This Is The BKA Who We Are Trustees Trustees About our Hon. President Gillian Earl (Honorary President) studied at the Royal Academy of Music. She spent fifteen years in Winchester in charge of singing at St Swithun’s School and was the organist at the Cathedral. She now teaches piano in Cornwall. She has attended three International Seminars in Kecskemét and holds the Diploma of the BKA (Adv) and their CKME. She has tutored for the BKA, given lectures in many parts of the UK and also at the EPTA International Conference in Budapest, 2000 and the OAKE National Conference, San Francisco, 2004. She is the author of With Music in Mind, a founder member of the BKA, former Chairman and its current Hon. President. About our Trustees Margaret Oliver (Chair) After reading music at Durham University, Margaret taught music in secondary schools. Subsequently, having retrained and qualified as a Montessori teacher, she worked for 23 years across the curriculum in a Montessori school (nursery & infants) with special responsibility for music there, as well as giving private music lessons. Though retired from teaching, she continues to pursue her love of singing. A BKA member since 1994, Margaret has served as a Trustee and on the Communications Committee. She chaired the Communications Committee and subsequently the Board of Trustees, resuming that role, after a short break, in 2021. She continues to look after the sale of books and coordinates the Operations Team. John Oliver (Treasurer) John writes: My first connection with the BKA was through Margaret, in her role as Bookstore Manager, for several years helping her behind-the-scenes, particularly on administrative and financial aspects. Then, as Treasurer from 2011, I became much more directly involved, drawing on my pre-retirement experience of administration in a large industrial company. This work in the BKA has usually been balanced alongside busy family activities, much travelling, and lots of choral singing – and I hope to resume all that fully as we emerge from the Covid pandemic. As Treasurer I have built up extensive experience over a wide range of money matters, administering payments in and out, taking care of the accounts and advising the BKA Trustees on budgets and financial matters generally. It has been good to see the BKA continue to flourish during these past 10 years. To help support further growth, the Trustees are currently exploring ways of developing the finance function to manage its many responsibilities in new ways. There are exciting possibilities for the future! Sally Edwards (Membership)Sally writes: I was born in the Far East and grew up in Lincolnshire and Suffolk where my brothers and I were founder members of one of the very first County Youth Orchestras in the country enjoying trips to France and Norway. Music was always in my background, my mother a very talented amateur musician, and I turned to music as a career while studying on a post A level music course where my tutor was Christopher Hogwood. I studied at RCM and then at London University under Keith Swanwick for a Music Teachers Certificate.I did not discover the Kodály philosophy and the BKA until very late in my teaching career when, after I had attended a session run by Lucinda Geoghegan introducing her ‘Singing Games and Rhymes for Early Years’ at a Singposium on the South Bank, I booked onto my first Summer School in Leicester. What a revelation! Since retiring, I have enjoyed volunteering locally with the RDA, the NHS and at a local prison. Now, my main focus is the BKA. I am determined to do all I can to enable Kodály training, especially for young teachers, be as widely available as possible. David Greenhalgh During a wide-ranging career, David was a professionally qualified and experienced Manager and Engineer with extensive knowledge of managing high-value assets in a national company. He worked in operational, customer interface and change management roles and as a specialist in the implementation and ongoing management of Construction and Design management legislation and ISO Management Systems. He has a master’s degree in management from Manchester Metropolitan University.Running parallel to his career, he has successfully managed several non-professional arts organisations and is a performer in music ensembles throughout the North West. He is an Associate of the Royal College of Music London.He has worked for Making Music, is a Trustee for Trust Music in Bolton and the Light Music Society, a Director of Note Weavers CIC educational consultancy, a volunteer for the Fix the Fells scheme run by the Lake District National Park and enjoys cycling and walking.He has extensive experience working with Charitable organisations both at a Board level and in operational roles and understands the challenges of working with voluntary organisations, and the need for appropriate governance to ensure that the objectives of organisations are identified, understood, and delivered.He is proud to be a Trustee and looks forward to helping the BKA achieve even greater success. Naveed Idrees Naveed is a headteacher and passionate advocate for music and arts in education. He has supported many of his teachers to train in the Kodály approach and has based the school’s entire curriculum on the principles and philosophy of Kodály. His interest in becoming a Trustee stems from a shared vision with BKA about the importance of music as a bedrock of a rich and fulfilling life.As a Trustee he brings his expertise in the areas of:● Educational and System leadership – he is currently a system leader for a large Multi Academy Trust● Coaching and Mentoring of senior leadership teams – EMCC qualification (Applied coaching Skills for Leaders)● Financial and organisational management skills● Educational Networking across the music and arts sector● Legal background● Educational Reputation: TES Headteacher of the year; OBE for services to education;Taking a school from special measures to outstanding● Changing perception and extending the reach of BKA in the wider educational sector● Panel member for the DfE model music curriculumHe is honoured to be part of the next phase of BKA’s amazing musical journey, and help take the joy and magic of Kodály to thirsty souls across the wider educational landscape. 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