GCP is staffed and managed by engaged local people who care about their community here in Globe Town, Tower Hamlets.
Our Team
Project lead - Touching Safe Ground
Sally Ramsden specialises in mindful yoga, nature connection and therapeutic wellbeing services. Working in partnership with GCP and Praxis she developed an innovative method for teaching English through yoga for refugee and migrant women during GCP’s original The Language of Wellbeing programme. She spent many years working with Palestinians in the Middle East in education and communications, and loves developing learning methodologies. She’s also worked as a journalist for the national press and as a participatory trainer/facilitator for diverse organisations from Oxford University to Citizens Advice Bureau. Sally is part of the London Buddhist Centre community and lives in Bethnal Green. She runs Natural Connection offering yoga for everyone, outdoors, online and in the workplace.
Project lead - Wellbeing for Over 60s
Vijayacittā (Rebecca) is a meditation teacher and life coach with an HE Diploma in Adult Education. Vijayacittā is ordained in the Triratna Buddhist Order and attends the London Buddhist Centre where she is involved in leading events for, amongst other groups, local children and families. She has lived in Tower Hamlets for over 13 years, and works with individuals and groups to enable personal development, to help people live a more fulfilled, resilient, happy, and healthy life. Rebecca works and lives in Bow, East London.
Project supporter - Wellbeing for Over 60s
Steve Ryan has been working on the Wellbeing for Elders project since summer 2020, and is a passionate believer in taking a holistic approach to health and wellbeing. He takes care of the project outreach and recruitment, and during 2020 he helped adapt the programme to support participants remotely and with local walks. Steve comes from an arts background. And when not found glaring at a computer, he's mostly having fun with his family, friends and dog.
Finance Officer
Tom Elliott is CIMA - Level 1 certified in accounts and has 6 years experience helping charities with their finance and admin needs. He works round the corner from Globe Road in The Green House, helping the NGO Earthsight report on illegal timber coming into the EU and US. When he’s not doing spreadsheets, Tom is a keen reader and fan of pretentious cinema.
Communications Officer
Tara Pollitt works in communications and publicity for the London Buddhist Centre, specialising in digital marketing, she is also a yoga and movement teacher at the centre. For the last 8 years she has been practicing Buddhism within the London Buddhist Centre community and living in and around Globe Town, Tower Hamlets. Tara creates content for GCP’s social media, newsletters and blog.
Outreach & Engagement Lead
Ahmed Hussain lived in Tower Hamlets for over 30 years, and worked with third sector organisations in East London for 20 years and lives in Bow. Previous roles involved monitoring; evaluation, and successful delivery of grant funded projects. He is very passionate about community work and likes to help people. He is very committed to family life and likes spending time with them.
Director
Maṇiprabhā, aka Esther Cann, has worked in the third sector for 18 years. At the international level, she worked on gender justice in India and human rights in the disputed territory of West Papua. At community level, she volunteered with women’s and refugee groups in Yorkshire where she grew up, and taught creative writing to people with sight loss and those recovering from addiction in London. After facilitating a Compassionate Action event for GCP in 2018, followed by a six-month consultancy later that year, she joined as Programmes & Operations Manager in 2020 and became Director in 2022. Maṇiprabhā lived in Globe Town for five years and has been practicing within the London Buddhist Centre community for fourteen years.
Our trustees
Anna Norbury
Anna supports organisations with their communications and marketing functions, particularly non-profits and female-owned businesses. She is also a trauma-informed yoga teacher and worked for years with survivors of human atrocities, asylum seekers and refugees. She is part of the London Buddhist Centre community and is training for ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order.
Arslan Hussain
Arslan is a local resident and an experienced strategy and operations professional. He has worked at large technology companies, including Amazon and Uber, and fast growing start-ups. He is keen to apply the knowledge and skills gained from high growth business environments to help tackle social issues and promote increased community wellbeing through his role as a trustee for Globe Community Project.
Ripon Ray
Ripon worked intensively in Tower Hamlets as a debt adviser for many years, and hopes to help build links in the local community by being part of Globe Community Project. During the pandemic, Ripon became a leading platform provider to a number of minority communities in London. The platform became a hub for Covid-19 campaigners all over the country when every aspect of their lives was in turmoil. At the same time, Ripon captured the personal stories of many Bangladeshis under the banner of BritBanglaCovid. He can't wait to share these stories with the wider world soon, making sure their struggles are not forgotten.
Julian Haxby
Julian Haxby has recently been appointed as a trustee for GCP. Julian learned about the Globe Community Project from friends at the London Buddhist Centre, which he has been attending regularly for the past three years. Julian has recently semi-retired, after working as a linguist for almost 45 years. He is now keen to devote more time to activities that can benefit others. Julian is particularly committed to protecting the rights of people living with the challenge of a learning disability or similar disadvantage and is Chair of the Alliance for Camphill. Julian is GCP’s Company Secretary.
Lily Wong Le
Lily is a policy advisor for the UK government. Her work has focussed on leveraging science, technology, and innovation, from sleep and anaesthetics to self-driving vehicles, with an aim to improve quality of life. Lily as undertaken several volunteer roles to this end and hopes to continue doing so through Globe Community Project. Outside of work she enjoys writing about mental health and wellbeing, dancing ballet, and learning about new ideas through culture and travelling.
Robert Tame
Robert has 30 years of business experience working for large corporates and created his own hospitality business that he owned and operated for 15 years before selling to a large USA hospitality business. He recently completed a one-year Applied Compassion Training course at Stanford University, USA. He has since created a website and podcast series to share stories and elevate awareness of workplace compassion. Robert continues to act as an independent business consultant.
Róisín Kavanagh
Róisín is an experienced finance professional and has worked in Tower Hamlets since moving to London in 2019. She is a CFA® charterholder and is keen to apply her skills and experience to help charities such as Globe Community Project with their financial planning. Community is a huge part of Irish culture and Róisín hopes her role as Trustee for GCP will enable her to continue promoting social inclusion and a sense of community in the Tower Hamlets borough.
Bethan Charnley
Bethan has lived in Bethnal Green since 2007. She is a lawyer specialising in criminal and regulatory investigations on behalf of the government. Outside of work she spends a lot of time enjoying the parks and amenities of Tower Hamlets with her family. She learnt about the work of GCP through the East London Business Alliance and was inspired by GCP’s vision and mission. She hopes to give back to the local community as a trustee of GCP.