Professor Judy Simons (Chair)
Judy Simons is an emeritus Professor of English and former Pro Vice Chancellor. She has held a number of senior Board positions in public sector organisations, including at Leicester Arts, Sheffield Hallam University, the Girls Day School Trust and the Department for Communities and Local Government. She was also non-executive Director at the international career consultancy, City CV. She is the author/editor of 12 books of non-fiction.
A passionate believer in the transformative power of the creative arts and their key role in the local economy, Judy is a long-standing supporter of Buxton Opera House. She is proud to chair the Board of Trustees of this unique theatre and help Buxton Opera House protect its heritage and inspire the next generation of theatre-lovers. Judy lives in Bakewell.
Helen Bowdur
Helen Bowdur lives in Derbyshire. As an experienced Fundraising Director & Consultant, she has extensive knowledge of the cultural sector and spent over a decade working for the National Media Museum, Manchester International Festival and Opera North.
In addition to serving as a Trustee at BOH, Helen is also Vice Chair of The Octagon Theatre in Bolton and a Board Member of the Manchester Animation Festival. Most recently, she has served as an adviser to Baroness Margaret Hodge on the Arts Council England Review.
Prior to building a career in the arts sector , Helen spent over 20 years working in news and current affairs for the BBC & ITV producing a range of factual programmes and subsequently running a series of TV lifestyle channels for ITV.
Steve Clark
Steve Clark is a former senior banking partner at a large international law firm based in the City of London. He holds an MA in Law from Cambridge University and has over 35 years’ experience in the banking and finance sector. In 2002/03, he won the Law Society Gazette's Centenary Award for the most significant contribution to the law and/or legal profession for that year.
Steve also has a wide range of charity and volunteering experience. He has worked at various underprivileged childrens’ adventure centres, was the unpaid legal adviser to Hand to Hand (a charity near to his previous home in in Essex), was a volunteer in the legal department of Save the Children and was invited to do the same with the NSPCC.
Currently Steve is working with two local charities- in the Visitor Experience Teams at Chatsworth (The Devonshire Group) and at Peveril Castle (English Heritage). He is also Clerk to the Governors at Taxal and Fernilee Primary School (Derbyshire County Council).
Steve was born and brought up in Derbyshire and now lives in The Square, Buxton. He is delighted to be working with the iconic Buxton Opera House.
Roddie MacLean
Roddie is a Chartered Architect with a special interest in regeneration and whose Buxton practice has marked 20 years of business. He is also a consultant on wider heritage issues, a property manager and runs a small local holiday lettings business.
Brought up on the West coast of Scotland, he has resigned himself to the lack of seaside in Buxton and is determined to do all he can otherwise to help the town achieve its fullest potential. He was a founding director of Buxton Town Team CIC and Buxton Markets CIC and currently chairs Vision Buxton, the town’s business organisation. His interests include gardening, walking, travel and the arts in all their forms. One of his first volunteering roles in Buxton, in the early 1990s, was behind the Dress Circle bar at Buxton Opera House.
Jane Moulder
Jane Moulder worked in the fields of HR and organisational development for over 30 years in a variety of sectors. She held a number of Board level and senior positions, as well as being an independent consultant working with SMEs and voluntary organisations.
In the late 1990’s she moved into the not-for-profit sector and was able to accommodate her love of the arts into her working life. Jane is a musician and musical instrument maker and, with her group, regularly performs throughout the UK and Europe. She helped run an international performing arts charity, an organisation primarily focused on young people and developing their talent and love of performing.
Jane is passionate about encouraging engagement with the arts as well as sustaining local communities and has initiated and worked on a number of community projects in her home town in North Staffordshire. She is delighted to be associated with the Buxton Opera House and being able to play a part in sustaining and developing its place at the heart of the cultural and economic life of the region.
Alan Scott
Alan is a vastly experienced non-executive director who has helped a number of charities navigate challenging business issues and record much improved financial performances. He is a former Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers who worked for the HSBC Group for more than 35 years, which included many senior management and leadership roles. Alan’s speciality was corporate banking and corporate turnaround / restructuring.
Since retiring, Alan has been a director of 3 other local charities. He was also a guest lecturer at Sheffield Business School where Alan took final year students through the challenging case study of a £3billion hostile takeover by a public company of which he was once the relationship director.
A proud Scotsman, Alan’s interests are rugby union, hill walking and music.
Edward Siddall
Edward Siddall is the representative of High Peak Borough Council on the Board. He has been a Councillor since 2011 and is currently Chair of the Council’s Economy and Growth Committee. He studied at the University of Derby’s Buxton Campus and has a degree in Travel Management from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Edward has worked on several successful National Lottery bids, including one to improve a play area for £50,000, for a Heritage Trail for £50,000 and to support the Glossop Victorian Weekend for £10,000. He is part of the organising team for the Victorian Weekend, one of the biggest cultural and heritage events Glossop has held in the past few years. He is also a member of Glossop Roundtable.
Edward has a special interest in Theatre and is a regular visitor to Buxton Opera House. He fully appreciates the importance of the theatre to the visitor economy of Buxton and the High Peak. He is proud to support the improvement plans for the Opera House as a vital asset that will benefit the whole town and offer West End quality shows in the hills of the High Peak.
Sally Swift
Sally Swift is Senior Director, Global Legal Operations & Innovation at NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. Previously she was head of department at a national law firm where she led a team of over 260 people across their 5-office network. She also spent over 10 years running a successful legal outsourcing business after starting out her legal career managing her own litigation caseload in private practice.
