The Board is also a living example of intersectionality – 5 of the 7 Directors are LGBTQ+; 5 consider themselves to be Minority Ethnic; and 5 are aged 50+. The majority of the coaches/staff we use are Minority Ethnic and reflect the communities we work with and London itself.
Our Executive Director, Edmund Kung, is a fully qualified coach with extensive experience of running a variety of programmes and with great knowledge of the charitable sector. He was nominated for an award for his work with disabled people in Kensington & Chelsea; and sits on the Grants Advisory Panel of the 'Tackling Inequalities Fund' administered by Versus Arthritis and Sport England as well as the panel for the 'Let's Move Together' Fund, also managed by Versus Arthritis. He also fed into the recent and highly regarded research undertaken by IVAR looking at the issues and experiences of smaller organisations in their quest for funding.
Our Director Jaime Morgan Hitchcock is also particularly committed to making sport available to everyone, and understand full well the health and psychological benefits of regular exercise and participation in organised sport, whether individual or team. He is also co-founder of Advantage Table Tennis Academy, based at Sheffield's English Institute of Sport, which provides disabled people with free table tennis coaching by GB Para Table Tennis national team coaches, as well as international coaching for able-bodied players. In 2018 he was appointed to the board of British Para Table Tennis, the National Governing Body for elite Para Table Tennis.
Other board members include an NHS Consultant, a Chartered Accountant, a GP, a Corporate Professional, and a Clinical Research Nurse. Our Directors are: Edmund Kung, Jaime Morgan Hitchcock, Michael Pang, Juel Tuazon, Lissa Landis, Dr Sue Hunt, and Dr Simon Lloyd-Owen.
In addition to the Board, which has legal responsibility for the organisation we have an Advisory Group of service users, past and present, who help ensure our projects are as good as they can be; and several volunteers who help us run programmes, manage our website and social media, assist with fundraising, and do an all round fantastic job!
We encourage all our staff and participants to think about the environment, by encouraging people to walk or cycle to our sessions, to bring their own water/drinks container so they can refill; and to eat healthily and shop locally to reduce carbon footprint and support local businesses!