Contact us
Telephone
01245 268 303
Email
info@cityofchelmsfordmencap.co.uk
Senior Management Team
"CCM’s senior management team brings together a wealth of experience, a deep commitment to care, and a shared vision for creating a supportive and inclusive environment for staff, volunteers, and students alike. With their strong leadership, they nurture a cohesive and dedicated team, ensuring that everyone at CCM works together with purpose and compassion. Their guidance helps to shape a culture where collaboration thrives, enabling us to provide the best possible support to those who rely on our services."
Anthony North, Chair of Trustees
Our Senior Management Team
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Grace Lidstone
Services Manager
Bernadette Bass
Financial Administrator
Jan Hewett
Advocacy & Community Support Manager
Jules Cessford
Senior Support Lead
Emma O'Riordan
Senior Support Lead
Meet our Senior Team
Grace Lidstone
Services Manager
Grace is City of Chelmsford Mencap’s Services Manager, and wears several additional hats, including designated safeguarding lead, grant writer, and social media manager.
Grace gained a first class honours degree in social sciences, predominantly in psychology and social policy. She specialised in her two main interests, intellectual disability and palliative care, and her dissertation explored the polarities of the caring and cared-for roles. She has since become a lifelong learner and has gained qualifications in teaching and counselling.
Before joining CCM, Grace worked for a small national charity providing support services for young people with a neurological condition and their families. This included overseeing a 24-hour helpline, managing a caseload, and producing a quarterly magazine. As part of her role she sat on a government working group, leading to commissions from the Department of Health to conduct qualitative research into patients’ experiences and to design and deliver a conference for people with lived experience from across the UK.
Grace started her CCM journey as a youth club volunteer in 2008 but, as she likes to say, “it snowballed”. She has held many roles in the charity including support worker and administrator for children’s respite services, social club manager, and lifelong learning tutor. Grace is always particularly happy when a child she supported ‘back in the day’ enrols at The Outreach Academy and she sees how much they’ve progressed – and all their potential for the future.
Grace’s workload includes pastoral care (above all else), curriculum development, project management, nurturing partnerships and pursuing grant funding. One of her favourite roles is creating opportunities for CCM’s members to showcase their talents and demonstrate that, with the right support, they can make meaningful contributions to their local community. She also provides guidance to the board of trustees and works closely with them on the future growth and direction of the charity. Grace sits on the HR committee and frequently attends our other committees including finance and strategy and projects.
One of Grace’s major projects was managing the development of CCM’s online learning service in response to the pandemic, which successfully opened just three weeks after lockdown, and the logistical challenges of a blended provision and the gradual return to ‘normality’. CCM’s work and approach in these areas have won national recognition.
A highlight for Grace was sharing with staff and volunteers that CCM had received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service - in the middle of the pandemic, this was an amazing boost to the morale of the team, who had been working so hard to ensure service users were safe and supported.
Grace loves seeing volunteers and staff develop confidence and skills in their roles, and regularly being in awe of her senior management team colleagues, who she says have so much combined knowledge, skill and passion.
In her spare time, Grace enjoys creative arts, Zumba (mainly freestyling at the back) and keeping her dog and the local wildlife in the style to which they have become accustomed.
Bernadette Bass
Financial Administrator
Bernadette was born in London and her first career was in hairdressing, where she developed her legendary people skills.
After seven years of styling hair, she decided to have a career change and took various temporary jobs to explore different roles. She secured a job in financial services, working for Allied Dunbar, which is now part of Zurich. Bernadette first fulfilled the role of receptionist while taking her secretarial qualifications and later became known as ‘Queen of the Switchboard’ with responsibility for training employees to use the rather complicated telephone network. She then became secretary for three managers, which involved assessing and processing insurance applications and organising meetings and team events. Later, she assumed responsibility for the department’s Recruitment and Motivation budget and also became involved in fundraising for the company’s Charity Department, providing logistical and hosting support for events.
After having her second child, Bernadette left Allied Dunbar to become Director and Secretary of the courier company she had established with her partner. Bernadette’s full-time role enabled the company to expand and diversify, initially into school contracts (which was her first experience with special needs and disability) and later into non-emergency patient transport and sterile services. The company gained several large contracts for hospitals in London, Manchester and Leicester. This enabled Bernadette and her partner to develop a training centre, which provided mandatory courses for domiciliary care, ambulance and non-emergency patient transport services, with specialisms including high dependency and neonatal special care non-emergency transport.
Later, the company expanded into care services for London boroughs, with high level accreditation from the Care Quality Commission. Bernadette was responsible for operations and compliance, including medication management and Health & Safety. She was also the company’s designated safeguarding lead and was passionate about advocating for the company’s most vulnerable clients.
After running the business for thirteen years and moving to rural Essex, Bernadette and her partner decided to sell the businesses and concentrate on their growing family, which included five gorgeous children and a selection of animals. Bernadette’s favourites were the five pygmy goats as they were also gorgeous – and cheeky! Ever the entrepreneur, Bernadette set up a gift hamper business and specialised in nappy cakes (which she still makes for the CCM family).
When her youngest child started school, Bernadette was keen to get involved in social care again and chose to focus on using her accounting and HR skills for CCM’s benefit. As Financial Administrator, Bernadette is responsible for accounts and budgets, invoicing, payments, payroll, and monthly reconciliation. She liaises with the Services Manager on grants, donations and fundraising and presents financial information to the Board, working closely with the charity’s Treasurer. She also contributes to policies and procedures regarding finance and HR.
In her spare time, Bernadette enjoys gardening, cooking for and entertaining family and friends, and taking on projects such as home improvements.
