Dukes Barn Trustees and Management Team

The trustees of Dukes Barn come from a wide variety of backgrounds offering a range of skills and experience, including human resources management, social work, teaching, the law, finance, medicine, engineering and accountancy. All of the trustees have been involved with community and charity work for a number of years and have a proven track record of business management along with governance in the voluntary sector and fundraising.

The managers of Dukes Barn Company are highly qualified in the delivery of outdoor adventure activities with many years experience of working with disadvantaged, disabled and special needs children and young adults and in the operational management of centres such as Dukes Barn.

A profile of the trustees and the Dukes Barn management team is given below:

Mr Rob Eley: Chair of Trustees

Mr Eley is a retired solicitor and Business Director. He brings a wealth of commercial expertise to the role of Chair of Trustees as an experienced Company Director having worked at senior level both in the UK and abroad. His broad base of business skills is an asset to the management team. He has a proven track record of involvement in charitable work and is also a trustee of The Royal School for the Deaf Derby

Mr Alan Passmore: Secretary of Trustees

Mr Passmore is a retired solicitor, with a long standing interest in charitable work. He is currently a trustee of the Royal School for the Deaf Derby and of several young people’s charities, both UK based and abroad. He is Secretary of the Repton School Concert Society and was, until recently, Chairman of the Burton Sea Cadets. He has also been a Governor of Ecclesbourne School in Duffield in Derbyshire and Churchwarden of St Alkmund’s Church in Derby.

Mr Roger Wardle: Trustee

Mr Wardle is a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Trustee of Derbyshire Crime Beat, a former High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Agent for the Duke of Devonshire. As such he has a lifetime’s involvement in Derbyshire affairs and a keen interest in the welfare of its young people, particularly those who are disadvantaged or at risk.

The Reverend Michael Gowdey: Trustee

The Reverend Gowdey is now retired. He has been chaplain to several schools, and to a College of Further Education as well as a Sixth Form College. He was a founder member of the management committee for a young persons’ advice centre in Stourbridge and a member of the committee involved in setting up the original Edale Centre, in the Hope Valley in Derbyshire. He has worked with young people of all ages and maintains an active interest in the welfare of children and young adults.

Ms Mary Pearson: Trustee

Ms Pearson is a retired Clinical Immunologist who worked for twenty five years in Health Management and Research in the UK and abroad before moving into European Funding Management and then into charity work, spending two years in New Delhi in India running a mobile Health Centre for Street Children, two months at an AIDS Foundation in Ethiopia, followed by three years raising funds for an outdoor activity charity in Castleton in Derbyshire. Since retiring she has worked as a volunteer, raising funds for Dukes Barn and is a volunteer Independent Custody Visitor for the Derbyshire Police Authority.

The Venerable David Garnett: Trustee

The Venerable David Garnett has been vicar of a number of parishes. He was Chaplain, Fellow and Tutor of Selwyn College and pastoral advisor to Newnham College, Cambridge. As Archdeacon of Chesterfield for 14 years he was responsible for all Anglican churches in North Derbyshire and involved in both strategic and financial administration of the Diocese of Derby. He has been Chair of Trustees of the Peak Centre in Edale and is currently Vicar of Beeley and Edensor on the Chatsworth Estate. He is a member of the Governing Council of Derby University, Chair of Chaplaincy on the Derby and Buxton campuses and is on the Multifaith Pastoral Services Committee.

Mr Peter Coffey: Trustee

Mr Coffey is a retired Lloyds underwriter, with 34 years experience in finance. He has worked with Unilever and The United Africa Company and been a Director of a small engineering and manufacturing company. He takes a keen interest in local events and in the welfare of young people.

Mr Nicholas Wood: Trustee

Mr Wood is a chartered surveyor with twenty five years experience in property management. He is currently employed as Agent on the Chatsworth Estate where he has lived and worked since 1993. His role as Chair of Edensor Parish Meeting enables him to work closely with surrounding communities. He takes a keen interest local affairs and in the provision of access for all. His background as a surveyor brings a range of property based knowledge and skills to the Board of Trustees.

Mr Phil Booth: Head of Dukes Barn Centre

Mr Booth is the Operational Manager for Dukes Barn Company. He has over thirty years experience of working with disadvantaged and disabled young people and is a highly qualified outdoor instructor. He is also an experienced climber, having made the first ascent of a previously unclimbed peak in the Himalayas and has recently climbed El Capitain, the biggest rock face in North America. His ability to impart his enthusiasm for the sport to the young people at The Barn encourages them to reach the highest levels of achievement.

Mr Graham Jones: Deputy Head of Dukes Barn Centre

Mr Jones has worked with disadvantaged and disabled young people in the outdoor sector since 1991. He holds professional qualifications in Mountain Leadership, Caving, Canoeing, Rock Climbing and Disability Awareness. His background in engineering and his management experience as an outdoor activities instructor make his contribution invaluable in the practical running and development of Dukes Barn. His natural communication skills and empathy make him a popular instructor with young people of all abilities.

Dukes Barn Company is a company limited by guarantee (no. 4033961) and a registered charity (no. 1081656). The company has a board of eight trustees who meet on a regular basis to review its activities.

In addition to the board there is a team of staff, under the direction of a full time Head of Centre, who are responsible for the day to day organisation, management and control of the company. The full time staff are supported by a pool of around fifty volunteers who help out as and when needed.

Dukes Barn Trust is a registered charity (no. 1077374) which exists solely to support Dukes Barn Company. It has eight trustees, all of whom are also trustees of Dukes Barn Company.

from horses and cart to climbing boots
Built in 1791 as stabling for the 5th Dukes shire horses, and it also housed cart horses and drays which provided transport for the farm and estate.

It was later used for cattle with a milking parlour and slaughterhouse.
At the rear of the barn was a shed that housed a traction engine which took ice from the ice house on the Chatsworth Estate to Cromford canal and retuned with coal. (When the railway came to Rowsley in 1839,coal was also brought from there.) The engine was also used to take damsons to Drabbles, Dye Works at Tansley, from this period the buildings have been used for farming use and storage up until the development by The Royal School for the Deaf.

In May 1987 the 11th Duke of Devonshire opened the centre at Dukes Barn
The Very Reverend Ron Beddoes, priest in charge of Beeley and Endsor, was the inspiration behind this development.
The 11th Duke generously gave the building and large playing field to the Royal School for the Deaf, Derby on a free tenure for many years. The school raised £200,000 to restore and fit out the buildings as a countryside centre for deaf and other young people with disabilities to develop an understanding of the countryside.
In 2001 The Royal School for the Deaf ceased to run the centre at this time a new independent charity was set up to run and fund the centre. We have continued to build and improve on the earlier developments, to give us what we have today, a very comfortable well appointed centre.