The Community Centre is managed by local residents who make up Hornsey Vale Community Association’s management committee. The management committee is responsible for ensuring the Centre is well run, meets its charitable objectives and demonstrates sound financial management. Everyone is unpaid.
Members of the Committee apply and are appointed based on their skills and interest in the Centre; some places are held for regular Centre users. The Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are elected at our Annual General Meeting, held each November.
OUR TRUSTEES
DEBRA MENDES
CHAIR
Debra joined the Trustees in 2018 and since then has led a range of decorating and infrastructure projects, helping to modernise Centre operations. With a background in business process improvement and governance, Debra chairs the Management Committee, sits on the Strategy, Finance & Governance sub group and is line manager to the centre staff.
Elizabeth Hopkinson
COMPANY SECRETARY
Elizabeth moved to Crouch End in 2024. After having lived in four cities in two years, she was keen to make her new neighbourhood feel like home. She works as an urban planner for Waltham Forest Council. Around Crouch End, you can usually find her running in Queen’s Wood, grabbing a pastry on the high street, or struggling to cycle up the many hills. Elizabeth is a regular at Wednesday night yoga classes at Hornsey Vale, and she’s excited to help the community centre continue to be a fixture in the lives of so many local people.
Katja Hilevaara
Katja arrived in London from Finland in 1992 and settled in Crouch End in 2006. With her teenage children now more independent, Katja wanted to get involved in local community activities, and started volunteering at the Soup Cafe in 2024. She is an artist and works full-time as a lecturer in theatre and performance and hopes to draw on these creative skills as a newly appointed Trustee.
Mary Hogan
Mary has lived in Hornsey Vale since 1992, working in the voluntary sector till she retired in 2021, becoming a Trustee in 2023. Her paid working life included Citizens Advice, Sutton Community Farm, Volunteer Reading Help and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). With her partner Peter she has facilitated an open music session at the Weston Cafe for decades and sings in the local Songworks Choir. They both enjoy the Lunch Club at the Centre and Mary is also a regular with The Conservation Volunteers in parks and green spaces across the whole borough.
Aman Kaiser
‘Fate was sealed’ in 2018, when marketing Aman’s school, Kaiser Language Studio at Stationers’ Park during the Crouch End Festival. The school’s previous location was at the iconic Hornsey Town Hall, which was to close for refurbishment, and Debra Mendes, Hornsey Vale Chair, suggested setting up the school at Hornsey Vale. The incredible thing was that Aman was a pupil at Stationers’ Company’s School, the boys’ grammar school set on the grounds of Stationers Park.
In Aman’s own words: “What a comeback! So many great memories. Now along with my fellow trustees, I get to look after the building and its users.”
Duncan Kerr
A casual chat with two of the original founders of HVCA over the back fence led to Duncan joining the Centre as a volunteer in 1993. He helped out with big events like the May Day Gala, Music In The Park and Fireworks on 5 November, while his children were at Weston Park School. Now he leads the maintenance sub group, painting, problem solving and oiling squeaks. Duncan’s family has used the Centre’s after school clubs and kids’ activities and enjoyed yoga, pilates and circuit training for almost all of the Centre’s first 30 years.
Nikki Rockell
Nikki had been interested in taking on some voluntary/community based work and when she started working from a space at Hornsey Vale in 2023. It seemed like a great opportunity to get more involved by doing some volunteering and supporting the centre as a Trustee!
Nikki moved to North London in 2008 to study at City University and she has now been working as a qualified Speech and Language Therapist in London for over 14 years. Nikki has previously worked with MENCAP, volunteered with children with additional needs on various projects, and volunteered in supporting staff, children and young people at an orphanage in Cambodia. Nikki is passionate about supporting children, young people and families to access support and advocate for their needs and hopes to use these skills in her new role as a Trustee.
Tilly Williams
Tilly first got involved in Hornsey Vale in 2009. Since then she has led on many events at the Centre with a focus on environmental issues, such as our annual Apple Day and Green Christmas Fair. Tilly established the tyre garden at the front of the Centre over 10 years ago and continues to maintain it, with members of Transition Crouch End.
WE ARE RECRUITING
We have vacancies on the management committee and, in particular, people with accounting experience. We warmly welcome interest from disabled people, people with Black and Asian heritage and young people (aged 18-25), all under-represented in our organisation. You can apply at any time; ask for our application pack if you’re interested in getting involved.
No experience on a board? That’s absolutely okay! Please get in touch and we’re happy to meet for a chat.