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Orchid Staff

For contact details of all members of staff please follow this link.

For general enquiries please call 0203 465 5766

 

  

Rebecca Porta - Chief Executive

Rebecca Porta is Chief Executive of Orchid. She has led significant organisational growth since joining the charity in 2008. Under her leadership Orchid has campaigned for better cancer care and developed a range of services for people affected by or interested in male cancer including the Male Cancer Information Nurse programme launched in September 2011, regional Roadshows, specialist Factsheets, health and education programmes. She has successfully implemented a communications and marketing strategy to increase awareness of male cancer and encourage early diagnosis amongst at risk groups. In 2009 she launched the first annual Orchid Male Cancer Awareness Week – an event which is now firmly established in the health awareness calendar. Rebecca is involved in a range of collaborations and special interest groups to improve public health and cancer prevention. These include Network for Patients, Cancer52, Cancer Campaigning Group (CCG) and the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action (PCCA). She sits on the Advisory Panel of the PEPC (Patients Experiences of Penile Cancer). Rebecca and her team have diversified and developed new funding streams with support from individuals, trusts and foundations, events and the business community including the pharmaceutical industry.

Rebecca’s career in the voluntary sector spans over 20 years and she has worked for some of the UK’s leading health and medical research charities including The Multiple Sclerosis Society, The MigraineTrust, CancerBACUP (now Macmillan Cancer Relief) and the British Lung Foundation. During this time she delivered ambitious fundraising and marketing strategies to ensure ongoing growth and to support the development and delivery of national media campaigns, research and scholarship programmes and patient services. Before moving into the voluntary sector, Rebecca worked for Harrods Ltd completing the retail management course and working within the Homewares Division for 3 years. She has a degree is Ancient History from the University of Kent.

Rebecca is a member of ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations), the Institute of Fundraising, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and sits on the Committee of the CIPR Health & Medical Group. She supports The Guggenheim Museum - New York, The Multiple Sclerosis Society, The MS Trust and is a member of the Institut Français and Italian Cultural Institute.  

 

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  Peter Withey - Trusts and Special Fundraising Manager

Peter Withey trained as an electronics engineer and finished his career in industry as a Marketing Manager. During that time he had worked voluntarily with the Scout Association and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, both needing a lot of fundraising. Sailing and walking are still hobbies, together with genealogical research during the winter months.Moving to the Not for Profit area, Peter first worked for a research company and then accepted a post as the fundraising director for a charitable capital appeal. Having successfully completed the appeal, he noticed Orchid advertising for staff, and, as a testicular cancer survivor, found a perfect fit. Making Orchid a team of three full-time staff in autumn 2005, Peter undertook trust fundraising together with  a variety of administrative duties.

 

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Nicola Broad - Trusts and Statutory Fundraising Manager

 

 

 

Nicola Broad is the Trust and Statutory Fundraising Manager at Orchid. She started her career in book publishing at Virgin Books, in the fields of rights and international sales. She moved into the charity sector in 2001 and has held various administrative and senior fundraising roles, initially at the Secretariat of The International Save the Children Alliance and latterly as Senior Trusts Manager at The Institute of Cancer Research where she was responsible for generating over £1 million for medical research programmes. Nicola joined Orchid in 2009 to develop and implement a trusts and foundations fundraising strategy which would support organisational wide growth and the long term ambitions of the charity. She has successfully secured major grants from a range of charitable trusts and foundations for medical research, awareness activities and patient services. This funding has helped Orchid to lead research into the causes of male cancers and new treatments as well as increase information and support services such as the specialist Orchid Male Cancer Information Nurse.

Nicola has a degree in European Studies, French and German from the University of Kent and has a Professional Diploma in Marketing. She is a member of the Institute of Fundraising and is Chair of the Medical Research Trusts Special Interest Group. Nicola hails from Essex, loves the Lake District and enjoys watching films and reading detective fiction.

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Lucy Dawes - Events & Partnerships Manager

 Lucy joined Orchid in 2007 and now manages Orchid’s events and partnerships with companies and organisations to help increase our profile and support within the business community. In 2011 Lucy launched our first Orchid Charity T-Shirt in partnership with the London College of Fashion and Phil Vickery’s clothing brand Raging Bull, securing the support of House of Fraser to sell the t-shirt in stores across the country. She also helped to secure our winning bid with ICAP which saw Orchid chosen as one of the beneficiary charities of the ICAP Charity Day in December 2011. She currently manages a range of accounts including The Bluebeards Revenge, GCS Recruitment, Easy as HGV, Paperchase and Moto.

