Meet the team
OUR STAFF
AISHA ELLIOT
Support Worker
Bio coming soon
BETH TALBOTT
Finance Manager
Beth has worked as a Finance Manager for over 20 years in a variety of different sectors – telephony, pharmaceutical, law and accountancy. She brings this experience and a love of numbers (and languages) with her. With 4 grown up daughters, she is enthusiastic about the work that we do with young people at the Avenues. She is responsible for managing the day to day finances, tracking income and expenditure across our various projects.
BRIYANNAH CALLENDER
Support Worker
Briyannah started attending The Avenues Youth Project in 2015, during her time as a young person she made a lot of friends and participated in a variety of activities and workshops such as cooking, multi-sports, 2-3 degrees and much more. Transitioning from a young person to support worker wasn’t easy for Briyannah as it meant she had to take on more responsibilities and grow out of being a young person to become a young leader of youth work. However, completing her Level 1 in youth work encouraged her to pursue in the direction of change and development for the young people the same way it did her.
CANDACE FONTAIN
Youth Worker
Candice is an ex Avenues member who began working as a volunteer at the Avenues whilst studying for her degree at University. She continued to work with us on a part-time basis and now leads our Girls' Hub on Tuesday evenings alongside her full-time role of Behaviour and Wellbeing Centre Manager at a secondary school. Candice is training to become a qualified counsellor and also holds a certificate in mental health first aid. She is passionate about assisting families and supporting young people in an holistic way.
CAROL ARCHIBALD
Programme Director
Carol joined The Avenues as a member aged 14 and never really left! After graduating she worked in the City for 12 years, sustaining a part-time position as a youth worker in her evenings. Heading up our programmes since 2008, Carol is responsible for managing the content, planning, staffing and delivery of our projects and activities and is actively involved in supporting numerous young people, some into adulthood. She holds a BA Hons in Youth Work and Business Management, and a Level 5 Diploma in Education & Training.
CAROL BENT
Consultant
In 1980 Carol joined The Avenues as a volunteer, then youth worker, acting as an inspirational leader, motivator and father-figure for generations of young people. In 1998 Carol was made Senior Youth Worker, until 2014 when he semi-retired taking on the role of Finance Manager. Known locally as “Ledge”, Carol is hugely respected, having dedicated his life to young people in our community, and he continues to offer valuable input as a consultant.
CRUZ FONTAINE-HARROW
Support Worker
Bio coming soon
DELPHINE HERMAN
Youth Worker
Heading up our music suite, qualified youth worker Delphine is a recording artist and producer. He inspires and trains our members in music production, song writing and lyrics. Young people can either dabble and develop their creative skills or go further and learn to perform and produce professional quality tracks that can lead to careers in the music industry. Del also leads our accredited music and sound engineer training programmes.
DERNEL GABRIEL
Youth Worker
Dernel is an ex-Avenues member who is a children's book author. She has a background of working with young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Dernel currently leads the Sporty Saturday's cooking sessions. She is a firm believer that any child/ young person can cook given the right guidance and support.
ETHAN CAPRICE
Lead Youth Worker
Like many of our youth workers, Ethan started coming to The Avenues as a member aged 13 and continues to live in the community. As well as working with our Juniors after-school, Ethan is the club’s Judo Instructor and Lead Youth Worker for The Avenues Judo Club, which not only teaches self-defence but channels energy and builds up confidence, co-ordination and teamwork.
FFION CHAMBERS
Impact + Evaluation Manager
Ffion joined The Avenues in early 2019, initally as Operations Manager before moving to manage our monitoring, evaluation and impact. With a degree in Childhood Studies and a Masters in Psychology of Education Ffion worked for The Challenge, and as Operations Manager and Expedition Manager for Raleigh International in Tanzania.
JEVONTE DE ABREAU
Youth Worker
Jevonte started attending The Avenues at the age of 12 years old , and started volunteering at the age of 15. He was inspired by a lot of youth workers and wanted to become a member of the team, which motivated him to do a Level 3 Diploma in Sports in college . After completing his course, he decided to do a Level 1 in Youth Work which he found quite easy and interesting. To challenge himself, he is currently doing his Level 2 in Youth Work as he is a young man that loves to push himself and always thrives for the best . He is very passionate about sports but is always keen to learn and try out new things. He is very confident and aims to give out positive energy throughout the community.
JUDE TYRRELL
Corporate Fundraiser
Jude is a senior commercial and arts executive with over 25 years’ experience of building and managing teams across a range of sectors, from major international art exhibitions, restaurants, publishing, and film production. Previously a trustee of Damien Hirst’s charity VICTIM, and director and trustee of Chickenshed Theatre Company, since 2017 Jude has been an active fundraiser and key supporter of The Avenues, leading on their community events and corporate connections.
KEIGHLEY MCNEISH
Head of Learning
Keighley is an ex-member of The Avenues, youth worker since 2005 and secondary school teacher since 2011. She is responsible for delivering accredited coursework and youth worker training at The Avenues, compiling learning resources and marking work. Holding a BA Hons in Education and Child Wellbeing, Level 5 Diploma in Education & Training, Qualified Teacher Status for Further Education, Keighley lives locally and is passionate about helping our children progress.
