Our staff and volunteers encourage children and young people to become competent, confident, independent and cooperative individuals. Overcoming barriers, learning new skills and promoting positive relationships with peers, parents and carers.
Business Officer – Au Hoi Lam Helen
Helen: I enjoy working with children and young people – they inspire me and teach me so much. I also learn so much from my teammates and they give me opportunities to better myself. I am good with computers and organise things. I was a website programmer in Hong Kong for six years and when I moved to London I wanted to get a different job and experience different things.
Youth Support Worker – On Sy Yuen
On: I like to support positive change and development in the community, and see the young people grow as they discover themselves in learning new skills and the joy in their faces as they have fun doing so.
Board of Trustees
Co-chair – Jacqui Shimidzu
Passionate about creating opportunities for young people, she co-founded New Cross + Deptford Free Film Festival, and helped build the Lower Park Skatepark with three other local mums. As the owner of the Hill Station Cafe, a grassroots community space, she has hosted a vibrant programme of events since 2013 – from pop-up suppers and club nights to music events, plays, and countless fundraisers for other organisations – with a focus on training and employment for young people and those with SEN.
Fun fact: For years, Jacqui had a recording studio at the bottom of her garden. It became an important space for young artists including Blakie, Novelist, Deema, and Elf Kid.
Co-chair – Laura Ononye
Laura has extensive experience helping organisations and leaders build positive, inclusive cultures across sectors including technology, professional services, and real estate.
An Associate Member of the CIPD and an EMCC accredited practitioner, she is passionate about helping people grow and reach their potential.
As co-chair at Somerville, Laura is proud to support the charity’s work empowering young people and families across South London to thrive.
Trustee- Shereener Browne
Shereener is a barrister, currently an associate tenant at Garden Court chambers. In 2017 she shifted her focus to a career in acting and theatre production. She founded Orísun Productions to provide a platform for underrepresented voices to be heard through theatre, with an emphasis on the African diaspora. Shereener has lived locally for the past 14 years raising her three children.
She has been trustee and chair of New Cross Gate Trust, trustee at the Albany Deptford, and sat on the steering committee for the Goldsmiths University Equity Awards. She also founded Friends of Eckington Gardens.
Fun fact – Alongside Dame Judi Dench and Sharon D Clarke, Shereener is one of only three women to have played Lady Bracknell onstage at the National Theatre.
Trustee – Shane Carey
Shane is a social impact leader and systems innovator specialising in youth, education, and mental health. He founded Reprezent, a youth-led radio and training platform that has supported over 8,000 young people and pioneered award-winning mental health initiatives.
Over his 30-year career he has raised over £5 million and built partnerships with the BBC, NHS, British Council, and Tate Modern – all with a focus on empowering young people to thrive.
Trustee – Chris Callender
Chris is a specialist child and young person legal aid solicitor living in New Cross. He works for a children’s legal charity.
In his work and community activism he has witnessed the power of providing a safe and nurturing space for our most vulnerable children.
As a Somerville trustee, he contributes to providing just that. He boxes, runs, swims and rides. And hangs out with his fabulous daughter too!
Trustee – Phoenix Fry
Phoenix is a lecturer long-connected with Goldsmiths University of London, British Council and University of the Arts London.
He moved to the New Cross/Deptford area in 2009, setting up the much-loved Deptford Film Club, and co-founding New Cross + Deptford Free Film Festival. As an artist, he works with video, books, drawing, painting and participatory art, exploring the way humans connect with the natural world. He is currently working on projects about trees and playing.
Fun fact: He grew up on a free-range chicken farm, and he used to be a DJ at Poptastic, Manchester’s long-running indie LGBTQ+ nightclub.
Trustee – Siobán Whitney-Low
Siobán has spent over 30 years championing the arts for young people and for social change as an experienced arts fundraiser. She has worked at Unicorn Theatre for Children and Wac Arts, is an Associate of The Reading Agency, and chaired the Board of Theatre Peckham during the recruitment of their new AD/CEO.
She works as an accredited coach with groups and individuals. Siobán lives locally and brought her three sons to Somerville when they were at Edmund Waller school.
Fun fact – Siobán is co-writing a play with her youngest son exploring education, misogyny and their ancestral experience.