Lucy initially joined as the Events Fundraising Manager to help grow and diversify the events programme, attract new supporters and raise greater awareness of male cancer. During this time Lucy and the Events Team have more than doubled Orchid’s events income and significantly increased our events portfolio. She successfully introduced our first overseas trek in 2009 and also expanded our running and cycling events programme recruiting new supporters and increasing income and was involved with the success of the 2011 Orchid Savoy Ball which raised over £100,000 from our many generous guests and supporters. Lucy’s expertise in managing events helps us in our work with the business community in terms of staff fundraising events and activities. 

Lucy started working in the charity events sector in 1999 for learning disability and mental health charity United Response before joining disability charity Scope in 2002 where she specialised in their highly successful overseas challenge events programme. Lucy has a Public Relations Diploma and a BA Honours degree in History from The University of Manchester.  Lucy is married with a young daughter and enjoys sports, music and travel in her spare time and has completed 4 marathons.

 

 

 Caroline Jennings - Events and Community Fundraising Manager

Caroline is Orchid’s Events and Community Fundraising Manager. She initially joined the charity in April 2009 on a six month maternity contract and now heads up a busy events and community fundraising programme which generates over £600,000 per annum.  She and her team have grown the events portfolio to include a range of activities from sporting challenges such as the London to Edinburgh 37 hour Cycle Ride, Peak District Cycle, London Triathlon and 5K River Run through to unique one off events such as the Savoy Ball hosted in April 2011. 

Caroline has also managed a number of corporate partnerships including a two year partnership with King Sturge which raised over £100,000, Brooks Brothers and Bath Rugby Club which saw the team support a number of major “male cancer awareness” events.  Caroline works closely with SPINK PR to ensure maximum coverage is achieved for each event.  Caroline is a member of the Events Managers Forum and Institute of Fundraising and regularly attends meetings to benefit the events programme at Orchid. Before joining Orchid, Caroline started her career in the charity sector at the British Lung Foundation as Events Officer and then became Events Fundraising Manager.  In this role she managed a varied events programme for the charity which generated over £500,000 per annum.  In the role Caroline launched a number of new events and grew existing events.    

Caroline graduated from Cardiff University with a 2.1 degree in Education and Criminology.  In her spare time she enjoys travelling, is an avid windsurfer and skier and continues to actively take part in triathlons across the UK. 
    

 

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 Hannah Barwick-Walters - Fundraising Events Executive

Hannah is Orchid’s Fundraising Events Assistant. Her first introduction to the charity sector took place during a gap year in Mexico. Spending 6 months at a children’s refuge, Hannah was responsible for managing a successful fundraising programme through events and awareness activities. Hannah raised significant sums for the refuge through fundraising galas, open days and a ‘Sponsor a Child’ programme. Hannah studied ‘Applied Social Sciences’ at the University of York and whilst there she continued her interest in the sector, sitting on the RAG Committee and organising university and community fundraising events.

She joined Orchid in 2010. As Fundraising Events Assistant she is responsible for a busy community fundraising programme and supports individuals who organise events in aid of Orchid. Over £180,000 is raised every year through a range of activities from skydives and sponsored walks to car rallies and cheeky calendars. She works closely with Spink PR to ensure maximum publicity for all individual fundraising events. Hannah also supports the Events and Community Fundraising Manager on a number of Orchid bespoke events throughout the year. Hannah is in regular contact with all her event participants – she produces the Orchid e-newsletter which is currently sent to over 6,000 people. She launched and now manages Orchid’s Social Media, attending seminars and conferences to aid further development in this area. Hannah is an avid follower of ‘The Events Manager Forum’ and regularly attends meetings and events ensuring that Orchid is aware of current fundraising initiatives and trends. In her spare time Hannah enjoys training and coaching gymnastics. 

 

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  Carly Pearson - Supporter Care and Special Projects Executive

Carly first became interested in the charity sector when she volunteered for a Saturday playgroup for children with special needs while studying at the University of Sheffield for a Psychology B.Sc. After graduating she began working for Malvern Special Families; a charity that ran similar playgroups in her home town.  She worked on a one to one basis with a different child at each session, and it was important to understand each child's individual needs. These playgroups give the children a fun day out while simultaneously providing vital respite for the families.

