Peter Helps MBE
Peter trained in hotel management and worked in hotels in Toronto, Geneva, Bournemouth and Brighton. In 1985 he “ran away to join the circus” managing theatres in London (The London Coliseum for English National Opera) and in Glasgow (The Theatre Royal for Scottish Opera). In 1995 he joined East Midlands’ only professional orchestra Sinfonia Viva as Chief Executive, a post he held for 26 years until retiring in April 2021. Sinfonia Viva is an orchestra and creative music charity providing orchestral, educational and performance opportunities and projects in, with and for local communities. He was heavily involved in many groups in Viva’s home city of Derby, most recently on the Strategic Culture Group and the Council’s post-pandemic “Shaping Group”
Peter served full 6-year terms on the Boards of the Association of British Orchestras and Cultivate (an audience and organisation development company). He was also a project board member of the Family Friendly Arts Campaign. During his time at Sinfonia Viva Peter set up an events company, Sinfonia Viva Events Ltd., which provided production, technical and events programming services.
Peter joined the Board of Magna Vitae in May 2018. In 2020 he was elected Vice-chairman and since July 2021 has assumed the role of interim Chairman.
Ian Emmerson OBE
Ian was born in Lincolnshire and considers himself a true Yellowbelly. Ian organised the Lincoln Grand Prix cycle race from 1963 to 2015.
In 1984 Ian became the president for the British Cycling Federation, the national governing body for cycling in Great Britain. Following this, in 1994, Ian was awarded an OBE for services to cycling by HM The Queen for 30 years of cycling work.
Ian continued in the world of cycling and became the Vice President of the Union Cyliste International and then in 1997, the Chairman of the Commonwealth Games in England and the Vice President for the European Commonwealth Games Federation until 2011. In 2009, Ian was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Lincoln.
Ian was the first Chairman for Magna Vitae and has been a board member ever since.
Cllr Sarah Parkin
Sarah is a District and County Councillor for East Lindsey and Lincolnshire County Council, with areas of special interest in Children’s Services, Safeguarding and Public Health.
Sarah runs her own small business and is a mum of four. Sarah believes passionately that physical fitness and culture are keys to physical and emotional wellbeing and is passionate about everything that MV stands for.
Cllr Steve Kirk
Steve has been a councillor for 20 years, he is the Portfolio Holder at East Lindsey District Council for the coastal economy, training and skills.
Steve also runs his own training company based in Boston with offices in London, Manchester and Coventry. The company provides Educational Consultancy to the 19+ sector and is one of the countries leading providers of Assessor, IQA and EPA training. In addition, it delivers Digital Marketing training.
Marketing is a passion of Steves and he is quoted as saying “ if a company or organisation doesn’t get its message out there who is going to?”
Jonathan Stones
Jonathan has been on the board of trustees since January 2016 supporting the board of trustees with his knowledge of law and experience of being a managing director in a regional law firm. He currently sits on the Finance Subgroup and the Human Resources Subgroup for Magna Vitae.
Jonathan has varied interests which he enjoys with his wife and 2 children.
David Warden
David is now retired but has 40 years’ experience of management in leisure, in the public, private and not for profit sectors.
David has a successful track record in project management and in the operational management of a diverse range of community leisure services from local sports centres to large-scale international facilities in the UK and overseas. He was project manager for ELDC for the procurement of Meridian Leisure Centre and London Road Pavilion and pitches.
Latterly, David was Director of Leisure and Community Services for a local authority in Northern Ireland. David sees board membership of Magna Vitae as an exciting opportunity to contribute to the further development of leisure and culture for local communities.
Ashley Lidgard
Ashley is a local businessman with varied business interests in Hotels, Bars and Restaurants, Lodges, Residential and Commercial Construction and online media spanning both National and International with a strong focus on America and the Middle East.
Ashley was drawn to Magna Vitae to give something back to the residents of Lincolnshire, Ashley has a strong commercial strategic approach and the ability to build businesses from the ground up as well as trouble shoot businesses in difficulty, which has been beneficial to the guidance of Magna Vitae since his role as Trustee from the beginning of Magna Vitae.