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.

Janine is a shine volunteer who helps wherever help is needed. She loves getting to know the clients and attending and helping at all the activities that Shine organise. Janine had worked in a bank for 35 years where she gained years of experience helping and serving the public. In her spare time she loves travelling with her husband and spending time with her family especially her 2 grown up daughters. She loves a good bike ride or a nice long walk and also a bit of badminton and Pilates.

Julie McNamara, Until a year ago I worked in a bank until being made redundant and decided to also take early retirement, which has enabled me to have time to spend caring for my family. supporting my daughter with her new business and of course volunteering at Shine. I love to host and you will never leave my house hungry, our family have a holiday home in Southern Ireland and we spend many weekends there, I have one daughter and enjoy sunshine holidays with her and her wife.
Love a long walk with a good podcast and I make myself go to the gym for my physical and mental health😂