Trustees are elected to the Board at the Annual General Meeting. The usual procedure
is for prospective Trustees to contact the Society and initially attend Board meetings
as observers. Meetings are usually held in York 4 times a year with all reasonable
expenses paid, including overnight accommodation. A majority of Board members must
have been personally affected by encephalitis either themself, a family member or
a friend. Professionals and others with an interest in encephalitis are also welcome
to put themselves forward.
Martin McLeish, Chair
I live in Welwyn Garden City, just North of London. I was a teacher for 35 years
until my wife's illness, at which point I took early retirement to be her carer.
Ruth developed a severe Herpes Simplex Encephalitis whilst we were on holiday in
North America, in the year 2000. She died in June 2005 of a chest infection that
could not be halted, despite two weeks of intensive care in the local hospital.
As Ruth's carer, I spent a great deal of time both in hospital, and at home, trying
to come to terms with this illness and to gain some understanding of it and its
rehabilitation. We joined the Society as soon as Ruth became ill, and I decided
at that time to do all I could to help, as the best support we had been given came
from the advice and experience of the Society. I also became a member of the Patient
and Carer Network of the Royal College of Physicians and Chairman of the Public
Involvement Panel of the local PCT. I became a Trustee of the Society at the first
opportunity, with the aim of contributing what I could to the understanding of the
illness - and to the support of those affected by it.
Trustees are elected to the Board at the Annual General Meeting. The usual procedure
is for prospective Trustees to contact the Society and initially attend Board meetings
as observers. Meetings are usually held in York 4 times a year with all reasonable
expenses paid, including overnight accommodation. A majority of Board members must
have been personally affected by encephalitis either themself, a family member or
a friend. Professionals and others with an interest in encephalitis are also welcome
to put themselves forward.
Tim Spring, Vice Chair
Tim is a solicitor specialising in clinical negligence with a particular interest
in the diagnosis and treatment of encephalitis. He qualified as a solicitor
in 1982 and since 1990 has undertook clinical negligence work almost exclusively.
For 8 years he was the Course Director of the UK's first University accredited clinical
risk management programme and is a Founding Director and Trustee of the Association
of Litigation and Risk Managers (ALARM). Tm leads a small team of clinical
negligence specialists at Moore & Blatch Solicitors.
Keith Dowell, Secretary
Born in Leeds, Keith worked 33 years for the railways as an accountant in a variety
of posts. He lives in North Yorkshire with wife Elaine and three grown up children.
He helped to set up the Encephalitis Support Group after son Andrew contracted encephalitis
at the age of seven, initially dealing with the accounts and moving on to Company
secretary. Keith is interested in the environment, renewable energy and combating
global warming. He has a smallholding and works for the biggest UK conservation
charity, BTCV.
Leigh Palmer, Treasurer
My connection with encephalitis is an indirect one through my wife, Kim.
Kim’s father died from encephalitis just two weeks after the diagnosis when he was
only 36 years old – just 6 weeks before her twelfth birthday. Her mum was 33, and
her brother was 10. It is thought that he contracted encephalitis whilst run down
from a period of repeated transatlantic flights, starting with cold like symptoms
and initially diagnosed as a problem with his balance before a correct diagnosis.
This all happened two years before we met.
It wasn’t until we had been married for a few years that Kim first came across the
existence of the Encephalitis Support Group, as it was called then, from a womens
magazine. She was very keen to become a member and support the group as she felt
that there had been no support around when her father died – not even bereavement
counselling.
It was in one of the newsletters that a call was sent out looking for an accountant
to become a trustee and treasurer. Whilst not qualified at the time, I was ‘qualified
by experience’ and subsequently volunteered my services and became treasurer more
than ten years ago. And I am still here . . . I hope I have been able to use my experience
to the benefit of the Society
Since becoming a trustee I have now qualified as a Chartered Accountant. We live
in a farmhouse in the Suffolk countryside and have two daughters and various animals,
and support all things green.
Colin Dellar
I contracted encephalitis when I was 25 but over the years have regained my health
and fitness. I come from Cheltenham where I worked before retirement for 37 years
as a teacher trainer and chartered psychologist at the University of Gloucestershire.
I have been a trustee of the Society now for over eleven years, the last three as
Acting Chair and Chair. For the last five years I have been raising funds for our
company and familiarising our locality with Encephalitis by giving talks on the
nature of Psychology, a talk which always includes about ten minutes on encephalitis.
I am married with three children, a doctor, one
a qualified nurse and one a solicitor. Increasingly they are able to advise me in
various ways on matters pertaining to our company. My eldest son, for example, advises
me on Charity Matters as this is a major part of his work for a legal firm in London.
Increasingly he has involved himself in the work of the society. The other two can
translate the medical jargon associated with encephalitis in to comprehensible language
for me! I enjoy working for the society and believe that our trustees and staff
are working productively together at the moment.
Adèle MacKinlay
Adèle MacKinlay is Director of Staff and Student Services at Aston University, responsible
for the welfare of staff and students, through the direct leadership of Human Resources,
Staff Development, Equality & Diversity, Student Support, Residences, Sport and
Recreation, Health & Safety, Security, Campus Services, Chaplaincy and the primary
liaison between the University and the Students’ Guild. Adèle is the University’s
Secretary-Registrar. Prior to joining Aston University in 2009, Adèle’s career was
spent primarily in the Financial Services sector. She worked in a number of senior
executive positions for well over a decade, both operational and administrative,
at MBNA EBL (now Bank of America) and then moved to a ‘portfolio career’, working
for a financial services consultancy company, as well as providing executive coaching
to individuals and teams in both the public and private sectors. Adèle studied languages
at Salford University.
Adèle is the proud mother of three young children and devoted wife to Garry. She
enjoys hill walking, running, ski-ing, reading and all things Italian. Adèle’s mother,
Margaret, became seriously ill with herpes simplex encephalitis in 1998 at the age
of 49 (and subsequently died in 2003). The support of The Encephalitis Society was
critical to the family in understanding an illness of which they had previously
not heard and supporting the whole family through some very dark days. The family
has over the years supported the Encephalitis Society as far as they are able to
financially (primarily through raising sponsorship money), and Adèle has for some
time wanted to make a broader contribution to the Society. Adèle considers being
a Trustee on the Board a great privilege and is passionate about supporting the
Encephalitis Society.
Jane Davies
I am married with two teenage children and live in Portsmouth. I work as a PA/Secretary/Events
Organiser and have 30 years experience in this field. I lived in Zimbabwe for seven
years and thoroughly enjoyed being involved in various charities. In this country
my working experience has been with the NHS, a housing association and various charities.
For five years I was vice chair of my son’s school PTA helping to organise events
and raise money.
My son Ben contracted viral meningoencephalitis six years ago while we were on holiday
in Australia. He was extremely lucky and made a good recovery with a few memory
lapses and concentration issues. I was very grateful to the society for the help,
advice and support that they offered to us and want to be actively involved in contributing
something back.
Last modified: February 2011