Jessica Gallier-Booth

Jessica Gallier-Booth is the Founder and CEO of The Martin Gallier Project, a pioneering suicide prevention, intervention and postvention charity created from both heartbreak and hope.

After losing her father, Martin Gallier, to suicide in 2017, Jessica transformed devastating personal grief into a mission to ensure that nobody facing suicide crisis feels alone, unheard, or without hope. What began in the depths of loss has grown into a life-saving movement, with The Martin Gallier Project now delivering 60,021 suicide interventions and becoming a vital lifeline for thousands of people and families navigating crisis.

Under Jessica’s leadership, The Martin Gallier Project has become internationally recognised for its compassionate and groundbreaking approach to suicide crisis support, providing immediate, non-clinical interventions on the high street with no waiting list, no criteria, and no barriers to access. The charity’s innovative model has not only challenged traditional crisis pathways nationally, but has also shown the extraordinary power of human connection, compassion, and community-led support working alongside the NHS and statutory services.

 Driven by both lived experience and unwavering determination, Jessica is a passionate advocate for hope, early intervention, and creating Suicide Safer Communities where nobody has to face crisis alone. Through The Martin Gallier Project, she continues to prove that even in the darkest moments, hope can be found, lives can be saved, and suicide is preventable.

Terri Dwyer

Esther Ghey

Esther Ghey is a mental health campaigner, author, and founder of Peace & Mind UK, a community interest company working to improve the mental health of young people and their families. After the tragic loss of her daughter, Brianna Ghey, Esther launched the Peace in Mind campaign, calling for mindfulness to be taught in schools across the UK, alongside stronger online safety measures to better protect children.

She is the author of Under a Pink Sky, a memoir about love, loss and the power of forgiveness, and appeared in the ITV documentary Brianna - A Mother’s Story. Through her work, Esther continues to advocate for safer, more empathetic spaces - online, in schools, and in society.

Lucy Meacock

Lucy Meacock is a BAFTA award-winning journalist and presenter with over thirty years of experience at both the BBC and ITV. She began her career as a trainee journalist at the Chester Chronicle, just up the road. Lucy has interviewed every Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher, with the exception of Liz Truss (there wasn’t time!).

Her work was recently praised in a major speech by Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, who highlighted how Lucy kept the Hillsborough Disaster in the public eye for the bereaved families, ensuring they received vital support.

Lucy is Chancellor at Salford University, where she continues to encourage and nurture the next generation of journalists and broadcasters, ensuring that people from all backgrounds have a voice. Known for holding decision-makers to account, she’s also admired for her ability to make us laugh.

She humbly says she’s just been very lucky!

Mel Kelly

Mel Kelly has been described as a young visionary whose life and work for the community show her unwavering courage and compassion.

Mel was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of 22. In a split second, her world as she knew it, changed and she was now in a fight for survival. She faced immediate brain surgery, and her recovery meant she was in a wheelchair, learning to re-dress herself and shower unaided.

During her hospital stay, Mel faced her diagnosis with a positive attitude and tackled adversity head on. Mel has become the driver of many campaigns and is regularly journeying across the country taking part in initiatives and campaign launches.

When Mel realised that brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer for people under the age of 40, she set out to raise awareness and founded her own business ‘Motivating Minds Ltd’.  She likes to share information with young sufferers and what to expect when diagnosed.  This is something she couldn’t access when she was first diagnosed as a young person with this rare condition.

Despite this journey, she has dedicated herself to charity and started to raise money for others going through the same thing as her. In the past 18 months, Mel has raised thousands of pounds for The Brain Charity, Teenage Cancer Trust and Move Against Cancer. She is pressing for change in kinder treatments and earlier diagnosis.

Mel’s dedication to supporting the Brain Tumour Charity through diverse and creative fundraising efforts showcases her enthusiastic approach to charity. Whether it’s the daring feat of abseiling down The Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, walking 12 miles to mark 12 weeks recovery, the endurance challenge of the Yorkshire 3 peaks, or the community spirit of organising bake sales. She is currently training for a triathlon in August this year.

She has recently become an official young ambassador for the Brain Tumour Charity and was featured on the BBC Lifeline Appeal with Nicky Chapman. Mel has used her voice and platform to spotlight the urgent need for brain tumour research and support.

Mel’s influence extends far beyond the realm of motivational speaking. She has taken her commitment in fighting brain tumours to extraordinary lengths.

Mel Kelly’s story is one of transformation and purpose. It is a story that goes beyond personal achievement, providing hope and empowerment to others facing their own battles. Her work not only raises vital funds for the fight against brain tumours, but also lifts the spirits of countless individuals, encouraging them to believe in their ability to overcome adversity.