LEWYS JONES
Youth Worker
Having worked as a youth worker and community development officer in Cardiff and across Wales for the last 5 years, Lewys has significant experience in mentoring and empowering young people. Lewys is also a musician and producer, and he is looking forward to lead and guide young people on different musical journeys.
MARCUS LEON
Programme Manager
Another former Avenues member, Marcus worked as a part-time youth worker at The Avenues from 2010, whilst working in education both as a SEN teacher and Inclusion Manager. Marcus was appointed The Avenues’s full-time Senior Youth Worker in March 2020 and is now responsible for managing our senior members’ and employment projects, adding much needed bandwidth to our delivery. He is also studying for a Masters in Appied Anthropology and Youth Work at Goldsmiths University.
MARY NYAMIE
Youth Worker
Bio coming soon
MARK BROWN
Senior Youth Worker
Mark brings to The Avenues an array of knowledge, experience and dynamism working with grassroots community initiatives and world-renowned institutions in local and international settings, with a focus on arts and cultural education. A SOAS (School of Oriental & African Studies) alumni, born & raised in Westbourne Park, Mark combines close community and familial ties with an expansive outlook on Youth Work, Outreach, Youth Voice, Social Action & Culture to enhance deliveries across our programming.
NEILAH WILSON
Administrator
Neilah joined The Avenues in December 2020. A Business and Criminology graduate, and both an ex-Avenues member and former employee, after 10 years as a retail manager, Neilah came back to join The Avenues as our Administrator. She is a very family-orientated person and hopes to bring all her experiences together to support the growing Avenues family.
NICOLE FORDE
Youth Worker
With radio presentation and production an ever-popular component of our music offer, qualified youth worker Nicole heads up radio projects aimed at helping develop the confidence and skills of our members. An experienced radio DJ with her own show on The Beat LDN, Nicole holds a degree in Media, and also works in The Avenues office supporting our monitoring and evaluation work.
PADDY BARNES
Chief Executive
With an LLB (Hons) law degree from Bristol University, a background in business, and experience in community project funding, Paddy became a volunteer fundraiser for The Avenues in 2017 after learning about its loss of public funding. He became committed to improving and sustaining The Avenues’ long-term future and subsequently became a trustee, before taking on the fundraising role in 2019 and Chief Exec role in 2022.
RAJAA BOUCHAB
Lead Youth Worker
Rajaa is our Lead at Saturday Seniors. Before joining Avenues, Rajaa provided a Late Night Project to young people in or at risk of serious youth violence. A professional Youth and Community Development Practitioner who has vast experience working within inner-London projects to help support hard to reach young people. Rajaa holds a Level 6 in Youth Work & a BA degree in Applied Social Science Community Development and Youth Work.
RENÉE ALLEYNE
Social Media Manager
Renée joined The Avenues to handle the content output on our increasingly important social media channels. Holding a degree in Forensic Science and Criminology Renée has 8 years of working in social media management and content production from Kiss FM and Boxpark. Renée loves all things music, musicals and of course social media.
RIDWAAN ALI
Lead Youth Worker
Ridwaan Ali a Lead Youth Worker at The Avenues Youth Club with 6 years of youth work under his belt. He also works as higher learning teaching assistant and runs the sports side at Queens Park Primary School. Through his role at The Avenues, he does his best to organise and run community programmes aimed at young people, and through these programmes, he will help them to explore and understand their ideas, values and beliefs, building their confidence and life skills so that they can make a successful transition to adulthood.
SHIVANI DODHIA
Operations Manager
Shivani joined The Avenues team in January 2020 after graduating from university with a degree in International Relations and Spanish. Working part-time in our office, she has a passion for working with young people and providing them with a safe and fun environment to develop and flourish into young adults. Shivani’s role encompasses building management, staff and volunteer training, and office administration.
SIMON BIRMINGHAM
Youth Worker
Simon has multiple roles here at The Avenues which are Youth & Lead Worker, Mentor and Minibus Driver. He also works in a school supporting the young people with their educational and behavioural needs. He has over 19 years of play work experience and is our lead arts & crafts worker which through his art programmes he aims to give the young people a sense of achievement and allow them to take pride in their work which builds confidence.
TAKARA JOSEPH
Youth Worker
Like most of the team Takara’s Avenues journey started as a member at the age of 8. Music and all things creative have always been a passion for Takara and this along with youth work is where her talents lie. A performer, song writer, jewellery designer and artist as well as an experienced youth worker, Takara strives to provide our juniors and seniors with a safe space in which they can be supported, learn new things, but most importantly have fun.
TANIA MOURA
Holiday Receptionist
Tania is our friendly receptionist during our Holiday Programmes. When she not at The Avenues during the holidays, she's doing a Level 3 Apprenticeship in Early Years, and when she's not working, she is with her two kids.
