Management Team
Management Team
Two new members of the Malvern Welcomes Management Team are needed, to join six other volunteer Management Team members plus an admin volunteer who does all minute-taking and meeting organising.
If you’d like to find out more please email Karen Argent at karen.argent@malvernwelcomes.net.
Karen Argent
I am an experienced teacher and ex university lecturer, now happily retired, and have always been very interested in finding ways to educate my students about the diverse experiences of refugees.
I am also Director of The Letterpress Project, a not-for-profit initiative that campaigns for people of all ages and backgrounds to have access to a range of good quality books. In this capacity I continue to work with schools and universities using books to develop empathy.
My role in Malvern Welcomes is to work in partnership with schools and newly arrived families to recognise the strengths of individual children and to ensure that they experience a positive and inclusive education. I regularly liaise with staff about overall progress and support individual children at school in partnership with the ESOL team.
Sharon Baker
I’m Malvern Welcomes ESOL Coordinator and a freelance ESOL Consultant, Trainer and Language Tutor (English, French & Spanish). I’m a member of NATECLA (National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages to Adults), Voluntary ESOL Sector Rep on its Management Council and I moderate NATECLA’s national online forum for the voluntary ESOL sector
Malvern Welcomes ESOL programme responds to the changing needs of each resettled family, so they can become empowered members of our shared community. The team of tutors are all qualified and highly motivated, teaching English from literacy and beginner level to advanced, including English for Specific Purposes such as those of interviews, employment and academic. The programme’s learners are amongst the most driven students possible – you need unimaginable determination, stamina and aspirations to escape war zones and make perilous journeys across continents and oceans to set up a new life for yourself and your family in a new language in a different country and culture.
If you are a qualified ESOL or EFL teacher and would like to make a difference in your local community, please do get in touch.
Ruth Forecast
I am a founder member of Malvern Welcomes, which was established in 2014. At that time, we were dismayed that huge numbers of people were having to make the difficult choice of leaving their home and country in order to be safe. I believe fervently that we have a responsibility to extend a hand of welcome and that we are the richer of doing so.
For much of my working life I lived overseas with my husband and three children in Tanzania, Latvia and Italy, teaching Music and English in international schools. Teaching was a great pleasure for me and it was an immense privilege to meet and work with people from all over the world. I learned from this experience that people have different perspectives and ways of living and how vital it is for us to learn from and to respect one another.
Simon Kilvington
I moved to Malvern after finishing university in the late 1990s. My wife, Alex, and I have both been active in Malvern Welcomes for a number of years and I am the membership secretary. We have three sons, two who are teenagers and one slightly younger, so I can often be found out and about on the hills trying to tire them out!
Harry Lofthouse
I joined Malvern Welcomes in January 2022, and the Management Team in late 2024. I have lived in Malvern for many years, with a brief break in London for university and work. I previously worked for several Members of Parliament, and now work at a government-owned company.
I was motivated to begin volunteering for Malvern Welcomes after working with Afghan families during the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, and have spent my time working on issues such as employment, fundraising, and assisting with complex problems and queries families might have when interacting with the government or their housing provider.
I thoroughly enjoy working with everyone involved in Malvern Welcomes, and using my professional experience to support the families we assist is very rewarding work.
Hilary Macmillan
I joined the team of Malvern Welcome’s ESOL tutors in 2022. I also help with wider family support, and I am part of the Volunteer Coordination team. I have spent many years working in the third sector in communication and education. I was also a teacher locally for nearly 20 years, specialising in supporting neurodiverse students and teaching English as an additional language. This background has allowed me to bring some relevant experience to the work of Malvern Welcomes.
For me, teaching English to resettled family members is one of Malvern Welcomes’ most vital roles. The ability to communicate in English empowers the individual and helps maintain a normal family dynamic, where parents are learning English in parallel with their children who will be immersed in language learning at school. The ability to speak English enables the individual to steer a path through the initial complexities of life in a new country, with confidence and with dignity, and our learners have the determination to succeed.
Jane Stockley
After retirement from a long fulfilling career in the NHS, I undertook a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course with the aim of volunteering both at home and whilst travelling abroad. I joined Malvern Welcomes in March 2021 as an ESOL tutor, and became involved with on-line English tuition and home schooling during the pandemic, with a welcome return to face-to face teaching after lockdown restrictions were lifted. Language acquisition is key for resettled families, helping them engage with their new environment, and gain confidence as they make new relationships, start school, college or employment, and rebuild their lives. As the months went by, I became involved in the wider activities of Malvern Welcomes, befriending and helping families navigate through the many challenges encountered in daily life, and it was a privilege to become a family lead volunteer welcoming a new family from Afghanistan in September 2021. It is immensely rewarding to be part of the Malvern Welcomes team.