Meet our Fantastic Team
Our team of dedicated Directors are committed to serving Marches Hive and its ventures. Here’s a little more info about each member.
Trevor Hayes
Chair
Trevor has been actively involved in education all his working life as a teacher; teacher trainer; school governor and as member of a high school senior leadership team . He has for over twenty years been a key component of the Robert Owen Society governance.
Chris Morgan
Secretary & President
Chris has been involved in education for over fifty five years as a teacher; university lecturer; local authority education officer and trained Ofsted inspector. Chris was one of the pioneers who formed the Marches Consortium in 1992.
Amelia Washbourne
Amelia has a resident of the South Wye area of Hereford for over 35 years working in the NHS with a background in local government, health and social care and early years education. A mother and grandmother with deep roots in the community with a long standing interest in improving the level of service delivery and quality of life for residents.
Will Jackson
Will has been involved in governance within the Robert Owen Group for some eight years. He brings to the table a wealth of knowledge and experience of the world of business with a focus on horticulture and agriculture . Will is a keen environmentalist
Roland Summers
Roland was a pioneer founder of the Marches Consortium in 1992 . Roland has a life long experience of education and has been a successful headteacher of secondary schools in Lancashire and Herefordshire. He is a former Herefordshire Councillor and Cabinet member for economic development
Gareth Jones
Gareth is the relatively new person on the block and joined the Board of Directors of the Robert Owen Society some three years ago. Gareth is a life long co-operator and has a background in co-operative retailing and is a manager of a large store
Geoff Hughes
When the Marches Consortium was formed in 1992 Geoff saw the potential of the organisation for re-generation- both economic and social. Geoff brings the life long experience of working at the highest levels of local government with a clear commitment to over come the challenges faced by rural communities
Education
Regeneration
Co-operation
Vision
Training
Interaction
A selection of recommendations…
Working in co-operation was a new process for me because I had been programmed to see other providers as competitors. When the Marches Consortium launched the ROCKET Project funded by the NCET I suddenly found that working with schools, colleges and other training providers was a growth point and very much a plus .
We were struggling to understand how we could remain viable in a rural environment where all the odds seemed to stacked against us. We started in 1992 to work with other schools within the co-operative structure of the Marches Consortium and workable solutions started to appear. Trust of others became so much easier
Over the past three decades I have found that co-operation is a philosophy and a workable one at that. When I have work force or resource issues the Robert Owen Group has invariably been able to offer solutions to help me arrive at a resolution.
In the Marches sub region we live in the second largest wilderness in the UK . Rural issues are never understood by central government where the metropolitan mindset dominates. The Robert Owen Group has helped us to work together to address some of these complex issues
Developing a school centred post graduate initial teacher training project was the most positive undertaking in my professional life as a school leader. Through the Robert Owen Group we worked with our colleagues in Gloucestershire schools and in the University of Gloucester to develop ultimately the largest scheme of its kind in the UK which stretched either side of Offa’s Dyke. We provided a pipe line of highly qualified teachers matched to job vacancies and helped the training schools to look afresh at their own teaching and learning.
As schools and community groups we were struggling to source goods and materials at competitive prices. We approached the Robert Owen Society and the officers arranged a procurement conference with the Co-op Group and Herefordshire Council as sponsors. The conference was well attended with national speakers. Out of this arose Robert Owen Procurement Services (ROPS) as a co-operative of schools and third sector organisations. This proved to be an immediate success with the Co-op Group offering to sell ROPS goods at the rate they supplied their stores. This ran for five years until the market diversified. We believed in one for all and all for one.
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