The People Behind Round Table Childrens Wish

Meet The Team

Our small but dedicated team of staff grant hundreds of wishes and put the smiles on the faces of children who need them the most. The wonderful family we have are:

Cathy White

Wish Coordinator

Wish Coordinator

“As the Wish Coordinator at RTCW I have had the honour of granting wishes at the charity for over 15 years. No two days are ever the same. It’s always a pleasure to make wishes come true for such incredible children and to work with the families to ensure each wish is handcrafted and unique. It always makes my day to hear how much they enjoy their special wish.”

Mike Turner

Charity Manager

Having worked most of his life in professional sport as a General manager, Commercial Director or CEO Mike has a proven track record of business development in the Sport and Leisure business.

A leader and team builder, who balances delegation with hands on involvement to create an imaginative and fertile working environment, pragmatic and results – orientated approach, who conceives, develops and implements effective business solutions.

To be offered the position of Charity Manager is very special and to be involved with an organisation that delivers bespoke handcrafted wishes for Children and their families is a great honour.

Cassandra Thomas

Charity Administrator

As the charity administrator I have a varied role which means no two days are the same! I get to work with our dedicated supporters, ensure the day to day running of the charity goes smoothly and represent a truly worthy cause.

It is such an honour to work for a charity that grants handcrafted wishes for children when they need a touch of joy the most. Having a young son, I now have a greater understanding of how it must feel to have a child with a life-threatening illness and the impact that a wish would have at such a time. This drives me to do the best I can and I am thrilled to be a part of bringing that joy to children and their families.

Meet The Trustees

Our Trustees are Parents, Community Partners and current members of Round Table, 41 Club and Tangent.
They do a fantastic job of ensuring that Round Table Children’s Wish can continue to grant handcrafted wishes. Our Trustees are:

Paula Farnfield

Clerk to Trustees

Clerk to Trustees

National Tangent President 2016-17 and past Ladies Circle National Secretary

Paula has been a supporter of RTCW from its inception through her Ladies Circle connection. She continued to support the charity through her Round Table family connections and jumped at the opportunity of a more proactive role as one of our trustees. Paula has previously worked as a project manager for a multi-national I.T. company. She puts her experience in budget and schedule management, event planning, and team building to use in growing the charity for the future.

Paula is an active member of Tangent following her background within Ladies Circle where she was a National Board Member. She is keen to support the on-going development of wishes and often attends our runs in support of people taking part for RTCW.

Paula is currently serving as National President for Tangent Clubs.

Greg Meadwell

Chair of Trustees

Trustee

Greg a past National Membership Officer for Round Table and National Tabler of the Year 2012, is a chartered surveyor and partner in a surveying practice in the West Midlands, a junior school governor and an RICS Assessor for graduate surveyors final assessments.  He lives in Suffolk with his fiancée and two of her three children, one of whom is autistic.

Supporting RTCW throughout his tabling life at a local, area and national level, Greg even completed 80 miles on roller coaters, as well as parachuting and wing walking, he is currently training for an expedition to Everest Base Camp in October 2022.

 

 

Stuart Holt

Trustee

Amina Hussain

Trustee

Amina Hussain is a multi-award-winning specialist in forensic accounting, taxation, and practice accounting. She is the founder and director of SME Outsourcing, an accountancy firm in Birmingham, and is the former Co President of the Asian Business Chambers of Commerce which is part of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. She is the first British – Asian Bangladeshi to be appointed in this role in 34 years. She has served her term as Co President and has recently been engaged with assisting businesses on “scaling up businesses” by holding workshops on behalf of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.

She has over 24 years of experience in accounting, finance and insolvency previously working for KPMG in their Corporate Restructuring Department. She worked for KPMG for 8 years which then lead her to set up her own accountancy practice. Amina provides business and tax advisory services locally and internationally and during the pandemic, she offered a voluntary service to all local businesses supporting them with claiming furlough and business loans and grants.

Amina was named one of ten Leading Businesswomen of 2021 by the CIO Times International. She won the Signature Awards Businesswoman of the Year in 2019 and the British Bangladeshi Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2020.

As a mentor and coach, Amina guides young people on their future career paths in all business sectors. Amina has recently set up her academy to provide education, training, and qualifications to young people and also to help disadvantage people to gain employment opportunities.

Amina has also set up a FCA regulated firm, SME Financial Services Ltd with her co business partner offering lending facilities to individuals and businesses.

She has also recently joined The Leaders Council of Great Britain and Ireland where she is able to participate in conversations and take part in round table discussions which are heard at parliamentary level to make potential changes to UK government policies and legislation such as taxation policies.

 Amina Hussain has been recently appointed as Trustee of the Round Table Children’s Wish Charity supporting the organisation with helping them make more dreams a reality for poorly children.

