CALLplus Chairman – Jim Yates

Jim has spent most of his professional career in South Manchester. He relocated here from his native North Eest in 1978.

For the first part of his career, he worked in project management in the process industries contributing to the design and construction of production facilities for chemicals, pharmaceuticals, oil & gas and food & beverages. This work took him as far afield as Russia and Argentina and as close to home as Trafford Park.

Jim successfully completed an MBA with the Open University in the mid-1990s [Eddie Hurst was one of his tutors]. He has tutored for the Open University since 1997 and has started tutoring with Manchester Metropolitan University in the last two years. He also runs his own management consultancy – Fulcrum Management, working mainly on individual, team and organisational development.

In his spare time, Jim is a keen amateur photographer and enjoys walking in the Peak District. He maintains a keen interest in North East sports and is a fan of the NFL.

CALLplus Honorary President – Tom Brown

In the early 1980s as a result of his personal experiences with Hodgkin’s disease Tom was one of the founders of CALLplus as Being There was known then. In 1985 he helped set up the National Conference of Cancer Self Help Groups and worked as its organiser for seven years. Tom worked as a freelance computer programmer until retirement. He was a trustee and company secretary at Being There for many years. He stepped down from his role at Being There in 2019 due to ill health.

Tom sadly passed away in December 2020 but remains an inspiration to all of us at Being There.

The Trustees, staff and volunteers of Callplus (Being There), not to mention the clients are very thankful for Tom’s huge contribution over the many years he was associated with the charity and will remain our figurehead.

CALLplus Honorary Treasure – Philip Eagle

Philip Eagle is a Chartered Accountant who is the tax partner at Hallidays a Stockport based Accountancy Firm. Philip agreed to become the Honorary Treasurer after a short period on the CALLplus Management Committee as a general trustee. His accounting background together with experience as a trustee of various client family trusts should be helpful in this role.

As a former client Philip found assistance from CALLplus invaluable when his wife Geraldine (a fellow trustee) became ill. Philip also helps out as an assistant cub leader at his local scout group.

Callplus Trustee – Nigel Day

Nigel qualified as a solicitor in 1979 and for over thirty years was in private practice in Manchester. For the past eleven years or so he has been based at the Knutsford office of his firm, Hague Lambert, which in October 2016 became part of Chafes Hague Lambert. This enabled Nigel to step down as partner, but he remains with the firm as consultant working part time.

Nigel is past President Manchester Law Society and served on its council for 27 years. For 16 years he was also a member of the Council of the national Law Society. He has held a number of voluntary posts, including that of a school governor and a small pension scheme trustee, and also served on many committees both as a member and as chair. For 6 years he was a member of the ICAEW Investigation Committee. He is presently the Chairman of the Management Board of Cheadle Golf Club and a Circuit Steward in the Methodist Church

His link with Being There stretches back to its origins as Cancer Aid and Listening Line. During its early years he was the honorary legal adviser a role which he passed on to David Lambert who later became Chair of CALL as it was then known. Upon David’s retirement Nigel volunteered to be his replacement as a trustee.

Nigel has been married for over forty years and has son and a daughter and two lovely granddaughters. As well as trying and failing with some style to emulate Rory and Tiger on the golf course, as a life-long supporter, he will be found with his son at Old Trafford whenever United are at home.

CALLplus Trustee – Atta Hanfi

Atta is Director of ICC and Failsworth Primary Care Ltd an organisation serving 50,000 patients in Oldham and made up of 11 GP practices. He has previously held a number of NHS board-level positions and has 30 years’ experience in the NHS, in Hospital and commissioning roles. Atta has worked in senior positions for large blue chip private companies in Pharmaceuticals and private hospitals. He has also worked for Ernst & Young Accountants. He was previously a lecturer for the Open University Business School MBA programme and has an MBA from Manchester Business School.

In his spare time he is also a Director for the University of Cumbria and governor for a local school.

His personal motivation for working with CALLplus is based on his experiences as a carer for his elderly parents.

In his spare time, Atta is a keen walker and enjoys walking trips. He also enjoys cooking and appeared on the Channel 4 programme Cookery School.

Callplus Trustee – Victor Hassan

Victor lives and has worked in Manchester all his life. He retired as a solicitor after many years in private practice and then worked as Company Secretary and managed governance for a large Manchester Housing Association.

He was a trustee of Age Concern Manchester for nearly 20 years and was also a trustee of a small national charity supporting individuals and families affected by a rare muscle wasting disease. He became Chairman of both organisations.

After recently coming through treatment for a substantial cancer condition, Victor is excited about being able to offer support to people with life limiting conditions. He is also a volunteer for Being There, offering practical help.

Victor is active in local amateur theatre. His family is his great priority and he enjoys walking and cooking.

CALLplus Trustee – Heather Henry

Heather is a self-employed health and social care management consultant, having spent 31 years in the NHS as a nurse, manager of services and latterly a commissioner. Heather spent many years working with people with life-limiting conditions. She qualified as a nurse at Manchester Royal Infir- mary, then specialized in cardiothoracic (chest and heart) nursing at Wythenshawe Hospital before working at Longsight Health Centre as practice nurse.

Heather‘s management career has been diverse, but has mostly focused on developing health and social care services in the community. She holds a Masters in Business Administration as well as her first degree in nursing.

Her personal motivation for working with CALLplus followed her experiences of caring for her elderly parents who both had cancer, dementia, arthritis and obstructive airways disease, until their deaths in 2009.

Heather is currently working on a national programme which focuses on addressing health inequali- ties She is passionate about working alongside local people and giving them a voice.

CALLplus Trustee – Alam Miah

Alam was born in Tiverton, a small town in Devon, where he first fell in love with marketing. Pursuing his passion, he studied marketing in Manchester, where he now lives and works. He has over a decade of experience in multiple sectors. He presently works for JD Group, a FTSE 100 company in a group role overseeing all paid social media advertising across UKI, EMEA & APAC.

Alam was prompted to join the  Callplus/Being There board as a result of his personal experience when his Grandmother had cancer. She had a loving and supportive family who were, sadly, unaware of the wider pastoral support available.

Alam says:

‘Getting the message out there to the people who need it isn’t always so easy given the various different ways in which we communicate today. The tireless work undertaken by the charity daily is a natural fit for my marketing experience and passion to help.’

Alam is also a keen hiker, and at the weekend you will find him fervently playing football for his 11 a-side team.

CALLplus Trustee – Gaynor de Wit

Gaynor has centred her 36-year career around communications for businesses and government organisations throughout Asia, Europe and North America, including writing and editing consumer and enterprise publications as well as creating corporate and commercial writing. She presently holds the concurrent roles of Corporate PR and Legal Director as well as Executive Assistant to the Chairman at HTC Corp., a leading IT firm based in Taiwan, and has amassed 15 years of Board experience, with oversight of significant organizational and market changes. She has extensive experience living and operating in the multi-cultural and multi-lingual environment of multinational companies in Asia.

With parents in their late 80s, Gaynor is keen to contribute to services for the elderly and infirm that offer highly practical support, and was delighted to be invited to join the Board of Trustees of CALLplus/Being There. She retains her sanity through walking, logic puzzles and cooking.

Gaynor graduated from City University in Economics, obtained an MBA in the Management of Innovation and Technology from Imperial College, and recently passed the GDL and LPC law exams.