who we are

Patron
Barbara Flynn

Board of Trustees
Mrs Sarah Settelen, Chair
Ms Clare McKeown, Vice-Chair
Mrs Clare Nash, Secretary
Ms Anne Warner,Treasurer
Mrs Vicki Brown
Ms Joanie Speers

Trustees and UK staff and advisors occasionally visit the work in Russia. Below is a selection of reports from these visits.  A video of Barbara Flynn’s trip can be found on our video page.

Joanie Trip report

Staff Team
Wendy Tabuteau - Director

ThePromise employs two part time members of staff in the UK. Our partner organisation in Russia (Obeshenye) comprises one full time member of staff and twenty part-time staff members as well as 10 student volunteers. We rely heavily on voluntary support both in the UK and in Russia.

We have a freelance professional fundraiser, event organiser, administration assistant and bookkeeper.

ThePromse Organisation Chart April 2010

Advisory Board
We have an Advisory Board whose members willingly offer advice as and when necessary. We are enormously grateful to them for this:

Mr Martin Bax, Consultant Paediatrician DM(Oxon) FRCP FRCPCH
“As a Paediatrician I have had some contact with Eastern European Services for disabled children. I paid a visit 10 years ago to Russia leading a group of paediatricians and obstetricians looking at obstetric services, outcomes and the care of children with disabilities. More recently and on-going I have been carrying out a study of services for disabled children throughout Eastern Europe and know something therefore of the conditions in Russian residential institutions and orphanages. I am quite certain from what I have heard of the Ryazan Baby Home that Portage is an excellent early intervention programme to introduce.”

Ginevra Burton, Chartered Physiotherapist BA BSc MCSP

Lesley Carroll-Few, Speech and Language Therapist MRCSLT

Alexis Chapman, Accountant BSc ACA

Elizabeth Hindmarch, PR Consultant EHPR

Mrs Joy Horne, Educational psychologist BA Hons MSc AFBPsS
“As an Educational Psychologist and manager of the Hounslow Portage Service, I know first hand what an absolutely vital service Portage is to children with special needs. Portage is an early intervention teaching service for children with any type of difficulty or disability under the age of 5. It breaks down tasks into very small steps, setting goals and planning activities to support the child in the achievement of these goals. The Russian children in the Ryazan Baby Home will be suffering from a severe lack of positive interaction, access to stimulating toys and are not currently in a position to be able to reach their potential. Receiving the Portage service through ThePromise will give them an extraordinary chance to do this.”

Naomi Hulford, Occupational Therapist BSc MCOT

Jo Pritchard, Chartered Physiotherapist BSc MCSP

Gillian Slade, Dietitian RD HCP registered

Alison Snape, Chartered Physiotherapist BSc AKC MCSP

Tanya van Dalen, Occupational Therapist BAOT MCOT

Mrs Mollie White MBE, Educationalist and Portage Specialist Dip Ed MA
“I first came across this method of working with children with special needs in 1976. I count myself fortunate enough to have been invited to participate in a very successful pilot project examining the Portage model in action, set up by the Wessex Health Care Evaluation Research Team. As a result of our confidence in the results achieved by the project, we worked together as a team, over a number of years, to disseminate the approach across the UK where it is now a recognised part of established practice, benefiting many thousands of children with special needs each year. More recently I have worked on projects to establish the service in other countries, and I am excited to be involved in its introduction to the Ryazan Baby Home. I truly believe that it will make a huge difference to the lives of these Russian children”.

Mrs Diane Williams, Senior Portage Teacher