Background

Pamela is the founder and chairperson for Avalon and was inspired to establish the charity following the birth of her daughter Ava who has autism. Pamela an experienced Senior Leader within Learning and Development and has over 15 year experience working within the private sector. Pam is a professional coach, speaker and trainer with the John Maxwell Team and is passionate about creating innovative learning and coaching programmes to help people maximise their potential in life and business. Pam is CPID qualified has extensive experience administering psychometric instruments to enhance the coaching and development process.

Reasons  for being part of Avalon

The work we do at Avalon is about making a difference to the parents, guardians, grandparents and siblings we serve. My passion and drive comes from personal experience as a mother with a feeling that more could be done to improve the lives of families before, during and after an autism diagnosis. By improving the lives of families impacted by Autism we will indirectly improve the lives of those children living with autism.

Special Interests

Pam has currently writing a booked titled ‘Light and Shade” which provides a parental perspective on living life with a child on the autistic spectrum. Pam is dedicated to maintaining her own personal fitness and wellbeing and is currently training for her first half marathon. Pam loves to read and is passionate about all aspects of leadership development and personal growth.

Background

Gerry is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management, with a deep, abiding interest in the growth and development of people. As part of his CPD and to strengthen his skills in this area, he is currently undertaking a BSc (Honours) in Psychology to build on his MBA.

Until recently, he was a Senior Consultant with Working Links, one of the leading Welfare to Work providers in the UK, supporting the delivery of business strategy, in a rapidly changing environment. This support entailed providing L and D support across UK, by delivering executive coaching, various blended, online and classroom based courses, including a “Future Leaders” programme, to allow the adaption of key staff to transformational change, and an organisational restructure. Prior to this, he has provided L and D services at Senior Management in both public and private sectors, and brings a strong blend of broad experience and proven track record in sales, career, talent, leadership and people development to Avalon.

Reasons for being part of Avalon

Gerry’s view is that ” we all plan for the future, assuming that the future is predictable. We are often taken by surprise when things don’t turn out the way that we had expected. It is often when we are hit by the unpredictable and are understandably shocked and confused that we need most support . Support to absorb and make sense of events and then – gradually – begin to think more clearly. Begin to move forward again. My sense is that Avalon can play a key role in structuring this process in the challenges that parents may face in supporting the growth of a child on the ASD spectrum.”

Special Interests

Gerry is a keen fisherman, with a love of the Assynt lochs.

Background

William has a multi-faceted background with extensive experience working with the Civil Service, local authority and the financial services sector. More recently he has worked within the field of Career Guidance supporting Veterans to make the transition back into civilian life and sustainable careers.

Reasons for being part of Avalon

My beautiful Daughter Ava was born in 2013 and this was and still has is the greatest day in my life. Although, at the age of two we began to notice some developmental delays which would be later confirmed as Autism. This period of my life would be best described as an emotional roller-coaster, leading up diagnosis and following the diagnosis. As a parent, we found services hard to access and slow to engage with. My wife and I had to fight for every piece of support we could get and most of this was self –funded due to a lack of resource. This experience and lack of support for families encouraged my wife and I to do something about it by forming Avalon. We want to develop a range of services that support families before, during and after an autism diagnosis to bridge the gap the current service provision.

Special Interests

I enjoy angling in my space time and over the last year have completed a half marathon and hope to complete a full marathon in June to raise funds for Avalon.

Professional background

For the last 3.5 years I’ve worked as a wellbeing carer for people living in a care home, focussing mainly on dementia strategies. I find this so rewarding. In this role I create activities and experiences for residents, raise awareness and status of the care home and dementia itself, and fund raise. 

Why you wanted to support Avalon

As a parent of an autistic child myself I wanted to put my learned skills and experiences to good use in creating a support network for other parents/siblings of Autistic children. I really believe in Avalon’s vision and Pamela’s ability to move the charity forward. When you see magic happening, you want to be a part of it! 

Special interests

My interests are in writing, campaigning, fundraising and mental health. 

Professional background

Kenneth has been managing the personal finances of successful individuals and their families for over 3 decades. He joined the Financial Services profession in June 1981 and, over the next 4 years, established himself as a top performing member at the Paisley district office of Prudential Assurance. 

Why you wanted to support Avalon

I really believe in Avalon’s vision and Pamela’s ability to move the charity forward. When you see magic happening, you want to be a part of it! 

Special interests

Away from work Kenneth is a 6x Ironman champion. Kenneth’s ultimate goal is to swim the English Channel and hopes to fulfil this ambition in 2019. He has also been a category 1 golfer for most of his adult life. With generous support of friends, family and clients, Kenneth has raised significant sums of money for many worthy causes. 

Professional background

Les has several years experience in retail management and developing people. He is a qualified web designer, eLearning developer and digital marketing consultant.

Why you wanted to support Avalon

From an initial discussion with Pam, I could see the passion she had for helping parents of children with autism through her own personal experiences. She needed support on a technical level and as I am also passionate about helping others, it was a no brainer. She is so driven and focussed about her charity and leads by example, from completing marathons to the 5 peaks challenge in Scotland, how could I refuse? 

Special interests

I have many interests but thoroughly enjoy walking with my wee dog Lily. We walked the West Highland Way a few years ago and just so I could say I waled over 100mls I walked an extra 7mls (lol). I love anything techie, photography, videography, animation and drone flying.I have a claim to fame – I was once on stage as a ventriloquist dummy. Say’s it all really!