Team

Roger Lynch (Project Manager)

Roger worked for 15 years as an engineer and latterly business manager working for a large public utility. This included business modelling and development of new businesses in addition to the management of multi-million pound IT projects. Roger has played in and managed football teams for nearly 20 years and has extensive experience of all aspects of sports club development. More recently Roger has retrained in Intercultural Studies and has worked for the last three years in partnership with Riverside Church as a Community Development Worker based in Balsall Heath. He is passionate about building bridges across cultural boundaries and in coordinating volunteer groups in social action activities. Roger is also trained in mentoring and spends significant time in supporting a number of mentees from disadvantaged backgrounds. Roger is a practising Christian, and attends Riverside Church with his wife Mel, and their two sons, Toby and Zac.

Kate Baker (Project Support)

Kate trained as a structural engineer (and worked in Birmingham to design two primary schools). Now self-employed, she works largely in areas of active citizenship, community empowerment and local democracy. She is an associate to several local organisations including Community Pathways CIC, Chamberlain Forum and LocaliseWM. Kate has done significant voluntary work with Birmingham City Council for digital districts and has also recently been engaged in Community Asset Transfer work. Kate is passionate about empowering communities and assisting more deprived areas to achieve better health and fitness and increase the availability of work and training; she sits on the Digbeth, Highgate and St. Andrews Neighbourhood Action Plan Committee. Kate has significant business development experience particularly within the area of social media and can bring new and effective approaches to engaging with communities and helping them to drive their own conversations.

Stephen Worthington (Project Assistant)

Stephen was born and raised in Birmingham and derives great pleasure from contributing to his local communities and wider Birmingham. Stephen is an active member of Riverside Church, and is involved in several projects around Birmingham within this capacity, including a kids club on a disadvantaged estate. In addition to his activities with Riverside, Stephen also runs a lively badminton group and is a core member of the ‘onebodybrum’ team, working to create community between churches in or near Birmingham. Stephen is active among a wide range of voluntary sector organisations, attending many key events relating to his community work. In his work with Kingsbridge he is relishing learning skills around social media and community engagement and is delighted to be able to pass on these skills as part of the delivery of Kingsbridge.

John Kirkman (Project Fundraising)

John has extensive experience of coaching sport at all levels and has successfully set up and run his own business. He has also worked within the NHS as a project manager responsible for a £1m budget and more recently for Birmingham City Council in a change management role supporting a department of 80 staff. Now working as a freelance coach/facilitator, John’s primary focus is in communication and he brings a fresh approach to the task of fundraising. Having worked with substantial budgets, his focus is on developing strategies to generate the income necessary for the project to succeed.