Paul Cann (Chair of Trustees)
Paul Cann joined Age Concern (now Age UK) Oxfordshire as its Chief Executive in April 2009. Age UK Oxfordshire works at grassroots level to help older people and their families live in comfort, with support and enjoying opportunities to live life to the full. Paul read English Literature at King’s College Cambridge, also holding a Choral Scholarship. After teaching for five years, he joined the Civil Service where he held a range of postings at the Cabinet Office, including working as a Private Secretary to successive Cabinet Ministers, including the Minister for the Arts. A subsequent spell in the private sector included working for ‘The Independent’ newspaper. He joined the charity world in 1992 as Director of the British Dyslexia Association and subsequently of the National Autistic Society. He was a Trustee of the disability charity Contact a Family for five years, a charity which supports carers and people with special needs or disabilities. In 2008 Paul was warded the medal of the British Geriatrics Society for an outstanding contribution to the well-being of older people.
Peter Hunt (Trustee)
Peter had a thirty six year career in music education before retiring in 2015 and is now a community musician. After a music degree at Dartington College of Arts and teaching in London for seven years he returned to Oxfordshire. His last secondary school post was Head of Performing Arts at Chipping Norton School where he helped it gain Performing Arts Status for the community, reflecting his belief that the arts are fundamental for a holistic education. Peter is a keen singer and started conducting and training choirs as a student, forming a youth choir in Oxford and eventually becoming Head of Voice for Berkshire Maestros, the leading provider of music education for young people. He played a significant role as Deputy Head, co-developing Pantomimus, a pioneering music programme for the under fives.
In 2001 Peter created Voiceworks – a singing handbook – published by Oxford University Press – which has gained a national reputation. As series editor, and an accomplished choral leader, he regularly delivers training for conductors and teachers across the UK and has presented at conferences in Europe, USA and Canada. In 2016 he started an adult Singing for Wellbeing group through the NHS Social
Prescribing Scheme. His ambition is for Sound Resource to support more opportunities for communities
to sing, and to promote the campaign for the arts as an essential part of health and wellbeing provision
in the UK.
Richard Wood (Treasurer)
Richard has spent most of his working life in the manufacturing industry in the UK. Apprenticed as a Mechanical Engineer, he had spells in various manufacturing operations as a Toolmaker, eventually working for Moss Plastic Parts Ltd, a division of Bunzl plc based in Banbury. After 15 years experience on the manufacturing side he progressed into a sales environment where he was asked to head up a new division producing promotional products into the advertising and incentives marketplace. In 2003 he facilitated a management buy out of the business from the parent company and over the next 12 years built a successful, profitable manufacturing business employing almost 50 staff and in doing so became the leading UK manufacturer and supplier of plastic promotional products, including 25% into Europe. In 2015 he engineered a sale of the business to a large investment capital business in conjunction with a competitive supplier and 12 months later in 2016 retired. He is married with 3 daughters and 5 grandchildren and enjoys, gardening, photography, sport and travel.
Lynda Ware (Trustee)
Lynda studied medicine at Cambridge University and Westminster Medical School in London. She was a GP in rural Oxfordshire for thirty-one years and then Senior Fellow in General Practice with Cochrane UK for seven years until full retirement in 2022.She joined Moving Music as a volunteer after meeting one of their helpers at a coffee concert in the Holywell Music Room. It has been a joy to be a part of the Moving Music concerts and to see how much pleasure they bring to their audiences. Music has always been an important part of her life. She is an inexpert pianist and an enthusiastic choral singer.