Louise Chandler, the Founding member & Director of Shine is passionate about enjoying Creativity and celebrating Neurodiversity. After almost 15 years as an Art Teacher at Secondary level, she specialised in Additional Needs working in local schools and a specialist post 18 SEN College, the latter of which sparking her studies in & love of BSL sign language. Having studied degree level Illustration many moons ago in the late 90s, she has always also had a passion for book design & editorials which has birthed the idea of ‘Neuro-verse’ magazine, our quarterly publication which is made up of Art & Articles made by our group members & friends. Louise loves all things retro and can often be found Northern Soul dancing in her kitchen, in between cooking moussakas.

Jackie Morton is our 2nd Director and Safeguarding Officer as well as being our Well-Being Lead. As well as helping out with lots of practical work for the group, Jackie provides our ‘Chill ‘n’ chat’ activity every third session providing a safe & accessible space for our members to discuss & reflect on important topics. This space is vital for improving mental health and everyday lives of our Attendees. We are so lucky to have her expertise as a Masters degree qualified Special Education Teacher with over 30 years of experience. Jackie is very brave & adventurous and one of her ventures included abseiling the 418ft National Lift tower in Northampton for charity more than once!

Toni Fairall; a Shine Volunteer, is a busy Mum to two under 10s, has generously given us her time since our very first day. Also degree qualified, she is very experienced in supporting Additional Needs adults in various roles during her career. She is brilliant with all our Attendees, very empathetic & gentle in approach. She is also super duper organized, (which is very useful around us creative types!) is a whizz in the kitchen & makes lunchtime run like clockwork. Toni loves travel & has backpacked half the world before having her little brood & is a generally good egg all round. We love her very very much.

Paul Chandler, is our Finance Manager. He has experience in running his own business as an IT specialist and so offered his services to help organise Shine’s retail/accounting side during our first year of business, now liasing with an Accountancy firm as we grow & flourish. He is a huge supporter of the group and is always behind us in all we do, always ready with his winning smile & a helpful extra pair of hands when needed. Paul is a Running enthusiast and has taken part in seven marathons in several cities around the world including NYC. However, currently he confesses; the only marathon he takes part in is the eating of them! Paul is a self confessed chocoholic so we can normally get him to do lots of extra work for us by plying him with it.

Sarah Ryan, our newest Volunteer, came to us through her work as a Carer to a couple of our regular Attendees. She is very creative in her own right as a Textilist, Crocheter & Knitter and was constantly coming up with brilliant ideas to help Shine do just that; Shine! She also advertises and advocates for us in the wider community all the time so, naturally, we thought she should be part of the official team. She agreed in October 2023 and we are so very pleased to have her in our dream team. She is famous for her beautiful crocheted handmade clothes & lovely colourful hair which changes quite frequently. Her talents have the same chameleon quality; she is always surprising us with new creative abilities that she’s been hiding up her crocheted sleeves! Sarah loves the film ‘The lost boys’ And quotes it randomly in everyday life/during the film. She also spends most of her weekends trying to persuade people to buy her craft at local craft fairs. She’s modest but it’s brilliant!