The Committee is a small team of local residents:

Matt Tamplin - Chair

When I first moved to Leeds in 2004 I soon knew that I wanted to live in Chapel Allerton, and bought a house here two years later. After organising a Big Lunch street party with some neighbours, I decided to set up cara as there was clearly a call for more social activity in the area. I'm extremely proud of what we've achieved with the group since we started and excited about where the future may take us.

A past role as an Events Manager for a travel company has definitely come in useful with running cara, and my time spent volunteering in Ecuador (four months), Costa Rica, Brazil and South Africa certainly helped to grow my passion for community development.

Elizabeth Hughes - Secretary

Having lived in Chapel Allerton just a few months at the time, I really enjoyed organising our first Big Lunch, in July 2009. It was a great opportunity to meet local people and get to know the area a bit better. We formed cara soon after and haven't looked back since!

During the week I work for a small pharmaceutical company where I've been since I graduated from Leeds University in 2008. I love outdoors sports so most weekends are spent out on my bike or in a kayak, although I have the odd relaxing weekend too! As well as cara activities, I'm currently planning my own special 'event', after having got recently engaged!

Marietta Shaw - Treasurer

Alexandra Collingwood - Committee Member

I've just bought my first house in Chapel Allerton and I am currently renovating it (making it habitable). In my professional life, I'm a History teacher and love my job. Most of my spare time is spent shopping, walking my lovely Cocker Spaniel (Dolly), thinking about what my next meal is going to be, or if I can fit in an afternoon nap!

I joined cara as I am socially motivated and believe contributing to communities both on a local and international level really can make a difference to people's lives.

Not forgetting...

There are also many other volunteers who have (or will!) kindly given up their free time in various ways, including Debra and Beth Wilson, Corinna Nicol, Lora Hughes, Simon Aspinall, Katie Fletcher, Emma Bradley, Clare Booth, Mike Matthews, Chris Weston, Jessie Young, Claire Henshall, Ed Marshall, and Matthew and Vicky Treherne. Thanks everyone!

Lastly, we would like to express special thanks to Donna Sharp for her invaluable advice and support, and to Mark Smith for his excellent branding and design work, which brought our mad little idea to life.

If you'd like to help us out with future events or projects then please get in touch!