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Marian Sudbury
Interim Chair of Trustees
Marian Sudbury is currently Chair of Trustees for the Bridgewater Hall and a member of the Alliance Manchester Business School Advisory Board. She has had two careers over the last 40 years, as a business founder and owner in the marketing/research space and as a Director/Senior Civil Servant in the Department for Business and Trade. Both involved a strong communications and advocacy element, and she received an OBE in 2020 for work promoting the economic development of the north.
A multicultural Manchester and UK with all our cultures celebrated, is something in which Marian believes strongly. As well as loving the English language and being an avid reader and member of a book club, she speaks Turkish and German and am learning Tamil. Marian has hosted refugees in her home. She is acutely aware of the mental health issues that hold many of our people back, and is a trained Mental Health First Aider. She has mentored people who are homeless due to mental health issues. She believes in the power of music to help people with their mental health.
Marian has personally benefited from the power of music – she started music lessons when she was 8 and played in the Hampshire Youth Orchestra. She has been playing fiddle in a folk band for the last 25 years and has found her band to be a source of strength.
Marian Sudbury is currently Chair of Trustees for the Bridgewater Hall and a member of the Alliance Manchester Business School Advisory Board. She has had two careers over the last 40 years, as a business founder and owner in the marketing/research space and as a Director/Senior Civil Servant in the Department for Business and Trade. Both involved a strong communications and advocacy element, and she received an OBE in 2020 for work promoting the economic development of the north.
A multicultural Manchester and UK with all our cultures celebrated, is something in which Marian believes strongly. As well as loving the English language and being an avid reader and member of a book club, she speaks Turkish and German and am learning Tamil. Marian has hosted refugees in her home. She is acutely aware of the mental health issues that hold many of our people back, and is a trained Mental Health First Aider. She has mentored people who are homeless due to mental health issues. She believes in the power of music to help people with their mental health.
Marian has personally benefited from the power of music – she started music lessons when she was 8 and played in the Hampshire Youth Orchestra. She has been playing fiddle in a folk band for the last 25 years and has found her band to be a source of strength.
Will Allen
Trustee
Will Allen from the University of Oxford with a Psychology degree and after this,
Will moved to London to start a graduate training scheme with Smith &
Williamson, where he subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Since then, he has spent over 10 years working in two high-growth
companies, enjoying a variety of roles across those Finance teams.
Outside of work, he has recently acted as a school governor and also as
an Independent Examiner of two charities, including Olympias. Will is married
to Sonja, who he met through swing dancing, and is a keen runner and
hiker.
Will Allen from the University of Oxford with a Psychology degree and after this,
Will moved to London to start a graduate training scheme with Smith &
Williamson, where he subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Since then, he has spent over 10 years working in two high-growth
companies, enjoying a variety of roles across those Finance teams.
Outside of work, he has recently acted as a school governor and also as
an Independent Examiner of two charities, including Olympias. Will is married
to Sonja, who he met through swing dancing, and is a keen runner and
hiker.
Paulette Bayley
Trustee
Paulette Bayley's violin studies started as a Suzuki pupil, continued at the
Purcell School as a government aided scholar, the Junior Department of
Guildhall School of Music& Drama and the Royal Northern College of
Music.
Her professional life began as a member of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra before joining Hallé in 2004. She has also worked with the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and Scottish
Orchestras and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
Paulette has tutored for National Youth Orchestra, Orchestras For All, the
Hallé’s Youth Orchestra, and supports young string players who, as part
of the Hallé Advanced Orchestral String Programme perform in projects alongside the orchestra. In 2021 she was invited to adjudicate RNCM’s
Norman George Scholarship and regularly coaches the college’s violin sections for orchestral projects. Paulette is also a violin tutor at Chetham‘s School of Music.
