The Board of Trustees

About Jenny

As president, Lady Gretton involves herself in LOROS activities and events. She recently has become more involved in the 1,500 volunteers by trying to make this large group of people feel more connected and part of the Hospice and the wider LOROS community.

Jenny has a daughter, who is married with three children, and a son, who is also married with three children. Jenny’s hobbies are music, sport and all aspects of steam.

Lady Gretton’s husband died in LOROS in April 1989 after being looked after by the nurses and doctors for 14 months after his diagnosis of terminal cancer.

Other community involvement

About Robin

Robin is married to Margaret and they have three grown up sons and four grandchildren. Robin is a member of the MCC and, as well as cricket, enjoys most sports but especially equestrianism, as well as travel and music. He and Margaret have been members of the Ratcliffe Chorale for a number of years.

This is my second period as a Trustee, having served three terms in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. I rejoined the Board in November 2012 and succeeded Professor John Feehally as Chair in June 2017.

Although I practised in a medical discipline where death was a rare event, I have always been passionate about the need for society to treat older people with dignity, and to offer comfort and care at the end of life to all who need it and to their families and friends. Accordingly, in addition to my involvement with LOROS, I was at various times directly responsible for trying to improve end of life care in the community and in the acute hospital sector – as the Clinical Lead for End of Life Care for the East Midlands Strategic Health Authority and as Director of Services for Older People at University Hospitals of Leicester.

Past President and an Honorary Member of the British Association of Dermatologists. Member of the Executive Committee of the St Francis Leprosy Guild. Chair the Philanthropy Advisory Board at the University of Leicester. Robin is active in his local parish (Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church in East Leake) and was for a number of years a member (some of the time as Chair) of the Board of Governors of Ratcliffe College and Grace Dieu Manor School. He has been a member of the Catenian Association for over 40 years.

About Andrew

Andrew lives in Ashby with his wife and has one son. Andrew is also Treasurer of a model railway club in Coventry.

Andrew’s uncle died from cancer in hospital over 30 years ago when there were no hospice facilities available. Just afterwards the previous LOROS Treasurer asked him if he would volunteer as he was retiring. Andrew felt that this was an ideal way to use his professional training as an Account to help the development of LOROS.

About Richard

Married to Sheila, they have two daughters in Harrogate, one son in Toronto and another in Olomouc (Czech). Richard qualified as a Chartered Accountant and subsequently becoming a Director of the fledgling Young Volunteer Force Foundation in London.

Now Executive Chairman of Pal International Ltd, a company specialising in infection prevention and hygiene products for export to food, pharmaceutical, healthcare and industrial markets. The manufacturing base is located in Lutterworth and the company has offices in the Middle East and representation in Asia Pacific.

Former Chairman of East Midlands CBI, becoming National Chairman of the Smaller Firms Council and member of the National Manufacturing Council.

Richard was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List 1995 for his contribution to smaller businesses. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Leicestershire in 1999.

Other voluntary activities have included Membership of Leicester University Council, Trustee of the Chaplaincy to the University, Trustee of Menphys and school governorships.

About Chris

His main field is dispute resolution, an area for which he is responsible within the practice across the East Midlands.

He has been an equity partner, based in Leicester, in various law firms since 1987.

Chris has long been professionally ranked in the Legal 500 and/or Chambers which are objective quality appraisers of the Legal profession.

He is a member of The Professional Negligence Lawyers Association and is a Past Chairman of the Round Table Area 14.

Chris is married and has two adult children. He enjoys mountaineering, skiing, rugby and military history.

About Ajmer

Ajmer is passionate about the care for the elderly, vulnerable and the lonely. Mental Health is another area of interest for Ajmer.

Ajmer is married and a mother of three grown up children, all pursuing their careers in medicine, business and properties.

In her spare time for hobbies Ajmer enjoys spending time with friends, going to theatre and concerts. Although she listens to all genre of music, she is particularly keen on classical music as well as travelling with her family.

As part of her role of trustee she actively engages with the wider and diverse community and attends numerous events.

As a former broadcast journalist at BBC Nottingham and news anchor for Midlands Asian TV, based in Leicester, Ajmer later became involved in local politics. Although no longer a parish councillor in her village she still remains active politically in her local community.