Mel believes that no matter what happens, with the right people around you, you can turn obstacles into opportunities.

Guest Speaker – Lady Redmond

Lady Redmond MBE (Alexis) came into office as Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire on 25 August 2021.  She is a chartered accountant and spent several years in the accountancy profession before establishing, with her husband Phil, one of the largest independent television drama production companies in the UK.

She has held many senior non-executive, governor and trustee positions including National Museums Liverpool, Riverside Housing Association, Liverpool John Moores University and Alder Hey Hospital NHS Children’s Charitable Trust.  She continues to support many charitable and not for profit organisations.

In 2003 she was made a Fellow of John Moores University, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was awarded her MBE in 2011 for services to the community.  Alexis held the office of High Sheriff of Cheshire during 2018/19.

Team Awarded given to the female crew of the RNLI, West Kirby

Lynsey Gatenby (Launch Vehicle Driver), Claire Rogers (Shore Crew), Claire Hockley and Ella Marston (Crew), Eils Thomas (Trainee Crew) and Rachael Hearty (Treasurer)

Natalie Reeves Billing was given a Children’s Literacy Champion Award.

Ije McDougall

Ije McDougall is a remarkable woman who has dedicated her life to helping others. She set up a charity called The Kairos Initiative which has made a real difference to the lives of many people around the world. As a British Nigerian who originates from the North East of Nigeria, Ije has first hand knowledge of the activities and consequences of extremists and extremism. The Kairos Initiative, was set up to support victims of insurgency in Nigeria. Through her charity, she has provided apprenticeships to young people, helping them gain valuable skills and experience. She has equipped them to start their own businesses and given them the opportunity to make a real difference. Ije has also provided clean drinking water to over ten thousand people, renovated a maternity ward, fed an orphanage, and clothed street kids. She has also connected children in need with families in the UK who have provided them with Christmas presents. These are just a few examples of the work she has done for those who are most in need.

Ije has a unique perspective and lived experiences as an immigrant woman and mixed with her BBC training and HR background, she has an insight into the lives of some of the most vulnerable people. She moved from a troubled part of Nigeria to the UK where she has succeeded in many areas. Having beaten the odds herself, Ije is well versed in the challenges that face people of minority in the UK. As a result, she speaks on some of the issues faced by minority groups in the UK. Her talk on racial equality was featured on the Black Lives Matter Website and she was nominated for the National Diversity Awards as a positive role model.

Ije is a Magistrate, an HR/employment law expert and an author. Her first book, born out of life experiences as a Nigerian mother in the UK is called “Surviving 0 to 5 years old #Mumofgirls”. One of her most popular talks, titled “Who Are You?” is being published as a personal workbook.

While charting her way through life in the UK, she has faced questions of identity and self-realisation. She has said she has battled self-doubt and imposter syndrome and understands how limiting they can be. She has overcome huge challenges to become a successful professional and role model. She now uses her experience, and skills to make the world a better place for many people here in the UK and her birth country, Nigeria.

Guest Speaker – Helen Newlove

Helen Newlove was Cheshire Woman of the Year in 2009. She was nominated for her inspirational courage following the murder of her husband, Garry, in 2007. Gary was brutally attacked outside their home in Warrington by a gang of teenagers, in front of their three young daughters. He had confronted the teenagers who were vandalising Helen’s car, and three youths were sentenced to life imprisonment for his murder.

Helen vowed that Garry would not be known as a murder statistic. And so with great support from Warrington Wolves Foundation, Helen with her daughters, Zoe, Danielle and Amy, she set up the Newlove Warrington Foundation. The aim of the foundation was to work with communities to inspire and motivate people to enrich their lives and provide opportunities for positive interaction within communities. She has worked tirelessly since then to be the voice of victims. She speaks out as someone whose life has been so dramatically impacted by the actions of a group of teenagers.

Helen’s outstanding achievements were recognised nationally, and she was made The Baroness Newlove of Warrington in 2010. She went on to become the Victims Commissioner – a role to which she brought empathy and understanding. She understands how to talk to victims, and she cares passionately about how the system treats them. Helen commented “I am just an ordinary woman, propelled into high profile by a set of horrifying circumstances which I wish with all my heart had never occurred”

Janet Fletcher received a special Professional Achievements Award for outstanding achievements and role model in Engineering and STEM industry

Pauline Finlay

Pauline Finlay is a specialist Nurse Prescriber working in a small practice looking after about 400 homeless patients in Chester. Although affluent, Chester has a relatively large homeless population and many of them find it hard to interact with other parts of the healthcare system. Pauline works above and beyond her role to facilitate the care for her patients, including accompanying vulnerable people to hospital and other services which otherwise they probably wouldn’t attend.

