The Board
Cathy Beare – Chair
Cathy has spent her career working in Finance, is a Certified Accountant with an entrepreneurial and commercial flair and thrives on helping others deliver on difficult projects.
Cathy currently splits her time between Non-Executive roles and charity projects, with a little consultancy thrown in for good measure.
Edwin Wealend – Vice Chair
Edwin is a Chartered Engineer with global experience in the delivery of large scale construction projects. Born on the marsh, raised, schooled, and lives in Folkestone.
In his spare time, he enjoys annoying his friends and family by getting overexcited about engineering, Victorian and otherwise.
Rachel Knight
Rachel is a Director at Maxim, a PR, marketing and public affairs agency based in Tunbridge Wells. She has almost 25 years’ experience in communications and has worked on a number of projects in Folkestone.
She has a love of vintage and anything miniature – including model railways, and also devotes a lot of her spare time to organising the Kent Press & Broadcast Awards.
James Walker-Osborn
James was COO of a successful telecoms business during the 1990s guiding it to a multi-million-pound sale and worked on the subsequent merger of the sales, marketing and IT requirements of several businesses acquired at the time. Turning his attention to the London property market he quickly rose to associate director level of a leading London agency, before relocating to Folkestone.
James co-founded the Friends of the Leas Lift and advises local businesses on their digital and marketing strategies.
Dan Hulme
Dan grew up in Folkestone before studying law at Kings College London. He now lives back in Folkestone and has for the last eleven years been working for Strand House towards the regeneration of his home town.
A keen sportsman with 35 caps for the England Beach Soccer national team
he helped found and is now Chief Executive Officer of The Sports Trust and is separately a trustee for Goals 4 Girls.
Peter Oetzmann
Peter is Managing Director of a plumbing and heating engineering firm in Folkestone. He began his career with Laing as a project planner for large scale construction projects. His last project before moving to Folkestone was the £7 million conversion of the City of Manchester Stadium.
In his spare time with, his wife and friends, he runs a Folkestone Comedy Club and Folkestone Beer Festival. He founded with Adam Smith the Leas Lift Beer Festival many years ago……..and will bring it back.
Adam Jay Coleman
Adam is an experienced producer, fundraiser and strategist in the cultural sector and a socially-engaged researcher and historian of postwar British architecture and urban planning. His experience in the cultural sector includes roles at Arts Council England, Gloucester Culture Trust, Eden Court Highlands, Company Three youth theatre and Lyric Hammersmith. His voluntary work includes trusteeships with creative producers Trigger and Coney, and service as a Community Panel Member for Islington’s Youth Offending Service.
Jo Streeter
Jo worked for a company close to Folkestone for over 20 years in various project and management roles, and as Head of IT for 10 years. Following 10 years as a Project Consultant in various sectors, working with building contractors, engineers, software developers and business partners to deliver varied and complex projects, Jo started working for a former client as a Programme Delivery Manager in 2021. Jo is now their Head of IT.
Jo Atkinson
Jo is chair of the Finance and Legal committee of the Leas Lift CIC. She is a qualified actuary (now retired) and had a career in the financial services industry, working in both the life and general insurance sectors specialising in financial modelling and capital requirements, including at Lloyds of London. After living and working in Australia and South Africa as well as London, Jo settled in Kent 20 years ago. She plays an active role in the local scout group and has been Trustee and Treasurer for the past 5 years.
Generously Supported by