Paulette is committed to investing in people from our global community
and is passionate about inclusivity and belonging for all underrepresented groups within the sector. In November ‘23 she joined a panel for Black Lives in Music (BLiM) Recruiting Classical initiative and
has mentored for BLiM and Vengerov‘s Mentoring
Program. Paulette joined Tonic’s Changemakers’ Programme which
launched in 2024 allowing her to explore Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and
Belonging and how we exercise the positive action needed for inclusion of global majority musicians within orchestras. Since June
‘24 Paulette has been leading the Hallé’s review of its policy for recruitment of players with a particular focus on inclusivity and
accessibility.
Paulette Bayley's violin studies started as a Suzuki pupil, continued at the
Purcell School as a government aided scholar, the Junior Department of
Guildhall School of Music& Drama and the Royal Northern College of
Music.
Her professional life began as a member of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra before joining Hallé in 2004. She has also worked with the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and Scottish
Orchestras and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
Paulette has tutored for National Youth Orchestra, Orchestras For All, the
Hallé’s Youth Orchestra, and supports young string players who, as part
of the Hallé Advanced Orchestral String Programme perform in projects alongside the orchestra. In 2021 she was invited to adjudicate RNCM’s
Norman George Scholarship and regularly coaches the college’s violin sections for orchestral projects. Paulette is also a violin tutor at Chetham‘s School of Music.
Paulette is committed to investing in people from our global community
and is passionate about inclusivity and belonging for all underrepresented groups within the sector. In November ‘23 she joined a panel for Black Lives in Music (BLiM) Recruiting Classical initiative and
has mentored for BLiM and Vengerov‘s Mentoring
Program. Paulette joined Tonic’s Changemakers’ Programme which
launched in 2024 allowing her to explore Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and
Belonging and how we exercise the positive action needed for inclusion of global majority musicians within orchestras. Since June
‘24 Paulette has been leading the Hallé’s review of its policy for recruitment of players with a particular focus on inclusivity and
accessibility.
Helen Palmer
Trustee
Helen’s background was originally in theatre marketing and PR, before
becoming a marketing consultant in 1999 and setting up Palmer Squared consultancy in 2015. She was the Press & Comms Lead for Walk the
Plank’s major 2022 outdoor arts commission Green Space Dark Skies.
She was part of the founding management teams of Manchester
International Festival, Cultureshock (Commonwealth Games North West
Cultural Programme, Manchester 2002), British Ceramics Biennial, Asia
Triennial Manchester and Lowry. From 2007-9 Helen led Marketing
Manchester’s Marketing Coordination Unit as the Director of Strategic
Marketing.
Helen was a Director of CTConsults for 10 years up to 2021, an agency
providing strategic guidance in culture, tourism, heritage, and brand development to places and destinations across the UK and
internationally.
She is the Chair of hÅb live art agency in Manchester.
She also writes a monthly Substack newsletter, PalmerSquared on
Festivals.
Helen has a B.A.(Hons) Tourism Studies, Chartered Institute of
Marketing Diploma, Masters in Humanities with Distinction (Film
Studies) and a PhD in Film Studies.
Helen’s background was originally in theatre marketing and PR, before
becoming a marketing consultant in 1999 and setting up Palmer Squared consultancy in 2015. She was the Press & Comms Lead for Walk the
Plank’s major 2022 outdoor arts commission Green Space Dark Skies.
She was part of the founding management teams of Manchester
International Festival, Cultureshock (Commonwealth Games North West
Cultural Programme, Manchester 2002), British Ceramics Biennial, Asia
Triennial Manchester and Lowry. From 2007-9 Helen led Marketing
Manchester’s Marketing Coordination Unit as the Director of Strategic
Marketing.
Helen was a Director of CTConsults for 10 years up to 2021, an agency
providing strategic guidance in culture, tourism, heritage, and brand development to places and destinations across the UK and
internationally.
She is the Chair of hÅb live art agency in Manchester.
She also writes a monthly Substack newsletter, PalmerSquared on
Festivals.
Helen has a B.A.(Hons) Tourism Studies, Chartered Institute of
Marketing Diploma, Masters in Humanities with Distinction (Film
Studies) and a PhD in Film Studies.
Our Trustees
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