Fusion Family and Youth Projects
Committee
Chairperson and Trustee
Natalie Leigh-Brown is Community Development Lead for Urban & Civic, working on the regeneration of the former airfield at Huntingdon to create Alconbury Weald: a development of 5000 homes and an Enterprise Zone creating over 8000 jobs.
She has been involved in supporting Fusion since 2022, with Urban & Civic providing funding as part of their commitment to the wider area and improving the opportunities of local young people. She heads up the Community Development for Alconbury Weald and is able to bring these personal skills to the Fusion Board alongside the full corporate support and expertise of Urban & Civic; their wider contractors and their consultant team.
Vice Chairperson and Committee member
Lynette Ippolito has previously worked for the Huntingdon Locality Youth team for a number of years and so know firsthand how important Fusion and youth work is to the local community.
After leaving the county council she joined NYAS (National Youth Advocacy Service) and currently helps to provide advocacy to looked after children in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire.
In her spare time she supports Fusion and also like spending time with her family and many furry animals.
Treasurer and Trustee
Mike Shellens has acted as Treasurer on the Fusion committee for several years. He believes that Fusion is an excellent way of allowing young people from a large variety of backgrounds to develop life skills in a safe environment. Mike volunteered for two years in North Africa and supports Plymouth Argyle.
Trustee
Sally Mackenzie has been involved with Fusion for over 10 years and has seen it grow from a summer project run by the County Council to become a registered charity. One of her favourite times at Fusion is the annual trip we provide to Hunstanton with three coaches full of young people and staff.
Trustee
Patrick Kadawere
Trustee
Stephanie Webb
Committee member
Beth Watson is a part-time administrator and full-time mum of two! Having grown up in Huntingdon, and being a parent, she is grateful for the energy shown by Fusion employees and volunteers in giving this space to Huntingdon's young people. She is really pleased to be able to play her small part in supporting this work.
Secretary and Committee member
Julie Davies is the Lead Support Worker for Fusion's Gateway group and secretary for the Fusion Committee. Prior to working with Fusion she worked for many years in the education sector as a photography lecturer within FE and HE (Further Education and Higher Education) provisions. While training in her sector she worked as a Business Manager and Personal Assistant for a department within the Ministry of Defence before moving on to be a professional photographer within the organization. Having recently joined the Fusion team she is able to continue working alongside young people and play an active role in their journey.
Gloria Heywood - Chair and Trustee 2016 - 2022
It was with great sadness that we heard that Gloria had peacefully passed away at
home, on Wednesday 22nd February 2023, aged 74 years.
Gloria became involved with Fusion because she had a great passion for supporting children and young people. When Gloria was a youngster she was fortunate enough to have a youth club close to her home and attended the club every Tuesday evening. She had fond memories of the club and learned to play table tennis, darts, dodgeball and talked and laughed a lot with her friends. Her enjoyment from her experience of attending a youth club herself made her want to encourage as many young people as possible to attend Fusion so that they could have fun, feel safe and learn new things. Gloria hoped that the young people attending our youth projects would be able to look back at Fusion in the same way she looked back on her experiences at her youth club.
Gloria enjoyed visiting the Fusion projects, talking to the young people and getting to
know the staff members. She particularly enjoyed the staff BBQ she helped organise at
the end of each summer.
Gloria was a driving force in keeping Fusion going during the difficult years of the
pandemic. She encouraged the staff to keep in contact with vulnerable young people
and kept the morale of the committee high with regular lively Zoom meetings.
We will miss Gloria tremendously, but her legacy lives on in our memories of her and
in our determination to continue to develop the support to young people that Fusion
provides.
