The Flavel Trust

Ian Downing Chair Of The Trustees

My relocation from Cambridge to Devon took place 13 years ago, but initially to run a B&B in Lynton, North Devon.  It was the difficulty of sailing on the Bristol Channel that brought me down to the Dart, there’s always water in the river and currents only run at 2 knots!  But the offering of a wonderful arts and community centre at the Flavel helped influence the move into the town in 2022.

Having started life as a schoolteacher encouraging groups of challenging young people when teaching special needs groups in ordinary comprehensive schools, taking opportunities out of school to develop self esteem and try to build confidence and sociability, I then worked at a residential outdoor education centre at Graham Water in the flat lands of Cambridgeshire.  The large lake, as well as the climbing towers in the grounds and bike track around the lake offered great opportunities for adventure.  After being a teaching deputy for 10 years, I was given the role of Head of Centre, where the interesting challenge of running a cost neutral business unit within the county council allowed me to hone my skills of operating something that was not core business for the county council but provided a wonderful community environment for a whole range of activities, adventurous, musical, cultural.  I was lucky enough to be able to build strong relationships with elected council members and senior officers to manage a substantial budget of earned revenue and then attract significant funding to increase the size of the operation.  Skills I hope to be able to use to helping the team look after and grow our Flavel.

Lindsay Ellwood

My background is in education. For a large part of my career, I was living and working in The Netherlands with my husband, John. After teaching for a few years in an international school, I moved to teaching adults, and taught in a number of institutes in the Netherlands. 

Eventually, I set up my own business, providing bespoke language courses for business people, diplomats etc. who were working in the international community.

Since moving to Dartmouth, I have been working in various charitable organisations, and I am currently a Director of Dartmouth Mayflower.

I am passionate about the Arts and was keen to get involved with the running of the Flavel, which is a wonderful arts centre, community hub and valuable asset for the town.

Since becoming a Flavel Trustee, I have undertaken a variety of roles, and am now responsible for Fundraising and Trustee Recruitment.

Andrew Dalton, Treasurer

I have lived in Dartmouth since 2020 and started volunteering at The Flavel in the spring of 2021. I moved from Oxfordshire with my wife Sally and chose Dartmouth due to its winning combination of coastal location, year-round community and great amenities such as the Flavel!

I have an IT and Project Management background and have led a variety of projects including Thornton’s chocolates, programming industrial robots, medical research systems and many commercial systems and websites.

I’ve found volunteering at the Flavel is a great way to give back to the community, meet people and to employ your experience and skills. I’m currently involved in projects relating to sponsorship, IT systems and the website.

My other interests (beyond the arts) are cooking, keeping fit, pottery and photography.

James Dodd

I have lived in and around Dartmouth since the early 1960s and was raised in the town. As a young lad, I learned to sail on the river and that passion continues to this day.

I enjoyed a career of some 30 years in the Royal Navy as a Weapon Engineer and then operated as a professional yacht skipper employed by the town’s sailing schools of the day.

As a long-term resident, I have been a volunteer at the Flavel in various capacities while holding other voluntary roles that included Town Councillor, Chairman of the Joint Regatta Sailing Committee, Commodore of Dittisham Sailing Club, and more recently as a Board member of the DHNA serving as the Chairman for my last 18 months.

I consider the Flavel to be a very special asset for the local community and am happy to contribute in any way to ensure its future longevity. As a trustee, my focus will be on the Building and Equipment and all matters of maintenance.

Sarah Easton

I have spent most of my working life in the Automotive Industry. My areas of expertise lie mainly in sales, marketing and operations, and have written and completed many tender documents (both as a supplier and as a customer) which lends itself to completing grant applications! More recently I helped to set up and run 2 technology companies in the Automotive Industry which gave me an understanding of the principles of business.

I am married to Guy, we have 3 adult sons and 3 grandchildren.

We moved to Dartmouth from Buckinghamshire in August 2022 having lived there for nearly 30 years. I have always been drawn to Devon as we holidayed down here regularly over the years, and my father was a Plymothian! I can remember seeing Dartmouth for the first time from the steam train and thought what a stunningly beautiful place it was and still is!

My interests include singing in the Dartmouth Rock choir, rambling with our dogs, travel, and attending films and live music (particularly tribute bands) at the Flavel. The Flavel is such an asset to the town and wider community. I have been waiting for the right volunteering opportunity, and I am delighted to now be working with my fellow Trustees to keep the Flavel Forever.

Verity Courtney-Mitchell

I lived in Dartmouth as a child, moving away to Cardiff in 2000 to train as a Primary School Teacher, specialising in English and Music. I returned to live in Dartmouth in 2013, having always harbored a longing to return to this beautiful area.

I am married with three adolescent children and have spent much of my working life teaching in local schools and more recently running community youth groups. I am currently volunteering at the Flavel and at Dartmouth Community Chest. I am passionate about social inclusion, celebrating diversity, and making the arts accessible to all regardless of socio-economic factors or other barriers to the arts.

I am very passionate about the arts having grown up with a father who was a jazz pianist. I love to sing and play music including the piano and guitar and am part of the local steel pan drum band ‘Shine’. I am also passionate about literature, creative writing and Fim.

As a teacher, I have seen first-hand the positive impact that accessibility to the arts has on young people, particularly on children who may not flourish in a traditional academic sense. Therefore, as a trustee with responsibility for community engagement, my vision is to foster an environment where equality of opportunity in the field of the arts becomes more than an ideal.

Johnathan Turner

I’ve worked with marketers all my life, firstly as a marketer myself, then founding a marketing consultancy which recruited marketers and worked for marketing teams in large and small companies all over the world.  The common thread for all of us was a desire to work out what our customers and other stakeholders wanted from our organisation and why – or why potential customers didn’t want to use or buy us.  And of course, then the challenge was to deliver for them, cost-effectively and sustainably - a challenge the Flavel faces today.  Getting things done, however, was (and is) only possible by working effectively within broad based, multi-skilled teams to get things done - by, with and through people – there’s no “I” in teams, as they say!  

Since retiring a couple of years ago, I’ve loved having more time to enjoy all that Dartmouth has to offer, on and off the water, including the wonderful events at the Flavel.  The community is so fortunate to have this amazing asset and it’s down to the whole Flavel Team to make it somewhere all community groups feel can be “their place”. I’ve always loved the arts and believed in their potential to support individual wellbeing and community cohesion. This vital role is increasingly well understood, and I hope we can use it to underpin the Flavel’s future.  

I also volunteer at the Museum which has some similar and some very different challenges as the Flavel. As a historian, I am very conscious of the importance of understanding and preserving the past, but of course, change and progress are what makes history.  So, I am looking forward to preserving all that’s best about the Flavel, but helping bring new and different experiences to all parts of Dartmouth’s community.  

Joanna Gaukroger

I have had a long career working in further education colleges, in various teaching, leading, inspection and advisory roles.  After many moves over the years, my husband and I settled in Dartmouth in 2010.

The Flavel is a wonderful facility to have on our doorstep and we are lucky to have it.  I believe it contributes to making our town a great place to live - regrettably we are in very challenging times for the Arts and for community funding.   I want to do what I can to help ensure a viable Flavel Centre, which has strong relationships with its partners, and which continues to offer an exciting and relevant programme of events which we can all enjoy.

Outside of work with The Flavel, I also I run the cooking team for Dartmouth Caring, the annual Dartmouth Food Festival Community Lunch, and do voluntary work for STAMMA, the national charity supporting adults who stammer.