Jan Hewett
Advocacy & Community Support Manager
Jan’s involvement with Mencap goes back many years; her brother had a learning disability and her family were therefore active members of the Redbridge Local Mencap Society. From an early age, Jan could be found helping out at jumble sales and other events to raise funds and awareness of the needs of children with a learning disability.
This is where her passion for change began and throughout her adult life, Jan has been involved in a number of roles to improve wellbeing and increase opportunities for people with disabilities. Jan first worked in the commercial sector and then secured a position as a Pathway Employment Officer. Following a short career break to have her two sons, she started working at Royal Mencap’s local Learning for Work scheme, before taking time out to look after her mother-in-law who had Alzheimers. At the same time, her youngest son Michael’s communication and complex learning disabilities were becoming more apparent and she needed to spend more time supporting him to access a special school, and later a college, to meet his needs.
These experiences gave Jan a unique understanding and personal experience of dealing with the issues facing families with a relative with a learning disability. She says she has learned so much from Michael and his journey towards adulthood and greater independence. When Michael moved on from college in 2018, she was determined to put what she had learned to good use by working with families in similar situations. When Essex Mencap advertised the role of Family Support Worker, she was quick to apply! The role transferred to City of Chelmsford Mencap in 2020 and Jan has built up a wealth of local information and contacts to pass on to other families.
Jan loves her varied role – from helping families gain the right support packages and benefits to helping people plan for their futures – there’s always something new to learn and pass on! Her regular Carers Connect sessions have proved very popular and have covered a wide variety of topics, from Supported Living options to Staying Safe online. She has also been involved with Christine Towers of Together Matters and Essex Carers Network in providing information and training on the publications sponsored by Essex County Council entitled ‘Thinking Ahead’ and the Easy Read Version – ‘I’m Thinking Ahead’.
In her spare time, Jan loves to spend quality time with her sons (and new grandson), ably supported by her husband, who is now retired and valiantly providing dinner and back up support!
Jules Cessford
Senior Support Lead
Jules has been working for City of Chelmsford Mencap since 2015. As Senior Support Lead, Jules manages the day-to-day running of CCM’s Outreach Academy as well as being responsible for pastoral care. Jules also supervises university students on placement at CCM and manages the weekly Pop-Up Café, part of the charity’s Working Out initiative.
Since Jules graduated with a BA (Hons) in Social Science in 1989, she has dedicated her career to social care, initially in local government in research and development and strategic planning. For the last 27 years Jules has worked in the learning disability sector across many roles including: Day Opportunities Development Manager, Deputy Commissioner, Person-Centred Planning Project Manager, Supported Living Coordinator, Royal Mencap Lead Coordinator, and as a freelance trainer and consultant - to name just a few.
Jules initially joined City of Chelmsford Mencap in 2015 as a Health Project Manager, taking the lead for the Getting it Right from The Start project which aimed to increase the uptake of Annual Health Checks and Health Action Plans. As project manager, Jules co-wrote and produced two films and a play for the Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group. Jules has since developed this film-making role by facilitating students who are part of CCM’s enterprise In!Productions, which has produced several films about diverse topics including health, wellbeing and relationships.
Jules’ passion at work is maximising independence for the people CCM supports. She is a staunch advocate of person-centred approaches and believes that with the right support people with a learning disability can do amazing things.
During 2006-7 Jules bought and renovated properties in Slovenia; she still owns a house there, currently visits twice a year and hopes to retire there one day.
A proud Yorkshire woman, Jules has lived away from “God’s County” since 1985. Her interests include music, cooking, gardening and animals (she has a fabulously feisty black cat) and learning languages. She has GCSEs in French and German and speaks enough Spanish and Slovene to get by in most situations and enough Greek, Turkish and Croatian to be fed and watered in restaurants!
Emma O'Riordan
Senior Support Lead
Emma is a passionate educator and support professional and is proud to serve as Senior Support Lead at City of Chelmsford Mencap. With a Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training and QTLS accreditation, Emma’s career has been dedicated to empowering individuals with diverse needs to achieve their fullest potential.
Emma’s journey began as a Learning Support Assistant at a special needs school in Chelmsford, where she also contributed to supporting at the holiday and youth clubs. Some of her most rewarding experiences include accompanying students on enriching educational adventures, from outdoor pursuits in the Brecon Beacons and Southampton to exploration in Tenerife. After a few years, she transitioned to the role of Teacher Instructor, delivering music sessions and accompanying students into the community to develop vital life skills. A defining moment in this role came when her music class staged a production of The Wizard of Oz. After weeks of rehearsals and preparation, the students delivered an incredible performance with minimal staff support - a testament to their growth and resilience. This experience solidified Emma’s passion for teaching and inspired her to pursue formal qualifications as a lecturer.
As Emma progressed in her teaching career, she joined an Independent Specialist Provider for adults aged 19-25, where she played a pivotal role in developing a curriculum for learners with complex needs. Her dedication to this work led to leadership opportunities, first as an Assistant Head and later as Deputy Head. These roles allowed her to support staff and students in achieving their desired outcomes.
At City of Chelmsford Mencap, Emma now draws on her extensive experience in education to guide colleagues and volunteers and to foster an inclusive environment where students can thrive. She says that witnessing their growth and success has been one of the most rewarding aspects of her career, and she looks forward to contributing to even more transformative journeys ahead.
Outside of work, Emma enjoys playing the saxophone, solving intricate jigsaw puzzles, and building Lego creations. When she’s not immersed in these hobbies, she’s likely spoiling her cherished elderly cat.