Meet the Board
Learn more about the Board of Trustees that runs Our Dementia Choir
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VICKY Mc CLURE
Vicky McClure is 37 years old, actor and presenter of BBC One’s ‘Our Dementia Choir’. Vicky is Chair for the charity ‘Our Dementia Choir’.
Having made very personal connections with the ‘Our Dementia Choir’ members and their family & carers Vicky is determined to continue creating a place in which people living with dementia can challenge themselves whilst building friendships and gaining all the positive effects music has. Vicky is ambitious and has high hopes the formula of Our Dementia Choir will eventually reach far and wide.
With an incredibly devoted and professional team we aim to ensure Our Dementia Choir gains the support, funding and joy that allows the group and future groups to be a part of something that has scientifically proven to improve the lives of people living with dementia through the power of music.
Rob Tomlinson
I was invited to become a trustee, having been involved in mental health services for older people in Nottinghamshire for over twenty years, as in my role I have seen the benefit first hand of music and belonging to a choir to many mental health conditions, including dementia
Mark De-Lisser
Mark De-Lisser is one of the most sought after choral directors, vocal coaches and arrangers in the industry. Having studied at both Colchester Institute and Central School of Speech and Drama, where he earned a Masters in Voice Studies, Mark went on to teach at many established institutions including The Brit School, University of Westminster and the Academy of Contemporary Music.
Although some may know him for his work as a vocal coach on many BBC TV programmes such as "The Voice," "Let it Shine", “Pitch Battle”, “This is My Song”, “All Together Now” , “Eurovision Song Contest" and the Masked Singer to name but a few, Mark is perhaps best known for his work with choirs. He is the proud musical director of the award-winning ACM Gospel Choir whom he founded back in 2005, as well as being the founder of Singology Choirs - a vision he first began way back in 2004.
Mark's arrangements are sung the world over, and his unique published series; “SING OUT!” has become the go to for choral directors and singers in search of the best modern popular choral arrangements. There are currently nine books in the series, all containing individual audio parts for each vocal section as well as sheet music for all the carefully selected songs. In 2018 Mark was asked by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to arrange Stand By Me for their wedding in May of that year, giving him the ‘Royal’ stamp of approval.
Mark’s first co-authored book “Inspire Your Choir”, is published by Bloomsbury. The book followed Mark’s first appearance alongside Gareth Malone on the BBC’s "The Naked Choir". Mark again featured as a leading choral mentor alongside Gareth in 2016’s "The Choir."
For more on Mark visit: www.markdelisser.com Twitter: @MarkDelisser
DANIELA SMITH
Daniela is the Assistant Musical Director for Our Dementia Choir. Daniela enjoys performing and teaching in the Nottinghamshire area.
She has held the Vocal Lead post for the Inspire led Nottinghamshire Music Hub for many years and helps shape the vocal provision across the county. She enjoys working with many partners including the National Choirs of Great Britain and the Hallé Orchestra.
Inspire is proud to have Daniela coaching within Our Dementia Choir.
Daniela loves working with the Our Dementia Choir family seeing the emotional, uplifting effect music has each time they are together.
Ajay Sethi
Ajay is the Managing Director and shareholder of Tweezerman UK, supplier of Tweezerman and TRUU branded Beauty Tools. Subsidiary and Joint Venture of the Zwilling Beauty Group/Werhahn (privately owned German group)
Tweezerman UK is based in Edwalton, Nottingham with 19 employees, and a turnover of £8.3m.
Ajay started his business from his bedroom in July 2004.
les marshall
He lived in a former Mansfield mining community and worked as a miner, following the pit closure programme he went to do BA honours Degree at Nottingham University.
On completing his BA Degree he changed his career and became a Director of an Insurance Broker. Then he set up a new business Insurance venture in 2003 which was specific to the education sector until 2018. He then became involved in a new business opportunity to become the CEO of a Mutual Management Service company in the education sector.
He has been involved in community groups, school governor for many schools and board member for numerous business groups in the region.
In 2018 he was invited to Chair the Mansfield Health Commission for 12 months and produced a comprehensive report on the health and well being of the people in the area.
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Tom Dening, MA MD PhD FRCPsych
Tom Dening is Professor of Dementia Research, University of Nottingham; and Honorary Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Appointed to his current post in 2012, he leads the Centre for Dementia at the Institute of Mental Health. He is the deputy director for Mental Health & Clinical Neurosciences in the School of Medicine, and the clinical speciality lead for Dementia in the East Midlands Clinical Research Network.
His interests include a wide range of clinical topics and psychosocial aspects of dementia. He is one of the editors of the Oxford Textbook of Old Age Psychiatry, the leading international work in this field, third edition published in 2021.
Email: tom.dening@nottingham.ac.uk
Twitter: @TomDening
Webpage: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/people/tom.dening
Grace Meadows
Grace Meadows is a music therapist, bassoonist, and Campaign Director for Music for Dementia, The Utley Foundation. She studied bassoon at The Guildhall School and later trained as music therapist at the University of Roehampton.
As a music therapist she has worked with people across the lifespan in a variety of clinical areas, including special educational needs schools, adult psychiatry and child development in the NHS. She has also worked for the national organisation for music therapy, the British Association for Music Therapy.
In her role as Campaign Director, Grace has worked to make music an integral part of dementia care, advocating at all levels to promote the power of music. Her first encounter of seeing the power of music in action for people living with dementia was with a music therapy group for adults with dementia. Watching the music therapist support the group to connect, communicate and be together in the moment was transformative. It inspired her to train as music therapist and take up the role with the campaign.
As a life-long musician, she is incredibly passionate about the power of music to support health and wellbeing, and enhance and enrich lives. For her, being able to work with the Choir and the team to do more of that they excel at - inspiring people through the power of music - is a real honour and privilege.
Emma cripwell
Emma is a Virtual Assistant, with over 17 years of professional business support experience undertaking roles such as Conference and Banqueting Manager, Personal Assistant, Contract Compliance and Value for Money Officer, Business Development Manager, and Operations Manager. She has been supporting Our Dementia Choir since July 2022 and was invited to become a trustee in November 2022.
Emma has first-hand experience of how cruel dementia can be as she sadly lost her grandma to the disease. She is very proud to work with Our Dementia Choir as it gives her the opportunity to support people living with dementia and to help them, and their families create new happy memories through the power of music.