Since 2010 Ajmer continues to represent women on the Board of Directors at Leicestershire Asian Business Association (LABA). She does this also at the East Midlands CWO as the regional Chairman of the National Conservative Women’s Organisation. Ajmer regularly hosts speakers at the business networking events company she has been running for a number of years.

About Tim

Tim has significant experience of trusteeship and advisory boards at both local and national levels. These include The Prince’s Trust, Victim Support, The University of Leicester, the Children’s Hospital Appeal and also a charitable trust that he founded. These roles all demonstrate Tim’s enthusiasm and commitment to the charitable and voluntary sector.

He was appointed by HM The Queen as High Sheriff of Leicestershire, completing this annual appointment in April 2018.

The work of LOROS has long been of interest to Tim and he brings his broad skills and experience to the governance of the charity of which he has served as a Trustee since November 2016.

Tim also plays an active part in the local business community; he enjoys rural life from his home in East Leicestershire and spending time with his two young sons.

About Priyesh

Priyesh is Managing Director of Cofresh Snack Foods. The family-run business has been established since 1974 and specialises in ethnic ambient and frozen foods. He has been active in the business since 1997 after completing his MBA at the University of Leicester. The company is now the largest ethnic snack food manufacturer in the UK, supplying all the major supermarkets and most independents and wholesalers. The company has establishments in India and Australia.

Recently Priyesh has been involved in a care home for the elderly specialising in dementia with further plans to extend the number of homes.

Priyesh is also a board member of Leicester Asian Business Association (LABA), dedicated to assisting businesses in the East Midlands to reach their goals.

Priyesh lives in Leicester and is married to wife Divya. He has two daughters, Keya and Tia.

About Michael

Michael graduated from Manchester University in Economics, and later took an external degree in Law from London University. He states his career highlights included a Commonwealth Universities Travelling Fellowship and leadership of an efficiency study on behalf of the Cabinet Office. At various times, Michael has been an adviser to the Department for Education and other government bodies.

Since retiring, Michael has chaired the boards of a large housing association and a group of independent schools. He is currently Honorary Treasurer of Vista, the local charity supporting people with sight loss. He has also been a director of a mutual insurance company and an adviser on treasury management issues.

About Pauline

Pauline qualified as a State Registered Nurse and a Midwife in the 1970’s. After gaining experience in a number of nursing and midwifery roles she was appointed as Director of Surgical Services and then Executive Director of Nursing and Quality at the Grantham and District Hospital where she stayed for 5 Years before moving to Wigan. After two years as Executive Director of Nursing and Facilities at the Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust she was appointed Executive Director Nursing at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust in 2000, a position which she held for eight years. During that period she was responsible for the standards of nursing care, development and delivery of nursing strategy and Infection Prevention and Control. She was Executive Lead for patient and public involvement and completed two periods as Acting Chief Executive.

Since that time Pauline spent two years as an independent consultant in the NHS providing executive coaching, planning and conducting reviews of clinical services, as well as hospital quality assessments commissioned by the Department of Health. In 2010/11 Pauline was a non-Executive Director for the Leicestershire and Rutland County PCT where she was involved in developing commissioning strategy and scrutiny of provider Trusts, as well as chair of the Clinical Governance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee.

In the autumn 2011 she was appointed a non-Executive Director of the East Midlands Ambulance NHS Trust focussing on strategy development, scrutiny of executive directors and Chair of the Quality and Governance Committee. She was appointed Interim Chairman in November 2013 to stabilise the leadership team and work with the interim Chief Executive to create an environment to deliver improved performance and strengthen governance. Following a recruitment process in August Pauline was appointed as Chairman of EMAS from October 1st for two years.

Pauline was awarded an MBA from the Henley Management College in 1997 and she has received an MBE in recognition of her contribution to healthcare in Leicestershire. In her spare time Pauline plays golf and enjoys walking.

LOROS is an excellent local charity providing healthcare to the most vulnerable funded in the most by charitable donations. Hospice care is something Pauline is passionate about and now she has the time to offer her knowledge and expertise.