TOM WEGG-PROSSER
Grants Fundraiser
With a background in music management and as a musician touring the world, Tom then trained and worked in psychotherapy for 5 years, before joining Avenues in 2022. Tom lives locally and is a strong believer in supporting young people and giving them opportunities. He holds a MSc in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy and a BA in History & Politics.
TYNAE CALLENDER
Youth Worker
Bio coming soon
WAYNE LOUIS
Lead Youth Worker
Wayne attended The Avenues from the age of 13 and became ingrained into the club, which aided his transformation from member to youth worker. Having such deep-rooted connections with the community gives Wayne the necessary tools needed to challenge and motivate local young people to fulfil their potential.
OUR TRUSTEES
CHRIS MURRAY
Trustee
Chris is CEO of Young Brent Foundation, working to create a community partnership model that unites a diverse voluntary youth sector, equipping members with resources they need to increase capacity and become more sustainable. Chris has been Strategic Commissioner for Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, Head of Youth & Connexions Services in Norfolk, and Youth Programmes & Projects Manager for Young Hackney. Experienced in front line youth and community work, with a keen interest in intercultural dialogue, intersectionality and complex trauma. Chris is a Trustee at KMPG Foundation and Partnership for Young London.
CORRINA RALPH
Treasurer
Corrina is a senior financial executive with more than 14 years’ experience leading finance, legal and HR functions. She is Managing Director for Watts Group, a firm of consultants to the property and construction industry, and previously worked in the healthcare sector as Financial Controller of Nualtra and as Finance Director for FDB UK. Corrina has a B. Comm and an LL.B (Hons) from the National University of Ireland and is a qualified accountant. She is actively involved in the financial management of The Avenues, implementing new processes and systems to assist the charity’s growth.
EARTHA POND
Trustee
Eartha Pond started coming to Avenues as a teenager 20 years ago. Still living in the community, Eartha is an ex-professional footballer (Arsenal and Spurs), has won UK Sports Teacher of the Year, was Global Teacher Prize Finalist in 2017, and is currently a BBC Radio Sport Summariser, international keynote speaker and the elected Vice Chair of Queen’s Park Community Council. In 2020 she launched a non-profit organisation to help improve academic achievement amongst disadvantaged GCSE students in London schools. In her (limited) free time Eartha enjoys sport, music and theatre.
GEOFFREY WHITE
Company Secretary
Geoffrey is a retired long-standing partner of the international law firm Clifford Chance LLP. Geoffrey holds Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Commerce degrees from Melbourne University, Australia and Master of Laws from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, USA. He practised in the London, Tokyo and New York offices of Clifford Chance over a period of more than 40 years specialising in international finance.
GRAEME RUSSELL
Trustee
Graeme joined as a trustee in 2019 after working with The Avenues on strategic planning through the Pilotlight programme. Graeme is a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley where he is Head of Compliance for Europe, Middle East and Africa. He graduated from the University of Aberdeen with an Honours law degree and worked as a litigator at Linklaters and Paines and subsequently in various roles at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, in London and Hong Kong. Graeme has various interests outside of work, including reading, sport and music and is married with three children.
JENNIE MARSHALL
Chair of Trustees
Jennie originally joined The Avenues as a volunteer and became a trustee in 2016. Living locally, she has a degree in education from London University and a diploma in learning difficulties, and has been involved in education as a teacher, tutor, school governor, and school owner. She also has experience as a director of a property company, as part of a farming partnership, and on the fundraising committee of the Rugby Portobello Trust.
JULIA COURT
Trustee
Julia joined the board of Avenues in 2016, having previously worked with The Avenues on a pro bono basis. She is a partner at Addleshaw Goddard specialising for over 20 years in construction and major projects in the UK and internationally. Julia has managed specialist teams within a number of law firms and is particularly interested in talent development and wellbeing. Outside of work she enjoys music, art and sport. In early 2020, Julia organised a fundraising concert for The Avenues, featuring our young people and stars of Hamilton The Musical.
KEIR TUTT
Trustee
Having graduated in Law LLB Hons from Brunel University, Keir has spent most of his career in business process outsourcing companies, serving many large corporate clients. Keir is currently the Operations Director at Nudge Global, a fintech company providing financial education through technology with the aim of helping people manage their money. He is also responsible for the compliance of the company. Keir's main passion outside work is sport, having played rugby for many years. Keir has spent the last 15 years coaching young football teams, giving everybody the opportunity to develop, both in a sporting and a social context.
LOUISA GREGORY
Trustee
As a general management professional with a specialisation in human resource management, Louisa has spent most of her career working in the telecommunications sector, including in customer facing roles, operations, human resources and general management roles. She is currently Chief of Staff with Colt Technology Services. After relocating to London in 2017 from Singapore, Louisa was keen to contribute to local services that support young people “getting a foot in the door”. In her spare time, her passions are triathlon, reading, cooking and theatre.
VIRGINIA ASHTON
Vice Chair
Virginia became involved with The Avenues in 1992 and, at the turn of the millennium, was responsible for the successful campaign to raise funds for the construction of the current Avenues building. She has worked with the voluntary sector in Paddington for over 50 years and is also a trustee of Paddington Development Trust.