The Development Trust
Established in 1968, The King’s School Worcester Development Trust is a registered charity, separate from the governing body.
The Trustees represent all areas of the school community and are supported by the Development Director, Headmaster, and Bursar.
The Trust was restructured in 2001 with the aim of supporting the Governors of the King’s Foundation in their strategic aims, primarily bursary provision. The Trust builds up long-term charitable support for the school and ensures that the wishes of those who give to the school are properly upheld, making sure pupils who come to King’s benefit from the generosity of those who donate.
Specifically, the Trust seeks to achieve:
- Opportunity for all through the provision of means-tested bursaries to enable pupils from all backgrounds to attend King’s regardless of their financial circumstances.
- Sustainable, progressive development through the investment in high-quality facilities.
Our Trustees
Andrew Reekes
Trustee
Andrew Reekes
Trustee
Andrew has spent a career in education; following on from his role as Head of History at Tonbridge, Cranleigh and Cheltenham, he was Acting Warden at Radley College until his retirement in 2012. In addition, Andrew has considerable experience as an ISI school inspector and for many years ran HMC’s leadership training for senior management. He is a Governor of four schools and chairman at Summer Fields, Oxford.
In addition, Andrew has published several history books, including ‘Speeches that Changed Britain: Oratory in Birmingham and The Rise of Labour 1899-1951’, and is now writing a commissioned work on the comparative legacies of George Cadbury and Joseph Chamberlain.
Katie Beever
Trustee
Katie Beever
Trustee
Katie studied Engineering at Oxford University before beginning a successful career as a Chartered Engineer. She worked for British Airways in various management roles, before deciding to retrain and undertake a PGCE. After qualifying as a teacher, Katie joined King’s Worcester in 2010 to teach Maths. Katie’s three children also attend King’s and so she is able to bring to the Trust her experience as a parent as well as a member of staff.
Hugh Carslake
Trustee
Hugh Carslake
Trustee
Hugh Carslake retired in 2017 as a Consultant at Shakespeare Martineau Solicitors in Birmingham, specialising in private client work. He is a Trustee of numerous trusts for clients and charities. Hugh is also Chairman of the Trustees of the Barber Institute at Birmingham University, President of the City of Birmingham Choir and acts as Registrar for the Anglican Diocese of Birmingham. He is a Churchwarden of his local church.
He has served as a Governor at King’s since 2002 and as Chairman of Governors since 2010. He is a member of the Finance & General Purposes, and Nominations Committees.
Nick Clark
Trustee
Nick Clark
Trustee
Nick attended the King’s School, being a boarder in Hostel House between 1988 and 1990. On leaving King’s Nick went on to Bath University to study Civil and Structural Engineering. The main thrust of his career has been the development and implementation of energy management services and asset optimisation within the UK, Europe and wider global markets.
As a strategist within the global management team, Nick leads a multi-geographical deployment of services, working with key blue chip businesses and cross border partnerships.
Nick is also a King’s parent and lives in Worcester with his wife and three boys. He has been actively involved with King’s for a number of years, sitting on the OV Committee as well as attending and helping out at many OV and School events, in addition to his duties as a Trustee.
Linton Connell
Trustee
Linton Connell
Trustee
Linton has acted as a Trustee of the Development Trust since 2014. After leaving King’s in 1972, he studied Law at Birmingham University, before establishing his own solicitor’s practice. Subsequently, Linton and his brother Philip, also an OV, set up St Cloud Care, a residential care home provider.
With his wife, Denise, Linton was a founder member of the Leadership Group for the SPACE campaign; the Connell Room in the Keyes Building is named in honour of the generous contribution the Connell family has made to the project and its ongoing support for King’s.
Douglas Dale
Trustee
Douglas Dale
Trustee
Douglas Dale spent two years with Proctor and Gamble, in the Marketing department. He then qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse, moving to Worcester in 1980. He was a partner at the local accountancy firm Ballard Dale Syree Watson LLP, before retiring in 2012, while maintaining his business links. He is Managing Director of a family farming and investment company, as well as a Director of The Three Choirs Festival Association Ltd.
He has served as a Governor at King’s since 2011 and is a member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee.
Hannah Edwards
Trustee
Hannah Edwards
Trustee
Hannah is a UCL Honours Economics graduate and she has worked in the wealth management industry for many years, having managed either larger teams of client facing planners or more recently sat at the board table of a regional wealth manager. Her successes have led to a number of professional awards, including the Worcestershire Business Women of the Year 2013 while in summer 2019 Hannah secured the UK Investment Advisor of the Year and IFA of the Year for the Midlands and East Anglia at the Annual Professional Advisor awards. Hannah is Managing Director of Eva Capital Management, a Worcester based wealth management boutique.
