Practitioners’ Conference 2023

Lee Rowley was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 7 September 2022.

He was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury between 17 September 2021 and 6 July 2022. He was elected the Conservative MP for North East Derbyshire on 8 June 2017.

Join Clare Mullin from UK Parliament Outreach in her session – Get Your Council Heard Nationally:

• Build relationships with MPs and Lords
• Influence questions and debates
• Link with All Party Parliamentary Groups
• Work with Select Committees to scrutinise national policy

Suitable for all delegates from England and Wales.

Johnty is Head of Cyber Risk Management at Gallagher, which is a fast growing consultancy driven by the demand for cyber expertise globally. Johnty has delivered over 200 cyber security improvement projects from small to enterprise clients. These security projects include Cyber Essentials implementation, IASME implementation, vulnerability scanning, GDPR auditing, business continuity and disaster recovery planning and much more. Johnty has a depth and breadth of knowledge to deliver easy to understand and pragmatic advice to anybody looking to improve their cyber security posture. With a first class degree in engineering and computer science, Johnty has continued his learning to become a GDPR practitioner and ISO27001 lead implementer, this allows him to consult on all matters information security and deliver industry leading security programmes to any size of client.

Rowan is the Clerk of Farndale Parish Council. He is also a full-time engineering undergraduate at the University of Bristol. As one of the youngest clerks in the profession, he shares his perspective on youth engagement and local government.

Born on Exmoor Patricia is the CEO and founder of SBA CIC a social enterprise set up to support people to progress with their career, training, and business aspirations. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow and a local social business champion is keen to support community-based organisations to thrive and grow.  Patricia is an astute business professional specialising in organisational development and project management.

Amanda is highly motivated, skilled training specialist and professional presenter with many years career experience in Wellbeing. She is a qualified MHFA England instructor and specialises in delivering wellbeing and mental health training and workshops. She is the owner of Total Wellbeing Matters, a company based in Dorset which offers services in promoting wellbeing. She is also a Corporate Wellbeing Coach.

Helen has 26 years of diverse local government experience, as a project manager, officer, deputy and clerk in principal, parish and town councils serving and working alongside councillors, officers, community groups and external organisations at a strategic and operational level.    Helen has been involved in the SLCC for several years, serving as a SLCC Director, Branch Chair and Mentor.  She has a varied career path involving retail business management, FE lecturer specialising in management, motivation, marketing and organisational behaviour and a teambuilding facilitator and business mentor/counsellor.  She came into the world of Parish and Town Councils later in her career and is able to understand and advise realistically from the Clerk’s perspective.

Yvonne has had a varied career spanning the care industry, customer service, horticulture, and school business management, before discovering the world of Town and Parish Councils.  Yvonne now has over 16 years’ experience of being a local council Clerk, in which role she has also managed a cemetery.  Yvonne continues to Clerk a small Parish Council in Derbyshire and was appointed to the role of Executive Officer to the British Register of Accredited Memorial Masons (BRAMM) in the spring of 2022.

Becky Walsh is a comedian bringing her humour to subjects of personal development and mental health. Smart, funny and insightful.

Becky presented an agony aunt style phone in radio show on LBC Radio. She is the author of four self help books including ‘You DO Know – Learn to act on intuition instantly’ which is published in four languages, published by Hay House. She is also the author of ‘Intuitive lovers’ published by O books. She presented on BBC Radio for five years and had her own TV show ‘Anything goes with Becky Walsh’.

Becky is a sought-after speaker and has appeared at the world-renowned seminar ‘I can do it’, as well being a senior curator, coach and script editor for TEDx Bristol. Becky has a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and is a qualified life coach.

Becky is also a communications and marketing officer for Town and Parish Councils.

Becky is speaking in two sessions at Practitioners’ – the first is called How to Create an Anti-Racist Council.

@beckywalshcom

Becky Walsh is speaking in two sessions at Practitioners’ – the second is called Emotional and Mental Health in Leadership.

Andrew will examine the most significant planning developments over the last year that will have practical and strategic implications for clerks and the sector in more general.  It will cover important reforms that have already taken place as well as those in the pipeline. 

Karen Ainley is the lead trainer and CEO of Mosaic Media Training. Karen is a former newspaper journalist and BBC radio and TV reporter. She has more than 20 years’ experience of training hundreds of organisations, from government departments and local authorities to blue-chip companies and charities. She supports many well-known organisations with their crisis communications providing both strategic advice as well as 24/7 call-out support. Karen’s husband is a county council leader and borough councillor.

Linda Larter has been a Parish / Town Clerk for over 25 years working with councils varying in population sizes from 250 to 70,000 plus. Linda has a related degree and is a Fellow of the Institute of Local Council Management.  In 2000 the Millennium Commission nominated Linda for an MBE for a Community Centre project.

Linda is married with two sons.

Roger Taylor is the Senior Partner of Hedleys Solicitors, a firm based in Surrey which has an extensive practice dealing with Parish and Town Councils in England.  He lectures on subjects such as Common Land, Village Greens and Charitable Trusts for the SLCC and on other matters relating to the practice and procedure of Parish and Town Councils for a number of County Associations.

Helen began her parish and town council career in 1997 working part-time for a small rural parish council in East Yorkshire looking after a cemetery, village hall, playing fields and allotments.  In 1999 she was appointed Town Clerk to the newly established Beverley Town Council – one of the first new parish councils created by referendum under the Local Government and Rating Act.  With an electorate of 17000 and a budget of £46k it grew quickly organising major events in the town.  During her tenure in Beverley she took the SLCC Working for Your Council Course and went on to study for the Local Policy Degree at Gloucestershire University achieving first class honours in 2007.

In 2009 she was appointed the Town Clerk of Shrewsbury Town Council; a newly established parish council as part of the creation of a Unitary Council for Shropshire.  Covering a population of 72000 residents, employing 100 staff and with a budget of £4m, it is one of the largest Councils in the Country.

Locally she is a co-opted member on the Shropshire Association of Local Councils, Secretary of the SLCC Shropshire Branch and sits on various external boards and partnerships in and around Shrewsbury.  Helen has represented the sector at the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC), spoken at various national conferences, lobbied government on parish council matters and is currently an SLCC Board Director.