Karl Sandall

I have just retired from the roles of Executive Chairman and Group Chief Executive of The TaxAssist Direct Group Ltd.   I joined the company in 2000 after 26 years working for Midland Bank/HSBC in Norwich, Cambridge, Peterborough, Boston and Wymondham.

The TaxAssist business has seen great success in the UK with 250 franchise operations employing well in excess of 2000 people and looking after over 80,000 small businesses. A further 20 franchisees in Ireland servicing over 65000 clients and 6 franchisees in Australia servicing over 4000 clients, and we are now seeing shops open in Canada and USA.  I created employment for just on 70 people at the Norwich based Support Centre.

Before I retired we set up TaxAssist Financial services, now employing 7 people and TaxAssist Tax Consultancy employing 6 people and TaxAssist Payroll Services employing 6 people

  • I am a qualified Franchise Professional, a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Bankers and an Honorary Fellow of The Association of International Accountants which was awarded for my service of merit to the profession of accountancy.
  • I am a Trustee of the British Franchise Association Trust which works to encourage and support disadvantaged individuals to benefit from opportunities within the franchising sector.
  • I have recently finished 6 years as Chairman of the local Norwich Castle Round Table 41 Club.
  • I am currently a member of the Norwich Society
  • I am currently chairman of the Past Area Chairmen of Area 6 41 Club
  • I was a member of the Westminster Club – run by Chloe Smith MP.
  • I am a member of The Stranger’s club, Norwich
  • I am a member of The Close Residents Association and keeper of the two main statues – Wellington and Nelson by planting and maintaining the flowers around the base.
  • I attend as a guest City Club events as again several of my friends are members.
  • I am a “Friend” of Nelson Spirit in Norwich – an organization dedicated to help mentor CEO’ and MD;s as they struggle to cope – I want to use this to give back to those they may benefit from my help.

In the past I have been:

  • President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.
  • Member of the Norfolk Committee for the British Olympic Appeal.
  • Member of the Norfolk Committee of the Gt Ormand Street Wishing Well Appeal where we raised £250K to open a ward in the developed hospital as The Norfolk ward.
  • Chairman and President of Norwich Castle Round Table.
  • Chairman of the Round Table 101 International Club where we brought 100 international guests to Norwich in 1990 including a civic reception with the Lord Mayor and a gala dinner on The Acre at Blickling Hall.
  • A past President of Norwich Number 1 Round Table.
  • At a recent national event, the Round Table National Sporting Weekend, I was asked to guide over 150 visitors around the sites of Norwich as part of a welcome to them, Norwich being the home of Round Table. I took them to various Round table sites; Louis Marchesi’s restaurant site on London Street, Suckling Hall, the site of the first ever Round Table meeting in 1927 and included a guide to the history and sites of Norwich.
  • Committee member of East Anglia Children’s Hospices, both Quiddenham and Milton when they were independent.
  • I have attended two garden parties at Sandringham at the invitation of HM the Queen for my business and charity work.
  • A supporter of The Princes Trust – both the Volunteers and the business adviser scheme – which was most rewarding and resulted in invitation by Charles to a reception for just 25 of us at Sandringham.
  • I have also been a member of the Bank of England’s East Anglia Advisory Panel, now taken over by my co-director
  • A Trustee of the OPEN Youth Trust Norwich for two years – 2018-2020
  • I have been a school Governor at both Wymondham College and Blofield primary School

As you can see, I like to be busy and involved!

Born 11 August 1956 in Great Yarmouth moving to Norwich in 1968

I am a very keen gardener and as a family, we enjoy cycling and walking. One of our favorite holidays is walking in the Lake District.

My wife, Clare, and I have been married for 22 years and have three children; Bethan (22) James (19) and Jack (19)

I am currently looking for new opportunities to give back – so will likely engage again in charity activity and consultancy to assist up and coming franchisors to build a business for themselves and franchisees.

I am passionate about well being in the work place, people before profit and investing in people who invest back in me.

Meet The Patrons

Our Patrons do a wonderful job at promoting us.
Our patrons support us because they believe that the work we do as a charity makes a big difference in the lives of the children and families we support. But don’t take our word for it! See what our patrons have to say themselves below:

Harry Redknapp

English Football Manager and Former Player

“This charity is very close to my heart. Whatever the kids want we try and make it happen. To grant a wish and help them fight their illness gives them and their family such a lift.” Visit Harry Redknapp’s website

Chris Jarvis

TV Actor and Presenter

“I’m absolutely honoured to contribute towards Round Table Children’s Wish as a Patron. This is a charity that brings so much happiness to children at a time when they are going through so much.”