Meet The NDVS Team
Get to know the dedicated team we have working at North Devon Voluntary Services, who together have a wealth of experience and knowledge of the voluntary sector.
Marie Gould
Chief Officer
"Excited to enable those that do good to flourish - using my passion, experience and qualifications!"
After having my first child, I trained to become a vocational educator, at what was then North Devon College, and specialising in Business and Management. I remained at Petroc for 28 years progressing into management roles, the last being Head of Faculty - Health, Care, Education, Business and Enterprise.
I have recently completed my Senior Leaders Degree (MBA) apprenticeships through University of Exeter which has ignited my passion for purpose over profit, mission led leadership and trying to make a difference during these challenging times.
Anna
Finance Officer
Anna recently joined the NDVS team at the beginning of December last year. Before joining the team she worked at Petroc where she also took the opportunity to further her education and study for her AAT Accounting qualifications, which she is now putting into practice within her new roles as the Trainee Finance Officer at NDVS.
Pepi
Bookkeeper
Louise Flagg
Voluntary and Community Partnerships Officer
Louise loves working with people, she has a passion for community engagement and facilitating access to the outdoors. Louise joined NDVS during lockdown with a desire to support individuals and organisations in the voluntary and community sector, with her background in education and training and as a director of an outdoor education company, chair, and trustee of an educational trust she wanted to find a way of using her skills and knowledge to support others.
Louise trained as a teacher, working in schools in Bristol before fulfilling her passion for the outdoors by moving into that industry and progressing to county advisor for outdoor and environmental education, eventually deciding to set up her own business with her husband on Exmoor. Louise holds qualifications in AAT accounting, outdoor management development, child psychology, and counselling alongside first aid, safeguarding, and mental health first aid.
Louise’s role is to support our local organisations by linking groups and individuals by attending One Community meetings, offering training, and setting up events and forums. She is the North Devon and Torridge Administration for Devon Connect and uses this platform to help our organisations to publicize their activities and services and well as recruit volunteers. One of her supporting roles is to work with groups to undertake the Quality Mark and work through an organisational health check, deciding on the best organisational structure and developing the relevant policies and practices to ensure safe, caring, effective, and responsive services.
Sammy Antell
Volunteer Connector
Sammy joined the NDVS team in August 2023. Her role as Volunteer Connector involves her working with voluntary organisation in North Devon and engaging with the local community to increase the number of volunteers in placements.
Previous to joining the team, Sammy worked for 10 years teaching in Further Education (FE), in particular working with16-19 year olds, supporting them in work placements and helping them developing their employability skills.
Hosted Staff
Tim
Devon Access to services
Program Manager
Tim has worked with Community Transport in Devon since 2005. His roles have included transport coordinator, minibus and volunteer car driver before taking on his current role.
As a passionate supporter of the value of volunteers he also regularly volunteers for the National Trust Working Holiday programme assessing new potential volunteer leaders and minibus drivers as a MiDAS Driver Assessor Trainer, a role he has held since 1997
Claire
Devon Access to Services
Support Assistant
Claire has had a long history in working within the voluntary sector, having worked for 10 years within homelessness support, Claire offered practical support and guidance, and liaising with voluntary and statutory agencies to produce support plans for those with complex needs, as well as providing emergency accommodation and managing a team of volunteers to run a weekly soup kitchen.
In her role within Devon Access to Services, Claire helps to provide a gateway to advice, representation and signposting, working closely alongside community car schemes across Devon.
Mel Eyers
361 Energy—Warmer Homes
Mel is 1 of 7 Home Energy Advisers working throughout North Devon for 361 Energy. 361 Energy is an energy
advice community interest company, based in Barnstaple, who have been operating for 12 years offering energy
saving advice to residents and businesses.
Mel is trained and qualified in Domestic Energy, Fuel Poverty & Fuel Debt Advice and works on the Energy
Redress Project ‘Warmer Homes’. Mel can help you with all thing’s energy, whether it’s calling your supplier,
checking your energy bills are accurate, requesting a new meter, checking your tariff, or negotiating with the
energy ombudsman. If you have medical needs, a disability, and rely on electricity, Mel can register you on the
Priority Service Register, and also check you are registered for a social water and broad band tariff to help
reduce your energy bills.
Mel visits households in their own home and gives impartial energy saving advice to help stay warm reduce
condensation and mould. Sign post you for grants and funding to improve the energy efficiency of your property.
Mel works in partnership with other agencies including Devon & Somerset Fire Service, Navigate Debt Advice
Charity, Care Direct, NHS, Citizens Advice and Lendology to offer the best possible energy advice service for all
residents in North Devon.
Andrea Mules
Live Well in Braunton
Community Developer Worker
Andrea is the Live Well in Braunton Community Developer.
She has a wealth of experience in the voluntary sector having worked on several contracts over 25 years supporting-Young Carers, Carers, Substance Misuse, people with Long Term Health Conditions and other vulnerable groups.
Andrea's role in Community Development, is to connect individuals, groups and organisations to each other and where appropriate fill the gaps.
Bringing services and groups to the local community to support self-care and hopefully have a positive effect on individuals health.
Monica Carter-Burns
Live Well Braunton
Marketing, Admin and Volunteer Co-ordinator
Monica's role is to update The Live Well in Braunton Directory, increase publicity and support the work of Andrea, our Community Developer. If you run a group, club or organisation and would like to be featured on our Directory, get in touch.
"I’m a Yorkshire lass, mum to two boys and two Labradors (Pablo & Pepe), and wife to the lovely Tony.
I love nothing better than walking the dogs on Saunton Beach or The Burrows."
Ailsa Bailey
Wellbeing Connector
The Wellbeing Connectors work with patients by signposting them to local community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support that are appropriate for their needs.
Having worked in retail for many years and qualified as a counsellor recently this was a great role to step into.
Out of work I love reading and spending time with family and friends.