Meet The Team

ANDY BURNHAM

Andy Burnham was elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester in May 2017. Prior to this Andy was MP for Leigh from 2001. In government, Andy has held Ministerial positions at the Home Office, Department of Health and the Treasury. In 2008 he became Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, before returning to Health as Secretary of State in 2009.

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In opposition, Andy has served as Shadow Education Secretary, Shadow Health Secretary and Shadow Home Secretary. Andy has been a strong supporter of the Trust since its inception in 2010 and continues to be a great support. 

JOHN BULLOUGH

John joined the Trust’s board of Trustees in January 2008. John is part of a very successful local solicitors firm and brings a wealth of charitable knowledge to the Trust. John has in the past been involved in numerous charitable activities including rotary clubs and local amateur clubs.  Unfortunately, John had to resign from the post of Trustee due to work commitments in 2012 but both the Trustees and the staff wanted to acknowledge John’s continuous support of the Trust by asking him a join Paul and Andy in the role of Patron. 

CHRIS HILL

Chris is a professional rugby league player and lives in the Leigh area. His professional career started at Leigh Centurions where he spent 5 years winning two Northern Rail Cup winners’ medals before moving to Warrington Wolves at the end of the 2011 season. Chris’ achievements at Warrington have so far included a Challenge Cup winners medal and 2012 player of the season, players’ player of the season and won the Vice President’s award for Warrington. Chris is also part of the current England squad.

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Chris is an extremely influential role model to the participants of the Trust’s programmes and frequently gives up his own time to attend Trust sessions engaging the participants in not only sporting activities but also promoting education, health and inclusion.  The Trust is honoured to have Chris as an ambassador.

DAWN O’NEILL

Dawn has been working with the Trust for the last 8 months helping the Trust become a Borough partner of the Autism Friendly campaign.

The Trust was honoured when Dawn agreed to be our Ambassador, Dawn has such passion and drive and commitment to the Trust and what it stands for. 

Steve Pike

As a local businessman, Steve has a wealth of knowledge and networks with the local businesses, Steve also joined the club's Board of Directors in 2003 and has headed up the Community and Youth Development departments at the club during his time on the board; although Steve left the club's Board of Directors in 2006, he still remains very committed to the Trust and is always on hand.

Alex Young

Lynne works for Wigan Public Health as a Public Health Service Manager. Lynne has worked with the Trust and its employees on numerous projects and has formed a strong partnership between the Trust and NHS. Lynne also sits on the Leigh and Wigan against Racism group and State of Mind board. Lynne brings a wealth of knowledge on health and racism issues that are two issues the Trust works tirelessly on.

Alex Young

Lynne works for Wigan Public Health as a Public Health Service Manager. Lynne has worked with the Trust and its employees on numerous projects and has formed a strong partnership between the Trust and NHS. Lynne also sits on the Leigh and Wigan against Racism group and State of Mind board. Lynne brings a wealth of knowledge on health and racism issues that are two issues the Trust works tirelessly on.

Gareth Sutton 

Gareth is from the Wigan area and is the Developments Director at Wigan and Leigh College. Gareth came on board in 2012 with his endless experience regarding 14-19-year-old further education routes and helped cement the local FE college as a partner of the Trust

Mike Latham

Mike is the Chairman of Leigh Centurions and has supported the work the community trust has undertaken over the last couple of years. Mike is also the club historian and has strong contacts with all local and trade press and therefore heads up the club communications.

John Holland

John has a vast amount of knowledge in environmental education previously working at the local Further Education College as a Lecturer in this field and both Primary and Secondary education through his position of Chair of Governors of a local high school and Governor of several Primary schools.