Our Trustees

Caroline Roberts-Cherry is an experienced trustee, chair and a local businesswoman. She runs a TV and film production company in Manchester. Known within her sector as a diversity champion, Caroline's television work platforms female writers, producers and directors. 

In 2018, she produced the award-winning BBC documentary, 'Emmeline Pankhurst - The Making of a Militant', presented by the actress and writer, Sally Lindsay. The film was premiered at a special event at Radisson, Edwardian (the former Free Trade Hall) and led directly to the creation of GM4Women2028. The film has sold internationally, and short-form Emmeline films were also created for BBC Teach and Bitesize as part of the curriculum.

Janet Pickering is a retired social worker. Domestic violence was a significant factor in her work with families and children and in 1998, she joined the management committee of a woman's refuge in South Manchester. She continued to serve as a board member following the merger of five refuges to create Manchester Women's Aid in 2008 and was actively involved in the merger of five refuges to create The Pankhurst Trust in 2014. 

Janet holds the office of Board Secretary and also volunteers as a tour guide in The Pankhurst Centre. The woman who inspires Janet the most is Ellen Wilkinson, a radical Mancunian and the first woman Labour MP elected in 1924. 

Gill Cowell is the Head of Gender Equality at the British Council, leading the strategy for the organisation’s work. Her role involves the design and delivery of programmes focused on women and girls and gender equality issues, gender mainstreaming on all programmes and capacity building of staff and partners. She also commissions research reports which support the British Council’s work and share knowledge and understanding on gender equality in the UK and worldwide. 

Gill brings her gender equality expertise and experience from her work globally to the valuable work of the Pankhurst Trust and the benefits it brings to women and communities in Manchester and beyond.

Melanie has been a board member since 2009, initially of Central Manchester Women's Aid. Before the merger of the organisations to form The Pankhurst Trust, she held the position of chair from 2011-2014. Melanie is now a Deputy District Judge and formerly a family solicitor, specialising in Children's Law which related to arrangements for children and a large percentage of her former clients experienced domestic abuse. 

Melanie says: "I enjoy the challenges of making decisions as a board and the honour of working with strong, intelligent and enterprising women."

Mary is a retired social services senior manager working for Manchester, and then Liverpool City Councils. Until 2021, she was a Manchester City Councillor (Labour) for 13 years for her home ward of Whalley Range. She sits on the Audit Committee for PTMWA and is the board's Safeguarding Lead. Mary was one of the women who helped set up the first Women's Aid refuges in Manchester in the 1970s inspired by her membership of the Manchester Women's Centre. Mary was a board member of Manchester Women's Aid that initiated the merger with The Pankhurst Trust to ensure its survival. 

Mary says: "I am inspired and excited by the opportunities this gives for women in Greater Manchester."

Grace is a first-time trustee with a professional background in higher education advancement. She currently works as an External Relations Events Officer at The University of Manchester, where she manages events that engage internal and external stakeholders across the organisation.

Grace has worked in higher education fundraising for two and a half years, first as a CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) trainee before progressing into a regular giving. During her time at university, Grace completed Ask Me training with Women’s Aid, which sparked a long-standing interest in the organisation, and commitment to learning more about the challenges in tackling violence against women and girls.

Kate Kendall is an experienced heritage professional with over 20 years in the historic environment and heritage sector, both in professional and voluntary capacities. As a long-standing member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation she is a national membership assessor which she undertakes in a voluntary capacity. Professionally Kate has spent much of her career working in the public sector with a brief time putting her practical skills into action renovating a French farmhouse. Kate has worked in two local authorities; Tameside & Manchester, and more recently in the arms-length of the civil service. After almost a decade at Historic England she moved to the National Lottery Heritage Fund three years ago. In her role at the Heritage Fund, she has come to embrace all things heritage; places, spaces, stories, culture and traditions; to enhance the benefits and opportunities that heritage can bring to people.