Sally has a passion for change management and creating efficient practices by developing new streamlined ways of working. In 2019 she was a finalist for ‘Inspirational Businesswoman of the Year’ in the UK and the national winner of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives ‘Award for Lifelong Learning’ in recognition of her commitment and dedication to championing access to the legal profession, breaking down barriers and creating new inclusive qualifications for apprentices and school leavers. In 2020 Sally completed an Executive MBA with Nottingham Business School to continue her own lifelong learning journey.
Sally is a volunteer mentor with the Prince’s Trust. She loves to travel, enjoys hiking and getting outdoors near her home in the Peak District.
Kathryn Gilson (Company Secretary)
Kathryn Gilson is a qualified Company Secretary currently working as a freelance corporate governance professional. She has over 25 years’ experience in governance and company secretarial roles, having spent her career predominantly with corporations in the finance and service sectors including Barclays, the AA, Direct Line and the Co-operative. Kathryn has significant experience advising Boards on corporate governance best practice and project managing large scale corporate transactions. In 2005, she obtained a Masters degree in Corporate Governance.
Kathryn has served as a Trustee of the Buxton Well Dressing Festival since the charity’s registration in 2013. She was Treasurer when the decision was taken to form a registered charity. She assisted the Committee throughout this process.
Nicola Jordan (Deputy Company Secretary)
Nicola Jordan grew up in Cheshire and read Law at Sheffield University. A qualified solicitor, she worked as a commercial lawyer with Nabarro Nathanson before moving to her current role as General Counsel and Company Secretary for Siemens Mobility Ltd. She recently moved to Buxton and is delighted to be back in the area and to be able to play a role in the local community. She joins Buxton Opera House as deputy company secretary, where she supports and strengthens the Trust’s governance framework.
Outside of work, Nicola is a keen hiker and an aspiring golfer and has also been known to do some cheesemaking on the side.
Lady Jasmine Cavendish (Patron)
Lady Jasmine Cavendish has been a Non-Executive Director and the Patron of Buxton Opera House for 10 years. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, live at Chatsworth, not far from Buxton. The Cavendish family have had strong connections with the town that reach back over three hundred years. The 11th Duke of Devonshire was the first Patron of Buxton Opera House.
Lady Jasmine gained a degree from East Anglia University and has worked in the Arts Sector. She continues to have a strong interest in the performing arts. She is also President of the charity Contact the Elderly and Patron of the Buxton Poetry Competition.
Her home is in London with her husband Nicholas Dunne and their 3 young sons.
Louise Potter DL (Vice-Patron)
Louise Potter lives in Buxton, where she ran The Old Hall Hotel for 25 years. She completed her General Catering Diploma at High Peak College, Buxton, and worked with Grand Metropolitan Hotels in London. She was a Governor at High Peak College when it merged with the University of Derby. In 2001 she opened 6 The Square Tearooms, Buxton.
Currently Louise is Programme Secretary for Cavendish Arts Society, She chaired the Friends of Buxton Festival Trust for ten years and is now a member of the Trust and an Honouree Vice President of The Buxton international Festival, after having served on the board and being involved for forty years. Louise is also a past member of the Buxton Opera House Board of Trustees.
In 2004, the University of Derby awarded her an Honorary Masters degree. Louise won Midlands Business Woman of the Year in 2002. She is a Deputy Lieutenant of Derbyshire and was High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 2020-2021.
Louise was awarded an MBE in June 2025 for services to the Economic Development of Buxton.
Carol Prowse BEM (Vice-Patron)
Carol Prowse was born and educated in the High Peak. She gained a degree in Economics from London University and worked in the City of London in banking before returning to the High Peak, where she was employed by the local authority.
She started her association with Buxton Opera House in 1980, where, for over 40 years, she was Company Secretary, Board Director, Deputy Chair and latterly Chair. Carol has a strong belief in the core role the arts have to play in our wellbeing and sense of community identity. Access to quality arts in our rural area is precious. With Joyce Ellis MBE and more recently Louise Potter MBE, she produced a series of successful international opera galas which have raised substantial funds for the development of the Opera House. One of the Galas was attended by HRH the Prince of Wales and all of them starred international opera singers.
Carol has been a non-executive director of High Peak Dales NHS Primary Care Trust and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, where she was Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director. When her term of office came to an end she was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Tameside & Glossop Clinical Commissioning Group where she chaired the Primary Care Committee.
Carol was honoured with a British Empire Medal in HM Birthday Honours in June 2019 for services to the Arts and the Community in Derbyshire. She continues to live in New Mills, High Peak and is a frequent visitor to the theatre.
Michael Williams (Vice-Patron)
Michael Williams’ extensive and significant relationship with Buxton Opera House spans nearly five decades. His involvement began when he developed the business plan for the theatre's restoration in 1978 and was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board. He later advanced to the role of Chairman, serving from 2004 to 2013, during which time he oversaw the creation of the Pavilion Arts Centre. From 2003 to 2015, he was a member of the Buxton International Festival Board.
Michael will retire as conductor of the Buxton Musical Society later in 2025, concluding a remarkable tenure of almost 60 years. Having played the organ since his schooldays, he has been Director of Music at St John’s Church since 1985. In 2016 he was one of the first recipients of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Cranmer Award for Services to Church Music.
Michael has lived all his life in Buxton. He read Law at Oxford before qualifying as a solicitor. He served on the Law Society Council from 2015 to 2021. In 1997 he was appointed MBE in recognition of his work for the Opera House and Buxton Musical Society.