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Dancers performing at the World Performing Arts Festival 2006, Lahore, Pakistan.
Photo © Waheed Khalid


Northern Broadside Theatre Company performing A School for Scandal.
Photo © Nobby Clark


A cellist performing.
Photo © Nana Kofi Acquah


Street performer 'The Space Cowboy' performing at Edinburgh Fringe in The Meadows.
Photo © Kenny Maths


Mime artists from the Cho-In Theatre Company of South Korea, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006.
Photo © Kenny Maths
Richard Price: Chair of BAPAM and a chartered accountant who spent the main part of his career building the education group BPP Holdings plc which prepares graduates for professional qualifications in accounting, banking, law etc. Richard is currently non-executive chairman of Education Development International plc. He is a tenor singer, former chairman of the Bach Choir, a council member of the Royal College of Music and a trustee of Action Medical Research. Richard has been a trustee of BAPAM since 2001.- Margaret Bowler: Treasurer, is a chartered accountant and partner in Grant Thornton. Margaret says that she ‘doesn’t do anything artistic except enjoy’. She is passionate about good business behaviour in charities and other not-for-profit organisations and enjoys working with an organisation which helps performers as they give us so much joy. As regards health care, she has an interest in complementary therapies. She came on to BAPAM’s Board in 2004.
Penny Wright: Honorary Medical Director. Graduated from Cambridge in natural sciences in 1982, qualified in 1986 and was a hospital doctor and GP in Tower Hamlets till 2001. Penny started working as volunteer clinician with BAPAM in 1989. She was an AMABO (Association of Medical Advisors to British Orchestras) doctor to English National Opera orchestra 1992-2002. For the last six years she has taught injury-prevention and vocal health to students at Trinity College of Music and Guildhall. She sings choral music and lieder, and describes herself as a poor cellist and very poor pianist. Penny became a BAPAM Trustee in 2005 and
Honorary Medical Director
a year later.
Justin Howse:
Consultant Orthopaedic surgeon, author of ‘Dance Technique and Injury Prevention’. Justin was formerly consultant to the Royal Ballet School, the Surrey County Cricket Club and the All England Badminton Association. He is now consultant to the Royal Society of Musicians in addition to his work for BAPAM. Justin used to play the piano, organ and violin. As a teenager he qualified as a Highland Dance teacher, and he has been three times National Champion in a Keel Boat Racing class. Justin became a BAPAM Trustee in 1988.- Marcus Lewis: Is a GP in North West London and sessional doctor at the City of London Migraine Clinic. After qualifying as a doctor in 2001, Marcus spent a year pursuing his long standing love of music as a postgraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music. He plays the saxophone and the piano and has worked mostly as a jazz musician but has also written music for various ensembles, as well as composing music for a classical Indian dance company and for a couple of short films. He became a BAPAM trustee in 2008.
- Mike Lowe: Qualified at the Middlesex Hospital and trained in psychiatry at the Royal Free, MIke retired in 2006 after 26 years as a consultant in general adult psychiatry at Basildon Hospital, Essex. However, he remains Medical Director of the South Essex Partnership NHS Trust which runs Basildon Hospital. Since 1996, he has been involved in developing doctor performance assessment procedures with the General Medical Council. He chaired Thurrock MIND for 18 years and continues supporting mental health user groups as a Board Trustee. He belongs to the Southend & District Organists’ Association and has played in amateur chamber music ensembles since his student days.
- Mike Shipley: Has been a consultant rheumatologist at University College Hospital for twenty years and a long time senior NHS manager. He is keen to help people with long term painful conditions and work- or activity-related pain. His clinical method combines a medical approach to disease with an attempt to understand the impact of psychological and social pressures on symptoms and the way people cope or fail to cope with pain and disability. He believes it is key that the person takes an active role in managing his or her own pain. Like many, Mike got to Grade five piano, played recorder at school and sang at university before coming to terms with the fact that he lacked the natural talent to go further! An inspirational teacher in the sixties helped him to develop his interest in and love of the arts, particularly opera and music.
Jonathan White:
Qualified 1978 University of Birmingham Medical School. Senior Partner at Penn Manor Medical Centre and Honorary Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care at the University of Birmingham. Jonathan has a keen interest in all performing arts and very wide musical tastes. He is an organist, playing for his own amusement and (he says) everyone else’s detriment. Jonathan became involved with BAPAM in 1997. He was appointed AMABO doctor to the CBSO in 2003 and, having already forged links with Birmingham City University advising students with performance related problems, started BAPAM’s Birmingham clinic in 2007. His education work at BCU includes seminars to new students on performers’ health and fitness, and workshops for the string and woodwind departments. In 2006 BCU made Jonathan an Honorary Fellow and in 2007 BAPAM appointed him as a trustee.- Ian Winspur: Graduated from Edinburgh university Medical School, then undertook specialist plastic and hand surgery training in the UK and USA. He lived in the USA for 20 years specialising in hand surgery. It was in the musically rich environment of Southern California that he began working with musicians, while himself learning jazz and improvisational piano. Returning to London in 1994 he immediately linked up with BAPAM. He is co-author of the highly regarded book ‘The Musician’s Hand’ with Dr Kit Wynn Parry. He has written and lectured extensively in this country and internationally on musicians' upper limb problems.
Christopher Wynn Parry:
