all for their support and commitment over many years – including through the process of appointing and mentoring new members of our board who will be able to build on their tremendous examples of leadership as we move forward into the next 50 years.