Following this she then worked as an Admissions Assistant at the University of Worcester. There she developed strong administration skills and wanted to team this with her previous experience of working for charities in practical capacities. To gain further experience in the charity sector Carly moved to London to complete an Internship at The Baytree Centre; an inclusive education charity for women and children. There she gained vital experience of the structure of charity work and it affirmed her desire to work in this sector.

Following completion of this Internship Carly joined Orchid in January 2011 as Supporter Care and Special Projects Executive.  She manages general enquiries to the charity and is the first point of contact for patients and their families, healthcare professionals, supporters and external suppliers. Carly is responsible for processing requests for information and awareness materials, merchandise ordering and distribution,  IT and website, database entry and donation processing, mailings and bulletins, coordinating the volunteer programme and HR activities. She provides support and undertakes special projects for the Chief Executive.

Carly supports Breast Cancer Care and the British Heart Foundation and enjoys travelling, reading, films and music festivals in her spare time.  

 

 

Frank Harrington - Sports and Education Project Manager

 Frank Harrington is responsible for the Sports and Education Programme at Orchid. Frank studied Law at Queen Mary Westfield, London before moving into Westminster City Council’s Children’s Services Department. Whilst there he oversaw the development of their Ofsted registered childcare, holiday schemes, extended day and Community Sports and Leisure provision. Whilst working with Westminster he volunteered as a sports coach working across housing estates in West London, this led him to be nominated for and awarded the Whitbread Sports Volunteer of the Year. Frank left Westminster to pursue his interest in working and travelling abroad.

 He worked in Tallinn, Estonia, once again in the public sector on the development of parks and public spaces, specialising in community engagement.  He then explored the rest of the Baltic region taking in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania before heading off to Turkey. It was in Turkey that his interest in golf developed. He had always loved the sport and in particular the US Masters Tournament in Augusta. The golf industry was in its infancy and Frank was lucky enough to be involved in course developments on the Bodrum Peninsula and Belek. This experience allowed him to combine his love of travel and community development with golf. On his return to London, Frank worked in a consultancy capacity on projects in Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and East London, specialising in marketing and community engagement. This led him to Tower Hamlets Council where he worked within Extended Services on  the  Change 4 Life Programme, encouraging inner city communities to get active and raising awareness of the health benefits of diet  and exercise.

 Establishing a Sports and Education Programme for Orchid has enabled the charity to offer a range of services to local authorities and education establishments. The Community Golf Programme reduces the barriers to entry for inner city residents to play golf whilst also raising awareness of the lifelong health benefits of low impact sports such as golf.  The sporting element compliments the existing Schools Programme and Orchid can now offer schools and third sector groups healthy activities to go with talks, wellbeing sessions and specialist literature.  Since 2011, Orchid has experienced an upsurge in the number of senior citizens who have become aware of our activities through sports. The golf industry have also embraced Orchid with the R&A, and PGAs of Europe offering their support for the programme. Whilst golfing luminaries such as Padraig Harrington and Simon Khan supported Orchid during their British Open campaigns.

As well as golf, Frank enjoys running and has successfully completed the Amsterdam, Rome and Berlin Marathons. He is an accredited member of the European Tour’s Media Centre and has contributed articles for numerous golf media outlets. He is also a member of the KPMG Golf Business Community. 

 

Katherine Mutsvangwa - Male Cancer Information Nurse

 

 

Rob Cornes - Male Cancer Information Nurse

 

Rob Cornes is the Orchid Male Cancer Information Nurse. Rob qualified as an Registered General Nurse (RGN) in 1991 at Barking Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust (BHR) where he had undertaken his training. He began work as a staff nurse on the urology ward and continued to work within urology at BHR for the next 12 years culminating in the role of Charge Nurse from 1997-2003. He left the ward in 2003 and took up a position as a Clinical Trials Nurse through St Bartholomew’s Hospital,  a post partially funded by Orchid. In 2004 he became Uro-oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist at BHR and has remained in this post ever since. In his present role he is the designated a key-worker for anybody diagnosed with a urological malignancy.

Over the last 7 years he has have met literally thousands of men affected by male cancer gained a valuable insight into the sort of information that they need. He chairs PHASE; a large support group based in Essex for men and their families who have been affected by prostate cancer. He is a firm advocate of information both written and verbal, believing from experience both make a huge difference for patients and their families. In his spare time Rob enjoys 40s and 50s music, reading non-fiction with a particular interest in the esoteric and strumming his Gretsch guitar.