RAF Consultant Advisor in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation from 1950-1977, Director of Rehabilitation and Rheumatology at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital till1989 and Director of Rehabilitation at King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst till1994. ‘Kit’ has always had a special interest in musicians, especially their upper limb problems, and has run musicians’ clinics at all the hospitals where he has worked. He is author of ‘Rehabilitation of the Hand’, co-author with Ian Winspur of ‘The Musicians Hand’ and contributed a chapter to Aaron Williamon’s ‘Musical Excellence’ OUP 2004. He was formerly a trombonist and now sings in the Renaissance Singers’ open rehearsals. Kit joined the Board in 1998 and was, until recently, Chair of the Medical Committee. He does fortnightly assessment clinics in BAPAM’s offices.
- John Smith: (Musicans' Union) General Secretary of the Musicians' Union. After studying at the Royal Academy of Music from 1968 to 1971 and three years freelancing, in 1974 he joined the English National Opera orchestra where he was Principal Tuba, for almost 20 years. He became a full time Musicians' Union officer in 1994 and was elected General Secretary in 2002. He is a performer director of PPL, and leads discussions for the industry on live music issues with the UK Department of Culture Media & Sport. In December 2004 he was elected President of the International Federation of Musicians (FIM,) which has some 80 member musicians’ unions and associations drawn from all continents. John became a BAPAM Trustee in 2004.
- Chris Barltrop: Having trained and worked as an actor, in the early ‘70s Chris took a fill-in job with a travelling circus and became enchanted with the world of the Big Top, going on to perform as Ringmaster with circuses throughout Britain and Ireland, in New Zealand, Germany, and with the legendary Moscow State Circus. A fluent French speaker, he also regularly works in France. His television work has included the Dick Emery show and Blue Peter. Between circus tours, Chris is a freelance publicist and advocate for the circus community, and is an elected Equity Councillor and a Vice-Chair of its Variety Advisory Committee. In his spare time, he plays the guitar and sings, writes, keeps up his acting skills, is occasionally a reporter for BBC local radio, and enjoys cooking.
- Paul Brenells: A solicitor in both public and private sectors, most recently for the Probation Service from which he is now retired. From 1980-1990 he focused on Information Technology, pioneering IT use by lawyers. He was a JP for 25 years in Youth and Family Proceedings Courts in Inner London and is now a part-time Immigration Judge. When working in the solicitors firm which acted for the Musicians Union he became interested in BAPAM. Paul says that, unlike the rest of his family, he is ‘totally illiterate’ musically but loves classical music, especially opera and also theatre. He joined BAPAM’s Board in 1998, though his legal advice involvement extends back far further.
Deborah Charnock:
Deborah lives in Sandwich, Kent with her husband and daughter. She grew up in Australia and moved to the UK in the 1980s. She has a PhD. in psychology and has held posts as a health educator and researcher in the voluntary sector, local government and academic departments. Most recently, Deborah has worked as a consultant and trainer with a special interest in health empowerment and patient safety. She was Co-founder and Director of Kendra Development CIC (a social enterprise providing health information in the community) from 2003 to 2008 and was a founder member of the British Medical Association (BMA) Patient Liaison Group from 2003 to 2007. She remains on the judging panel of the annual BMA Patient Information Awards. She is currently a Non Executive Director of Eastern and Coastal Kent NHS Primary Care Trust. Deborah is also a qualified piano accompanist. She works with young musicians in her local community and regularly organises and performs at community arts and fundraising events in Kent. She is preparing to enter the performance-based Master of Music Programme at Canterbury Christchurch University in late 2008 and recently commenced bass guitar lessons.- Rob Hughes :Has a life-long interest in the performing arts (played piano and cello in the past) and in health and social care. He has been a mental health nurse in acute psychiatry in-patient services, a community psychiatric nurse and a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University. He has worked for voluntary and community based organisations and was a non-executive director for Merseycare NHS Trust. He is currently part-time Learner Support Manager at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). He also works as a freelance trainer, consultant and researcher for a range of different organisations. Rob’s special interests are BAPAM’s mental health work and extending its services around the country.
- Fran Nevrkla: Chairman/Chief Executive of Phonographic Performance Ltd and Video Performance Ltd (not for profit companies which collect and distribute airplay and public performance royalties in the music industry). Born in the former Czechoslovakia, Fran studied music at the Conservatoire and the Academy of Music and Fine Arts in Prague and the RCM in London. He was a classical violinist with the English Chamber, London Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras till he had to give up playing following injury in 1976. He worked for Warner Music UK till 2000 when he moved to PPL and VPL. He is a Fellow of the Radio Academy, a Governor of the BRIT School and a member of the Government New Deal for Musicians (NDfM) Advisory Group. At the request of the then General Secretary of the MU, Fran came on to the BAPAM Board in 1998.
- Pauline Dalby: Musicians Union Safety and Learning Official, where she has worked for twenty years, Pauline is responsible for MU work health and safety for live and recording musicians. She led the MU at European negotiations on the Control of Noise at Work Regulations. She also introduced the Freelancers Hearing Test Scheme. She is a chartered member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. Pauline loves ballet and is mad about Elvis. Although not a musician, she finds this has never been an obstacle in dealing with musicians’ safety issues.
- Sara Dixon: Studied at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and became a professional flute player before changing direction and working in social care settings. Sara began this new career at a mental health charity, followed by several years at a centre for the homeless as part of a Department of Employment initiative to re-house rough sleepers. She joined the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund in 1992 and is now its Director of Casework. She became the MBF’s observer to the BAPAM Board in 2005.




