Women Leaders Celebrated

Jun 20, 2024

We’re thrilled to announce that our very own Head of Development, Lucy Davies, was awarded the Women Leaders Community Impact (Volunteer) Award and our Trustee Elizabeth Sheldon was recognised for her contribution towards science, notably with STEM.

Lucy’s dedication and hard work to our charity and the wider community have made a real difference. We are so proud of her and congratulate her on receiving the award.

The Women Leaders Awards are based on nominations. Lucy received three nominations and six endorsements, which show how her work has inspired independent individuals in Milton Keynes to nominate her.

Lucy was one of three finalists in the Community Impact: Volunteer category. Her nominations referenced her work for Camphill MK, but the focus was on her volunteer work, including chairing Motus Dance and leading the charity through a difficult year.

Lucy attended the ceremony with her friend, husband and mother-in-law at Stadium MK with around 400 women and allies. Each category was introduced by the hosts Julie Mills and Ruby Parmar, and then a 1-minute film for each woman, introducing them to the room.

Lucy said, “I was very surprised and a bit overwhelmed to have won, but I am very proud of my award.”

Our CEO, Tim Davies, said, “Camphill MK has a rich history of championing women in leadership. For example, Morwenna Bucknell was a key founder of our community and is celebrated as part of the MK Rose Founders Pillar for her party in building the city. We are proud to have been able to support Lucy with her projects both inside and outside of Camphill MK and are inspired by her growth as a leader.”

Camphill MK trustee Elizabeth Sheldon (pictured below), was also celebrated. She previously won two Women Leaders awards in 2016 and a National Women Leaders award in 2017 in Science and Technology. Elizabeth was asked by Jan Flawn to think about how they could inspire young women and subsequently the less advantaged into a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). She came up with the name MK Innovates, designed the logo and held 4 STEM festivals in Middleton Hall with educators and employers of manufacturing, Technology and Engineering.

Lucy’s Nomination

Lucy has had incredible impact on the 3rd sector through her voluntary work, especially this year. Her current and active voluntary roles include trustee for Bradwell Silver Band, chair at MOTUS Dance, Goodwill Ambassador for the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire 2023-24 as well as working full time at charity Camphill MK.

Lucy has played (voluntarily) with Bradwell Silver Band for the past 18-years and on the committee for the past 5-years. Her recent achievements have been entirely undertaking the process of registering the group as a CIO which was completed in October 2023 which included reading and presenting the pros & cons to the committee, then the membership, followed by writing all relevant paperwork, signing up trustees and finalising the submission. For the band, Lucy has also implemented digital payments for both their concert series and street collections. More recently Lucy supported the nomination for Kings Award for Voluntary Service for the band, collating all evidence, panel interviews, member workshops. She is now leading on a project archiving the bands history in the approach of the bands 125th anniversary in 2026.

Lucy is the bands lead for the 125th anniversary, having in principle agreed a masses bands concert in Middleton Hall, an international tour, new composition and an exhibition.

In 2023, Lucy joined MOTUS as their chair supporting their artistic director with governance leadership. However the artistic director Helen Parlor passed away suddenly in May 2024, leaving Lucy with an organisation without strategic and operational leadership and an organisation un-prepared administratively to cope without her in post. Lucy, whilst mourning herself, galvanised the trustees, appointing a general manager, securing approval from Arts Council England to change the required outputs on the existing grant to move from artistic delivery to core costs to sure-up the organisation during a period of change and turmoil.

Lucy has offered MOTUS a steady guiding hand, motivating the freelancers and finding ways around accessing files seemingly unavailable to the trustees to manage audit and continuity. She has enabled a strong programme of both community engagement, festivals and shows at The Venue, despite the loss of Helen. And in January launch the Helen Parlor Dance Bursary to honor Helen and offer opportunities to new dancers in the city. For this she negotiated £10,000 from MK City Council and brought in £5,000 through crowd-funding, with MK Community Foundation on board to £1 for £1 matching every donation secured.

And if the above doesn’t sound impressive in itself, Lucy dedicated this past year to supporting Dame Ann Limb in her year as High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire as a Goodwill Ambassador. Lucy has supported Ann at a range of events around the county; undertaking court visits, community events and celebrations, as well as supporting the coordination and delivery of key events such as the Judiciary Service and Violence Against Women and Girls conference. Aside event attendance, Lucy has designed event invitations, coordinated RSVPs, supporting the ‘tech’ set up of events, and coordinated the other Goodwill Ambassadors on occasion.