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Who is on the team?
We have an incredible team of volunteers who help to make Parklife run successfully. This includes all of the volunteers who help with events, prescription pick ups, litter picking and a whole lot more.
Trustees, Park Life
Peter is married to Maggie and is a retired accountant. They have three adult sons who have all now flown the nest. They spent many happy hours in Heavitree Pleasure Ground when the family was young.
Peter acts as finance lead in his roles as a Park Life Trustee and a Park Cafe Director. When not engaged on Park Life matters, Peter loves walking on Dartmoor with family and friends and cycling.
Claire Hunt
Claire is a founding member and trustee of Park Life Heavitree, who oversees the monthly events and coordinates the volunteers. She has a passion for gathering people together and providing fun activities for families to enjoy in the park.
She is married to Ben and mother to three growing boys! Claire runs her own business, making curtains and blinds from home and works two days a week as a Teaching Assistant, at a local primary school.
In her spare time, Claire enjoys visiting the coast and walking on Dartmoor. Her hobbies also include listening to music, swimming and body boarding.
Kath Hadden
Kath is a founding member and trustee of Park Life Heavitree. She moved to Exeter as a student teacher in 1996 and never went home!
Kath is married to Owain and they have three daughters, they have lived overlooking Heavitree pleasure ground since 2007 and not long after moving the park like story began. Kath loves meeting and connecting new people, and is passionate about seeing community come together to support and celebrate one another regardless of age or stage.
Kath has enjoyed visiting lots of groups in the community and sharing the park life story and also learning form others about their connections and history with the park. She works as an artist and also runs art workshops for adults.
Outside of her job, which she loves, Kath enjoys cooking for people and being outdoors, whether its gardening , running on the Quay or being at the beach with friends.
Ben Hunt
Ben is married to Claire and they have three boys. Ben teaches 3 days a week in a local secondary school and works for Park Life 2 days a week.
His hobbies include swimming, travel, listening to music, reading, surfing, playing football and basketball, wild swimming and hill walking.
Ben has lived in Exeter his whole life and Heavitree for the last 20 years. He is passionate about community development and believes that parks can have a big say in helping places like Heavitree become an even better place to live, work and spend leisure time.
In Park Life Ben is the Community Development worker and chairs the Building Team that is tasked with delivering the Cafe / Community Facility.
Ben is supported by an amazing group of ten local volunteers of vision, passion, skills and experience in this area. At present, Ben is also responsible for over-seeing Park Life's partnerships, sports and physical activity and recently the coronavirus response. He also helps with some event organising.
Ben loves nothing better than a chance to tell the Park Life Heavitree story over coffee so if you have any questions or ideas please get in touch: ben@parklifeheavitree.org.uk
Kirsten Clarke
Kirsten looks after our marketing for the cafe and hub. Kirsten has been working on our new website and will be planning what our launch event will look like, how the events in the cafe and hub will be communicated with the community and putting our newsletters together.
Kirsten has lived in Heavitree for 5 years and loves the area. She is a freelance marketing consultant and lives with her husband and 2 young daughters, she can't wait to add a dog to her family at some point and spends many mornings and afternoons in the park with family and friends.
Owain Hadden
Owain is a dad of three daughters and a husband to Kath. He has been living in Heavitree for over 15 years and loves the local community.
Owain is a primary school teacher and has always worked in and around Exeter. He enjoys drumming, wild swimming and camping.
Along with Kath, Owain has managed the Park Life Coffee van, and the IT infrastructure of the charity. He's really keen to see people from all walks of life come together to use the café and community building to strengthen relationships and improve the well-being of the local community.
Kate Holmes
Kate has lived in Heavitree since 2015 with her husband and two daughters and became a trustee of Park Life soon after she moved to the area. Kate ran the fundraising for the cafe build and continues to raise money to support the various projects the charity runs.
Kate is a freelance bid writer who works from home and can't wait to pop out to the park for a coffee once the cafe is up and running.
Hannah Overton
Hannah has been actively involved with Park Life as a volunteer for 3 years and a trustee for 18 months. Having accrued 13 years experience within the retail marketing sector, with her current day job being Marketing & Commercial Manager for leading regional shopping and leisure destination Princesshay, Hannah uses her skill set to manage the Park Life PR and social media accounts, particularly driving engagement and connecting with the local community on Facebook.
Hannah will also be involved in launching an exciting Park Life membership scheme in 2021 when the new cafe and hub opens.
Hannah lives nearby to Heavitree Park with her husband and three children and uses this valuable green space on a daily basis whether walking through on the school run, visiting the play equipment, using the tennis courts, going for a run or just finding 'treasure.....leaves, sticks and stones' with her children.
Penny Bromley
Penny has lived in Heavitree - right beside Heavitree Park - since 2006 and after enjoying a multitude of Park Life events and believing in the community ethos of the charity, she felt inspired to do more and join the team.
Penny became a trustee in April 2018 and is tasked with all things HR & Governance related. She is also on the build team for the Community Hub and Cafe, which she finds really exciting to be part of discussions regarding something that will hopefully be a huge part in maintaining and supporting the Heavitree community.
Penny has two children and spends her days loving life with them (when they are not at school or preschool!). They are a very active family who enjoy nothing more than exploring this wonderful part of the world that they call home and consequently they own far too many bikes, surfboards, paddle boards, running shoes and wet suits!
Directors, Cafe Board
Peter is married to Maggie and is a retired accountant. They have three adult sons who have all now flown the nest. They spent many happy hours in Heavitree Pleasure Ground when the family was young. Peter acts as finance lead in his roles as a Park Life Trustee and a Park Cafe Director. When not engaged on Park Life matters, Peter loves walking on Dartmoor with family and friends and cycling.
Derek Leedham
Derek's career was in Construction, working for Main Contractors. After qualifying, he embarked on a Career in Project Management and Planning rising to Director level within a large London Based Company.
Starting on large New Build Projects, he progressed into reconstruction, refurbishment and fitting out. He moved to Exeter in 2004, working for Sir Robert McAlpine as the Liaison Manager on Princesshay, followed by Freehold Manager at Waterside on the Quay for Drew Pearce.
After retirement, he served as Chair of the Resource Committee and as a member of the Contract Group on the Reordering Project at St. Michael's Church in Alphington. He now works with Park Life.
Hannah Marsden
Hannah is the Company Secretary for the Park Life Cafe business. Heavitree Park (or 'Whale park' as it is known to her family) has been a constant in her families lives since moving to Exeter with their two children in 2017, and as the children grow, their use of it changes too - from having picnics and playing in the play park, to watching the children fly fearlessly round the pump track on their bikes.
Hannah is excited to be doing her part to support the evolution of the park so that it can bring even wider benefit and enjoyment to the community.
The park is located in Heavitree, if driving by car from the city centre travel along Heavitree Road and onto Fore Street, turning left at Whipton Lane. The park can be reached by foot or bicycle from entrances at Whipton Lane, Roseland Avenue, South Lawn Terrace and Nicholas Avenue.
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