Who we are

OUR MANAGEMENT STAFF

Gervase Newrick / ceo

Gervase has worked in the private, voluntary, statutory and charitable sectors for over 30 years and has always maintained a huge enthusiasm for making music that far outweighs any actual talent! He has spent the majority of his career working with people with learning disabilities in various senior management roles and as a Positive Behavioural Support Practitioner, both within the NHS and as a freelancer, however he has also worked with people with physical disabilities, people who are homeless, children and people suffering with mental health conditions both in the UK and abroad. He is thrilled to have been given the opportunity to combine his passion for music with his dedication to working with groups of people who may have experienced disadvantage or disability and is committed to ensuring that Musical Keys realises its vision to ensure equal access to music and creativity.

OLIVER PAYNE / PROGRAMME director

Oliver has a history of Project Management within the arts, having joined Musical Keys from the Norfolk and Norwich Festival’s Participation and Engagement team. Having been a musician since his teens he started his career as a composer for film and TV (specialising in children’s TV) working from Berlin, before settling in a technical role as a sound engineer and venue manager at Komedia, Brighton.

As well as having a passion for inclusion and community engagement, Oliver is passionate about improvisation and is a founding member of Eastern Ear, an organisation that produces the Arts Council England supported festival of sonic art and new music in Great Yarmouth, YARMONICS.

OUR TRUSTEES

amanda reynolds - chair

Amanda is a strategist, coach and business mentor with a 30+ year career of public sector leadership. Amanda works now as founder and Managing Director of Blend Associates Ltd which she established 8 years ago. Her organisational experience includes working in National, Regional and Local Government, Health Authority, PCT, NHS provider trusts, third sector and education. Amanda has overseen large operational services and workforce spread over large geography and been accountable officer for substantial budgets. With Blend she has led teams to undertake many complex strategy assignments and coaches high profile clients.

She has worked at Senior Civil Servant, Board Executive, NHS Non-Executive and national Charity Trustee level across a range of organisations. She holds an MBA, a master’s Certificate in Leadership Coaching, is a certified MBTI & PROPHET practitioner and holds CEDR workplace mediation certification. . During the pandemic Amanda created, recruited, and has led a coaching faculty of 30+ executive coaches coaching senior NHS individuals and teams. The work has been evaluated and shared widely showing the impact of COVID on NHS managerial and clinical senior leaders.

Amanda writes regularly on coaching, leadership and strategy and is a published author. She has 300+ hours of coaching completed to date. Amanda lives in Norwich with husband, family and dogs. She is a keen baker and novice lockdown pasta maker.

Stephen shaw (treasurer)

Steve is a Chartered Accountant who works as a Financial Reporting Manager at Aviva. He trained with a top 10 accountancy firm in the London area and gained experience of numerous different industries, including the charities sector, as an audit senior. Now living back in Norfolk, he has had 3 roles in industry within 3 very different businesses. Steve has always had a keen interest in music and recognises the positive impact it can have on mental health. He is currently learning to play guitar.

Alison Ridley

Alison has been a Trustee since 2018 following several years attending the MK Saturday morning group with her son, Joseph. After initially completing a degree in music, Alison trained as a Public Services Accountant and spent over 15 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers managing audits in the public sector. She now works part-time for a Norfolk Housing Association focusing on business assurance. Alison continues to attend Saturday morning group with Joseph and values the support she gets from other parents and the rapport both her and Joseph have with all those attending.

Chris towndrow

Chris has been employed as a Volunteer Coordinator within the local healthcare sector for the last three years, following on from twenty years working with adults and children with learning disabilities. His previous role as Head of Children & Young People’s Services at NANSA involved partnership working with Musical Keys on various successful projects and he was delighted to accept an invitation to join the Board of Trustees in May 2021, enabling him to combine his love of music and creativity with his professional background. Despite his enthusiasm far outstripping his ability, Chris very much enjoys playing guitar and singing.

Lucy Child

Lucy came to Musical Keys with her son about 20 years ago and has been involved ever since, fundraising, as a trustee and has also served as chair. In her working hours she is a registered dietitian with over 25 years experience specialising in mental health and eating disorders, mostly in the NHS. With two other friends she also runs a small group to support parents/carers whose children are of transition age from 16-25 years.

Graham Jones

Graham is a retired solicitor, who was Company Secretary and legal director of Norwich Union and then Aviva. Graham holds an MBA degree and is currently a pension trustee for Aviva, a member of UEA Council and has held other charity trusteeships

OUR CREATIVE TEAM

We work with a fantastic pool of freelance staff to ensure we have the broadest range of expertise, skills and experience. Our staff come from a variety of backgrounds such as formal and informal education, music therapy, professional musicianship, documentary making, animation and production etc.

Our staff undergo in-house training and are given the opportunity to undergo necessary CPD and appropriate training. We are a SAFER recruitment employer so all of our staff and volunteers undergo vulnerable adult and child protection safeguarding training as well as regular DBS and background checks.

Musical Keys provides a regular forum for its staff, volunteers and freelancers to share ideas and repertoires and to become introduced to new equipment and techniques.

In a 2024 staff satisfaction survey 100% of our workforce reported being happy with the culture, environment, policies and procedures at Musical Keys, with a mean response of 9 out of 10 of their satisfaction with remuneration.

If you’re interested in working with us, find out how here.