NoW's Board of Directors
Sandra Brantingham - Chairman
Joined board in April 2011, and became chair in 2012.
Served with the RAF for 34 years in both ground and aircrew roles.
Owns and runs a 10 acre croft in Aberdeenshire were she has lived for 33 years.
Is married with 2 grown up children.
Was a volunteer tutor for Adult Basic Education from 2003 to 2018.
Has been the Aurora and Noctilucent Cloud section director for the Society for popular Astronomy since 2003.
Has been the Aurora and Noctilucent Cloud section director and council member for the British Astronomical Association since 2016.
Gives astronomical talks to various groups.
Has first-hand knowledge of substance misuse/mental health problems.
Bill Robertson - Treasurer
Bill Robertson, Treasurer was invited to become a board member after Iain Fraser advised that he was going to resign.
Bill is a Scottish Chartered Accountant and has worked in several countries as well as in Scotland.
Since retiring, Bill has lived in Huntly for almost nine years. He welcomes this opportunity to use his accounting and finance skills to assist NoW .
Lynn Rutter
Lynn is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) with more than 40 years’ experience of working in HR in an international environment, working in more than 40 countries. She has worked in the private, public and charity sectors in a range of positions including HR Director and operational HR positions for British Telecom, Nokia and Oxfam. She is currently the MD of Commonsense HR Ltd.
Lynn is a Board Member with Networks of Wellbeing (NoW), providing particular support on HR issues, and Deveron Projects, and was previously a Board Member of Grampian Women’s Aid. She is a Committee Member for the annual Huntly Hairst festival and Secretary of the Gartly Community Association (the “Tin Hut”). She is currently working to develop the “remakery” concept in Huntly as part of a local partnership of organisations.
She has lived in Scotland for over 20 years. When not working, she gardens and travels.
Phil Gaiter
Board Role: Youth Voice and Education link with the Huntly Cluster
Occupation: Head Teacher at The Gordon Schools, a non-denominational secondary school in Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
Before working in education, Phil worked both as a staff member and extensively as a volunteer with Woodlands Hospital in Aberdeen. It was a facility catering the care and welfare of both children and adults with severe and complex needs, who lived there on a residential basis. For many years, Phil organised summer activities in the community, leading a team of 30 volunteers each summer and co-organised Festivals of Sport and Drama for a number of similar institutions across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Tayside.
Hilda Lumsden-Gill
Hilda Lumsden-Gill is from a local farming family and is well known in Huntly and the surrounding area.
She was educated at the Gordon Schools studied History and Politics at Aberdeen University and was awarded a Merit in Teaching. She taught for 21 years at Westhill Academy just outside Aberdeen, 18 years of which as a Head of Department.
Following the death of her parents, Hilda and her husband now run the family farm where she grew up.
All the skills she has developed over the years have been put to good use as they relate to farming too i.e. interaction, listening, supporting when and where necessary, asking for help, setting realistic targets and developing self-belief.
Teaching was her true vocation but she decided to take a career break and turned her attention to her ageing parents, her husband and the farm. In addition, she became more involved in the local community, joined the Community Council and at one point 12 different Community Organisations. She was Chair of the Community Council for 13 years and was awarded a Certificate of Service by Aberdeenshire Council. She was recognised as a public speaker, chaired meetings and organised events.
An accident and its consequences led to a reduction in her involvement with Community Groups and a rethink of her priorities but skills learned and developed have never left her and she firmly believes that you should treat others as you hope they will treat you. The demands of farming are increasing and the pressures placed on farmers and the industry as a whole are becoming more recognised by society and this is of particular interest to Hilda
Rosemary McCafferty
Rosemary has lived in and around Huntly, on and off since 1986.
Though she lives rurally, to the south of Huntly, she is involved in several aspects of town life. She started and now runs the HuntlyCrafters group and has contact with over 150 Crafters and Artist who produce their art, crafts and gifts locally.
The group focuses on recruiting producers of handmade goods and promotes their efforts by hosting craft fairs, a successful social media presence and being an advocate for quality small scale design and production.
Rosemary has a variety of interests, volunteering and employment experience and is now able to run her small events and separate craft business from home. She enjoys being involved in local initiatives that promote inclusion and foster the making of new connections.