HM Lord-Lieutenant of Essex - Jenny Tolhurst
Mrs Jennifer Tolhurst BA Hons Art and Design was born in Northern Ireland in 1951. She is the eldest daughter of a family of eight. Her father was in the army and the family moved many times. She married Philip Tolhurst in 1972 and has lived in Essex for 46 years. They have three children and eight grandchildren.
Mrs Tolhurst has been involved with the voluntary sector all her married life: The NSPCC, chaired the Prince’s Youth Business Trust in Essex, served as a Magistrate and was High Sheriff of the County in 2005-06. She was appointed HM Lord-Lieutenant of Essex in 2017 and is now patron of 30 organisations.
Mrs Tolhurst and her husband are keen sailors, and she was privileged to serve as 4th hand on Queen Galadriel’s trip around the British Isles.
On taking up her appointment she said: “It is a great privilege to represent the ancient and diverse County of Essex as Lord-Lieutenant and I hope that I can help promote Essex and its heritage; its business and charitable organisations and support the uniformed services.”
Patrons
Lord Petre
Educated at Eton and Trinity College Oxford, John Patrick Lionel, Baron Petre is the 18th holder of the title Baron Petre which was bestowed by his ancestor, Sir William Petre, Secretary of State to four Tudor Monarchs in 1540. Lord Petre was HM Lord-Lieutenant of Essex for more than 14 years after which he retired from the position in 2017. He was awarded the decoration of Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.
Since 1970, Lord Petre has been involved in the management of his family’s 3000 acre rural estate of which, since his father’s death in 1989, he has been in sole charge. Lord Petre is also Lord of the Manor of 17 manors in the Chelmsford, Brentwood and Billericay areas of Essex. Prior to this, he worked in management of a number of London theatres in a variety of capacities and ultimately as General Manager of Hampstead Theatre Club.
Lord Petre is married with one son and one daughter.
Board of Trustees
Charles Anderson DL, Chairman
Born and brought up in Cambridge, Charles’ early introduction to Essex was back in the 70’s when he was employed as the estate manager of two farms owned by Cambridge University, one being Osea Island in the River Blackwater and the other was on the mainland at Steeple where he still lives with his wife Philippa. Married for over 45 years, they have 4 children and eight grandchildren.
One of his lifelong passions is sailing and over 35 years ago he was introduced to Cirdan by a former Trustee, David Cole. As chairman of the Trust now, he is an enthusiastic believer in our work providing sailing adventures for the young and disadvantaged.
Charles was previously a volunteer Coastguard and is now Deputy Lieutenant for Essex.
Capt Simon Hodgkinson
Capt Simon Hodgkinson has been involved with the Trust for many years and believes in the value the Trust brings to the trainees that take part in a sailing residential.
Simon is a Master Mariner who works in the insurance industry and brings the nautical expertise to the board of trustees.
Gemma Telford
Gemma has worked in marketing, specifically for technology businesses, for around 20 years. Back in the 80s, she was lucky enough to go on a Cirdan voyage with her school youth club from Soham in Cambridgeshire. It was an unforgettable experience. Many years later she rediscovered Cirdan via Instagram and started following the work of the Trust.
Now self-employed, Gemma wanted to do something to give back and volunteered her services as a Trustee. She helps with marketing, has produced and funded a video and brochure for the Trust and also mentors crew. Her website is www.sheher.co.uk and she has also written a book with her son who is transgender about their journey, which is coming out in February 2025. You can find out more about their book at www.betweenbook.co.uk
Louis Abbott
Louis joined The Cirdan Sailing Trust as Skipper of Queen Galadriel in 2019, spending several years working with a wide range youth groups including SEN schools, young carers, pupil referral units, youth offenders, sea cadets and more.
He is currently working in renewable energy, transferring wind farm staff out to their sites.
Demus Lee
Demus was born in Jamaica and came to Britain in 1960. He trained as a bespoke tailor but chose to enter the structural engineering business before entering the life assurance and pension industry, spending his last 15 working years in the microfilm industry. He retired in 2000, and has since been involved in volunteering and fundraising for charities and the local community. Demus was always interested in volunteering and started from the age of 14. With the support of his parents he helped those of his friends and local young people who were less fortunate than himself. Demus is joint founder of Riverview Charitable Trust supporting disadvantaged young people and families. He is also the founder of Watts Wood Sports and Community Trust. Both charities are based in Thurrock.
Dr Mike Jackson D Clin Psych
Now retired, Dr Mike Jackson spent his career working for the NHS, in his latter post as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the School of Psychology, Bangor University.
A keen sailor himself, Mike knows the positive benefits sailing can have on people and was instrumental in setting up the Voyage to Recovery programme helping Early Intervention in Psychosis service users across the UK. This Adventure Therapy programme takes place on Faramir each year.
Nicky Willis
Having been aware of Cirdan's excellent work with young people for a number of years, Nicky welcomed the opportunity to support Cirdan in a more practical way as a trustee.
As a parent, Nicky believes that all young people deserve opportunities to develop the life skills that they need. She has previously volunteered in schools and helped with catering for youth weekends.
With a background in finance and operations, mainly in IT distribution businesses, Nicky helps Cirdan with their financial reporting requirements.
Jamie Hare
Jamie is a solicitor and became a Trustee of The Cirdan Sailing Trust in 2017. Jamie was introduced to sailing at a young age and still spends his spare time sailing with his family sailing on the River Blackwater in Essex and around the East Coast.
Brian Sainsbury
Brian first became aware of Cirdan in 1996 when he was headteacher of a specialist education school. He joined as a trustee in 2005 with a particular interest in safeguarding and communication interaction between charter parties and the charity’s crew. Throughout his long teaching career, Brian has used outdoor education as a vehicle to develop young people emotionally, socially and intellectually. “After my first voyage with the trust, it became abundantly clear of the many opportunities it could provide for young people and its positive holistic impact on them as individuals. Over a 12 year period, I took groups of students on regular voyages. These ventures provided a very real vehicle for change, broadening their outlook of the world, providing them with experiences they would not have had such as visiting small island communities and French ports and helping to nurture qualities, of resilience and the appreciation of the hidden strengths of others." As well as being a special school teacher, together with his family Brian has fostered children and young people with disabilities and vulnerabilities. He is also a trustee of an Essex-based outdoor adventure centre.
Sarah Courtauld
Sarah was lucky enough to go on many family holidays on our Edwardian racing yacht Duet as a child, when Duet belonged to her father, Christopher Courtauld. She has thrown up over the side all over Europe, from Brittany to the Baltic. These days she works as a scriptwriter, illustrator and children’s author.
Interested in becoming a Trustee?
If you are interested in joining the Cirdan Board of Trustees, please send some words about why you would like to join and what you feel you can bring to the Trust.
Email info@cirdantrust.org