Giving back to the local community is close to Hannah’s heart: she joined St Richards Hospice as a Governor in 2011, where she sits on a number of their finance and investment committees, lending much investment experience. As a committed Christian, Hannah has a strong faith and has previously been involved in fundraising for Christians Against Poverty.
Hannah’s two boys attend The King’s School and this experience as a parent, as well as the depth and breadth of her investment experience, are very useful qualities when conducting her role as Trustee.
John Foley
Trustee
John Foley
Trustee
John qualified as both a Barrister and a Chartered Accountant after attending Durham University, and he has been a director of various public and private companies for over 30 years. He was a Chief Executive of a public company for 12 years and remains Chairman of four Groups of companies. The largest business is Premier Technical Services Group Ltd, which he and two close friends founded 13 years ago. They grew it from scratch, took it to the public market and then sold the business to an investment bank in Summer of 2019, although John remains as PTSG’s Chairman.
John has a close family connection with the school as his brother, sister and one of his daughters attended the School. Via The Foley Family Bursary, we are delighted that John has committed to providing financial support to fund one full bursary place at King’s, starting in September 2020. This bursary epitomises John’s enthusiasm about helping others from less financially privileged backgrounds to benefit from a King’s School education.
Fanos Hira
Trustee
Fanos Hira
Trustee
Fanos began his career as a Chartered Accountant, before moving on to become an investment banker with PwC and JP Morgan. He is now the owner of private investment firm Fogle Investment Ltd which has overseen property renovation within Worcester City Centre.
In addition, Fanos regularly returns to school to give careers talks and to run workshops on investment banking.
In September 2018, Fanos became Chairman of Worcestershire County Cricket Club.
Donald Howell
Trustee
Donald Howell
Trustee
Donald read Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College, and then qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Following five years working for a London firm of management consultants, he joined GEC where he became Managing Director of GEC Mechanical Handling Ltd and eventually Group Managing Director of the GEC ALSTHOM Low Voltage Group.
He is now retired. From 1986 to 2010 he was Chairman of the King’s School Governors and of their Finance & General Purposes Committee.
Carl Jury
Trustee
Carl Jury
Trustee
After studying for a degree in Engineering at Oxford and a post-graduate course in Production Management at Cambridge, Carl left his home county, Yorkshire, and moved to the Midlands where he has pursued a career in IT and Consultancy. He has worked for a number of the world’s largest IT providers and most recently has worked for TCS and Infosys, both India-based companies.
Carl’s association with King’s started in 2009 when his daughter started at the Senior School, and his son started at King’s St Alban’s. Carl was the Chair of King’s School Parents’ Committee.
Patricia Preston
Trustee
Patricia Preston
Trustee
Patricia has worked for over twenty-five years in various marketing roles, for Beecham Pharmaceuticals, now GlaxoSmithKline (1981-1984), H Samuel Jewellers (1984-1987), Charles Green Jewellery (1987-1990), and Business Link Hereford & Worcester (1997-1999). She has been Marketing Director at the Tube Plastics Group (TP Toys and Muddy Puddles) since 1999. In addition, Patricia has lectured part-time on the Marketing Course at Worcester College of Technology.
She has served as a Governor at King’s since 2011 and is a member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee.
Leanne Sheen
Trustee
Leanne Sheen
Trustee
Leanne is an OV. She studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge University before moving to London to study the Law conversion course. She now works as a banking and finance lawyer for a large international firm and has spent over three years working in their Frankfurt office.
Leanne has worked on several pro-bono activities encouraging access to Law and Higher Education.
John Weston
Trustee
John Weston
Trustee
John joined British Aerospace after graduation from Cambridge with a degree in Engineering, and enjoyed a 32 year career, concluding as Chief Executive of BAE Systems. Subsequently he chaired a number of engineering and software companies, including the e-learning business ‘Learndirect’. John was appointed as a CBE in 1994 and is a Commander of the Order of the Pole Star (Sweden), and a Freeman of the City of London. John attended King’s between 1962 and 1969.
In 2019, we were delighted that John chose to make an incredibly generous donation in support of our Open the Door to King’s Bursary Appeal. This donation of over £450,000 will provide bursarial support to pupils at King’s long into the future and will be invested to ensure the long term security of King’s Bursary Programme. Being a Trustee, John has a clear understanding of the importance of bursaries in enabling life-changing opportunities to children, for whom a King’s education would not otherwise be possible.