Jane has a background in education, local government and cultural heritage.   For the past 19 years, she has been involved in local, regional and national campaigns and projects aimed at increasing young people’s entrepreneurial awareness, skills and aspirations.   Jane was a founding member of the Young People’s Enterprise Forum in Yorkshire and the Humber which managed the region’s enterprise strategy on behalf of the Regional Development Agency.   From 2007-2010 Jane was regional director of the Make Your Mark campaign in Wakefield and then Yorkshire delivering activities designed to engage young people in enterprise and promoting self-employment as a positive career path.

Jane is the director of a micro-enterprise which aims to promote and develop a culture of enterprise and entrepreneurship across Yorkshire.   Jane provides business mentoring and training for young people for the Princes Trust’s Explore Enterprise programme and Unltd.   Jane works with schools and further education colleges in Yorkshire advising on enterprise education and delivering programmes to students, teachers and career advisers.   Jane is chair of Young Enterprise West Yorkshire which delivers the company programme which develops students’ entrepreneurial and employability skills and attitudes.   Jane was instrumental in piloting the government’s Enterprise Adviser programme in the Leeds City region and continues to act as an enterprise adviser to Brigshaw Academy in Leeds.

Jane is a non-executive director of Yorkshire Mentoring CIC currently managing programmes for young people across the Bradford and Craven districts.   Jane became the chair of the FSB’s education policy portfolio in June 2016.   In this role, she is a member of the Careers and Enterprise Company’s Ambassador’s Group, Barclays Lifeskills Advisory Group and OCR’s Qualifications Committee

Jane is a member of Soroptimists International (Wakefield) supporting girls and women and a trustee of Wakefield Well Women’s Centre.   Jane is a qualified teacher, a WEA tutor and Fellow of the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, CIPD and the RSA.

In her spare time, Jane is a school governor and an avid Castleford Tigers Rugby League fan.

Meg has worked in Castleford since January 1985 and retired recently as a partner in a well-established local firm of solicitors.   She served on the Board of the Prince of Wales Hospice for 10 years from June 1989 and joined the governing body of New College Pontefract as a business governor on incorporation, staying in post for just over 10 years, initially as vice chair and latterly as chair of governors.   Following her election to the Council of the Law Society in 1998, she served on a number of working parties (including the Regulation Review Working Party which was responsible for rewriting the solicitors’ rules of professional conduct) and committees, two of which, the Wills and Equity Committee and the Scrutiny Committee, she chaired.

In 2010, she joined Castleford Heritage Trust as a trustee and has been involved in the Queen’s Mill Project from the start.   Prior to retiring, Meg and her husband bought a tandem and now regularly lead cycle rides organised by Wakefield District Cycle Forum setting off from Queen’s Mill, generally in the direction of Fairburn Ings.

Mark became a member of the West Yorkshire Police Authority in June 1999 and Chair of the Authority in June 2003.   After joining the Board of the Association of Police Authorities in 2003, he was made the Board’s Deputy Chair in 2009 and in October 2011 he was elected Chair of the Association of Police Authorities.   In November 2012 he was elected to be the first Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire.   Mark has spent over twenty years working for both public and private sector organisations in West Yorkshire, including West Yorkshire County Council, Citizens Advice Bureaux, CableTel Ltd, The Rugby Football League (RFL) and Halifax Plc.   In the 2012 Honours List, he was awarded an OBE for services to the Community and Policing.   For nearly 15 years he was Labour Councillor for Castleford and Glasshoughton, Mark stood down from this post after he was elected as Police and Crime Commissioner.   Mark lives in Castleford and is President of Glasshoughton Cricket Club, an ex rugby player and a passionate rugby league supporter.

Keith is a cultural heritage management professional who specialises in community heritage initiatives, with a doctorate in conservation philosophy from the University of York.   Keith has been involved in Castleford since 1999 and has undertaken community heritage and craft skills projects in numerous places across North Yorkshire and the North York Moors, and further afield in Romania.   Keith has published on community heritage issues and is a member of a national craft skills training group, committed to extending opportunity to and developing craft skills amongst those who prefer to work with their hands.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, John retired recently having had over forty years of financial, commercial and charitable experience in Mining, Engineering, Construction and Social Housing as Finance Director and Company Secretary.   John served as a local school Governor for some twenty years, half of which as Chair, and is currently a Trustee of the Castleford Academy Trust.   Formally a Director and President of the White Rose Credit Union, he is the Independent Member on the Audit and Governance Committee of Wakefield Council.

John has been a qualified Pharmacist for nearly 36 years after graduating from Bradford University with a B. Pharm. (Hons).   He later acquired a Diploma in Performance Coaching from Newcastle University.   John has run many large Boots Chemist stores as a pharmacist store manager and latterly held various senior posts including Area Pharmacy lead and Regional Finance lead where he was responsible for planning and forecasting £1/4b sales and expenses.   He was the founder member and chair of the Pudsey Traders Association in 1992, Rothwell Traders Association in 1996, and the Crown Point Traders Association in 2000.   He was also chair of Wakefield Local Pharmaceutical Committee for three years, a member of Kirklees Local Pharmaceutical Committee and latterly a committee member of the new Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire until he took semi-retirement to spend more time with his young family.   John is a Trustee of CHT and a long-standing director and current Chair of the Castleford Town Centre Partnership Ltd.

Tony is vice-chair of both the Castleford Heritage Trust and the Castleford Civic Trust.   He is a local councillor, member of the West Yorkshire Fire Authority and a director of Groundwork Wakefield.   Tony founded his residents’ association (GREAT), is a founder member of the Friends of Castleford Library and chair of Glasshoughton Infant School governors.   With a BSc Hons in science and technology, Tony was a scientific technician for thirty-five years.   He was educated at Normanton Grammar School and the Open University.

An apprentice trained engineer Dave progressed to a career in Work Study at John Waddingtons plc.  Here he managed multi million pound projects, he gained experience and knowledge in various lines of printing, production and warehousing and finally took a roll as Technical Development manager at Waddingtons Games.  A career change after the closure of Waddingtons Games he took up the roll of Production Manager at a contract liquid packaging company.   Again gaining vast amounts of knowledge on many types of packaging.  Another career change to the Production Manager of a food packaging company.  Here Dave gained the food hygiene qualifications he uses to full effect at Queen's Mill.

After taking early retirement Dave came to Queen's Mill to help with the restoration of the Water Wheel.  He now is the head miller at the mill and has produced over 2 tonnes of flour.   He can be found volunteering at the mill most days and spends many weekends at Farm Shows and exhibitions demonstrating the manufacture of flour and promoting Queen's Mill and Castleford Heritage Trust.

Dave is a retired Colliery official.  His interests are in the arts and community issues.   From 1990 until 2000 he served and gained much experience as a trustee for a successful innovative arts organisation, the Yorkshire Art Circus based in Castleford.   He has self published several books and is a practising artist.  He has been, since its conception in 1998 to the present, the chairperson of the Friends Of Castleford Library.

The group fulfilled one of its aims in December 2013 with the opening of a £1.4million new library/museum the Castleford Forum, which Dave has had the pleasure of being on the steering group to deliver it.   His community interests have also lead to him being a director of the Castleford Town Centre Partnership since 2002 and a founder member and trustee of the Castleford Heritage Trust since 2000.