ARK-T TRUSTEE BIOGRAPHIES

Helen Morton, Chair of the Trustees

Helen has been the Chair of Trustees of Ark-T since 2018. She has had a varied career working as a civil engineer, in the oil industry and in management roles for charities, including VSO, MSI and Trinity Hospice. In 2000, she became the Finance & Estates Bursar at Somerville College and left in 2013 to concentrate on her musical and outside interests. These include singing with several choirs, various trustee roles and being Chair of Governors at Pipers Corner School and Chair of Trustees of the University Women’s Club.

Dr Andrew Gant

Andrew has been a Trustee of Ark T since 2008 and served as Chair to 2018. He is a musician by profession, has worked for Her Majesty the Queen as Organist of the Chapel Royal, and is a Lecturer in Music at St Peter’s College, University of Oxford, and author of several books on musical subjects. He is a city councillor in Oxford, Leader of the Opposition on Oxford City Council, Chair of several major committees, and was a parliamentary candidate in the 2017 General Election.

Dan Levy

Dan Levy grew up mostly in NE Cheshire, went to University in Oxford, and then lived in various places before returning to Oxfordshire with his wife who works at Oxford University. His career was mainly in financing IT equipment and services for global companies. He is a District Councillor in West Oxfordshire and campaigns for cycling and active travel. He has two adult children, both of whom make music.

Sharon Evans

Sharon retired in 2020 after working in social care for over forty years; first as a Home Help for the elderly, then in a resident home for adults with learning needs and very briefly with adults with mental health problems. Sharon then qualified as a social worker and went on to work in a residential children’s home, before moving to be a social worker in the Adolescent Team, and then working with Care Leavers. Sharon also ran a youth club in East Oxford on Friday from 1983 to 1995 which in its heyday had over 100 young people from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures attending. Sharon is a member of John Bunyan Baptist Church and became a trustee for Ark T because of her passion for working with young people.

Shakeel Marham

Shakeel has done voluntary work for various organisations over the last eight years, including volunteering at Donnington Doorstep, Oxfordshire Youth, as well as taking part in their Youth Committee called VOICE, and at the Donnington Over 50s Club. He has been at Ark-T since August 2018, and a Young Trustee since 2020. In his spare time, he loves being creative, by taking part in various art forms, including visual/carnival arts, taking part in choirs, and by making music. He is also currently studying Level 2 BSL, with Signature Deaf.

Laura Jostins-Dean

Laura spent the first ten years of her life in the North, before moving to Oxfordshire with her family. After time at the University in Kent gaining a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies, Laura headed to London where she spent five years writing and performing solo theatre shows and working as a fundraiser for Trinity Laban Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Laura then made her way back to Oxfordshire and has been very happy to be a Cowley resident for the last 8 years with her husband and young son. After working for the Corn Exchange Theatre in Newbury as Head of Business Development for nearly five years, Laura is now a major gifts fundraiser for an Oxford college.   

Jo Rice

Hassan Sabrie