Our Staff

  • Sanchia Sanday

    SERVICES COORDINATOR AND FACILITATOR

    Sanchia joined BDDF in November 2022 having previously worked in education, IT administration and sales support, various customer service and administration roles. She is really looking forward to this new opportunity and very excited to be working closely with the members and volunteers. Sanchia has lived in Basingstoke for most of her life and has two teenagers who attend a local school. She enjoys family time, travelling around the UK, especially Cornwall and visiting new places abroad. Other interests include walking, watching rugby and following F1 motor racing.

  • Lizzie Brisco

    FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR

    Lizzie is in the final stages of a PhD in Ecology, and will hopefully soon be a Doctor. She became disabled in her early twenties, and is passionate about helping to change attitudes around invisible illnesses and disabilities. She brings her data analysis and writing skills to her new role as our Fundraising Coordinator, and hopes for lots of funding success.

    She moved to Basingstoke last year, and lives with her wife, two cats, and crazy spaniel dog in a tiny flat. In her spare time she is often found in a nice coffee shop with her wife and dog, or playing video games. She also enjoys live music, and enthusiastically supports campaigns to make this more accessible.

Our Volunteers

Here at BDDF we have many wonderful volunteers who devote their time to helping us do what we do! We are extremely grateful to them all, and you can meet just a few of them below!

 
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Matt Woods Ambassador/Volunteer

Matt has volunteered for BDDF since 2014 on events such as the Basingstoke Roll, The scarecrow trail, collecting money for the charity in Tesco and at the disability awareness days. Matt works for Basingstoke Mencap as a leisure support worker.

Matt has a wide range of hobbies & loves playing & watching sport including football, golf, cricket & Ice Hockey. He supports the Basingstoke Bisons. He also enjoys going to the cinema & spending time with friends.

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Barbara Cummins Volunteer

Barbara has lived in Basingstoke most of her life. When her family were young she was Brown Owl & on the PTA. She is currently a trustee at Headway Basingstoke which supports people with an acquired brain injury. She supports BDDF by doing signposting & walking groups.

‘‘I know Basingstoke to be a town that is supportive and community minded and I have always enjoyed being part of that.’’

Barbara’s working life was entirely in the NHS mostly as a Podiatrist & in later years managing NHS services in the community. This gave her in-depth knowledge of what support is available in the Basingstoke area and this supports her work with our signposting service.

In her leisure time she enjoys walking, cycling & especially cycle touring. She has managed to pedal around 24 countries on 6 continents. She also enjoys playing croquet several times a week & doing stained glass art.

Eileen Clews Volunteer

Eileen has been involved with BDDF off and on since the launch as a charity in 2014. Eileen has worked with children and young people with disabilities for over 25 years as a respite Foster carer, Portage worker, an Inclusion Coordinator and a Counsellor.

Since recently taking early retirement from her main job, she has taken on the role of running the BDDF Chronic pain support group, as well as helping with the signposting service.

She has run a Special Needs resource library for over 20 years and now spends more time promoting this and supporting parents and carers to meet the needs of disabled children and young people.

Trustee Vacancy

 BDDF are actively open to hearing from those interested in becoming a Trustee. If you have a couple of hours spare a month, want to give back to the community and care about making the lives of our disabled community better, we would love to hear from you! We want our Board to reflect the community and encourage applicants of any gender, race, age. Those with lived experience of disability are preferred but not essential.

This is a voluntary position but will provide good experience and opportunity to learn new skills. If interested please email chair@BDDF.org.uk for more information.