Our Trustees
Chair: Kirsty Gillan-Thomas
Kirsty has a background in social research and evaluation, focusing on issues of social policy and the charity sector. She currently works for Paul Hamlyn Foundation, a grant-making charity. During her career she has also worked for the Home Office, and a number of charities in a paid and voluntary capacity, with experience in fundraising, caring and work with children and young people. She has been living in the area since 2015 and joined KNA as a trustee in 2018.
Vice chair: Sharon La Ronde
Sharon has lived in Kew for 30 years. Her background in the private and third sectors, she has worked for national and local charities and funders, including Skylarks charity and at Richmond Parish Lands Charity as Grants Director. She is a charity consultant and also offers pro bono support to local charities. Volunteering experience for numerous charities includes KNA, Hounslow Toy Library, Honeypot Charity, Kew Riverside Primary School, Dogs for Good and The Barn Nursery.
Martin Keene
Martin has lived in Kew for nearly ten years. His wife, Laura, volunteers as a driver with KNA, and he works in the media in Paddington.
Martin Cross
Martin has lived in Kew since 1974. He retired in 2009 from a career in financial services and became a KNA volunteer driver and trustee, including two periods as chair (2015-2017) and (2020-21). He also volunteers with Oxfam and Age UK Richmond. His wife Jenny is a KNA Office volunteer.
Treasurer: Chris Langley
Chris Langley joined KNA as Treasurer in 2024. Recently retired as Treasurer for a container leasing company called Blue Sky based in Marlow. He was there for about 12 years and in total fulfilled similar roles in the container industry for about 34 years. Chris is also Treasurer of Kew Scouts.
Judi Braddock
Judi has a career as a director in business change and information technology and has worked for many global companies whilst undertaking voluntary roles as a school governor, youth club manager, chair of the Kew police liaison group and is currently treasurer for St Luke's Church. In 2019 Judi was interim CEO for Kew Community Trust in a maternity cover role and has supported KNA in sharing information between the organisations.
Margaret De Fonblanque
Margaret moved to Kew 30 years ago, but as her husband was a diplomat she spent some of those years abroad. Although her main career was in the Civil Service, she diversified into teaching history in Delhi, working for the European Commission on recruitment in Brussels, and acting as an English language editor in Vienna. She was an Assessor for the Civil Service graduate recruitment scheme for 20 years, and acted as the lay member on the interview panels for the magistrates service.
Monsignor Canon John Weatherill
Monsignor Canon John Weatherill is the Parish Priest of Our Lady of Loreto & St Winefride's Catholic Church in Kew. He joined KNA as a trustee in 2024.
Our staff
We have three part-time paid members of staff - a Director who oversees the charity, an Operations Manager to run the day today business of KNA and a Companionship Manager who manages Kew Neighbour's Companionship Programme. We currently have a vacancy for a Marketing & Communications Co-ordinator to help KNA stay visible within our community.
Director
Abi Palmer
mail@kna.org.uk
07951 293 319
Companionship Manager
Ioana Goga
ioana.goga@kna.org.uk
07534 095 885
Marketing & Comms Co-ordinator
Vacancy
Our volunteers
A team of volunteers run the office on week days from 10am – 12 noon, finding volunteer drivers, gardeners and shoppers to meet the requests of those who need the help of our wonderful team of volunteers.