She has sympathy and empathy for her homeless patients, many of whom have substance misuse and mental health problems. She visits local hospitals to see patients and to make sure their often challenging needs are being considered whilst in hospital and when they are being discharged. She will support patients through the criminal justice system – which is often very stressful for herself.

Alongside this work, she also does all the traditional chronic disease management that you would expect of a nurse practitioner. Like many NHS staff, she is devoted to her job and takes every opportunity to provide care and attention way beyond the delivery of clinical service. In recent years, as the pandemic has caused further pressures for everyone, for homeless people already marginalised, their individual circumstances have worsened. Pauline’s response was to work harder to try and support individuals by contacting agencies to help with all aspects from food to counselling. She has been a particular force in recognising the gaps in provision for homeless women and has brought agencies together to focus on improving female specific support and access.

In short, whether it’s the care of an individual or the wider issues, she makes a difference to the community she serves. And in recognition she was awarded the Queens Nursing award 2021 for outstanding service and we are delighted to make her our Cheshire Woman of the Year 2022.

Guest Speaker – Rachel Burden

The Cheshire Woman Award Committee is delighted to welcome Rachel as our guest for the first time. It has become somewhat of a tradition for presenters from BBC North West to join us at the annual awards ceremony. We are extremely grateful for their support and delighted that 2022 is Rachel’s turn after the somewhat enforced break during the past 3 years!

Rachel was born in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. Her mum worked full time looking after five children, and her dad was a journalist. Rachel has always had a love of radio and after studying history and politics at Trinity College, Dublin, she went on to complete a Broadcast Journalism Diploma at Cardiff University.

Her first job was at BBC Radio Suffolk and she has worked for the BBC ever since, with a stint at BBC Radio Bristol before moving to Radio 5 Live in 2003. Rachel has hosted the Breakfast show since 2010 for which she and her co-host won a Gold Aria award in 2018. She has travelled widely for the network, broadcasting from Rome, Dublin, Kenya, New Zealand and South Africa…. and her spare bedroom earlier this year when she had Covid!

Rachel moved to Cheshire in 2011 when the BBC relocated to Salford and lives surrounded by countryside with her husband, four children, a cat and a dog. As a very busy working mother, Rachel is perfectly placed to appreciate the achievements of the remarkable women here today. When she’s not working, Rachel can mostly be found walking through the fields near her home, in the local pub, or at Sale Sharks rugby club.

Lisa Kuhwald

Lisa is mum to four boys, Oscar, 14, Casper, 12 and seven year old twins Felix and Herbie.

In 2013, Lisa and her husband, Karl, during a routine visit to hospital found that Felix, then just 2, had an incurable disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This was something the family hadn’t heard of before. It is the most common fatal genetic disease diagnosed in childhood affecting approximately 1 in 3500 boys and 1 in 50 million girls. Duchenne is a progressive muscle wasting disorder and by the age of 12 many children are confined to a wheelchair. The heart and lungs are affected and it leads to premature death. As Lisa says, nothing at all can ever prepare or help you to hear such heart breaking and devastating news.

However, they decided not to just accept the sentence that had been handed to them. They picked themselves up to fight…. and so Team Felix was born, with the aim to fund research into Duchenne and to find viable treatments to help this generation of boys. With the help of family, friends and supporters they organised many events raising thousands of pounds for research.

Then just two years later in 2015, devastatingly, Karl passed away after a short battle with cancer. Most people would have understandably fallen apart …but also would have had the time to grieve. Lisa didn’t, she has not just held her family together, she has enabled them to grieve and flourish as much as they possibly could whilst managing the devastating loss of their Dad. She also knew that she had to carry on for the sake of Felix by doing all she possibly can to raise funds and awareness of this heart-breaking condition. Karl, even after months of treatments said, “If Felix could have my life it would be a dream”. This symbolises the total devastation Duchenne has on families.

Hope is now what keeps Lisa going. Hope that treatments can be accessed in time to help Felix and all others affected by Duchenne. Hope that treatments can help not only their quality of life but the underlying disease… only time is the enemy.

With Karl and her boys as inspiration, Lisa now runs the family business and continues to fundraise for Team Felix and works with the charity Duchenne UK. She sits on their Patient Advisory Board and has recently become an Advocacy Support Officer.

Lisa is grateful for the help of a fabulous family and friends and she would like to thank each and every one of them for all their continued support with the boys, fundraising and charity work.

Her good friend Sarah Marston (here today also as a Cheshire Woman Award nominee) has been instrumental in helping with Team Felix over the past couple of years. An idea of Karl’s was to hold a Family Festival and in his memory Lisa (with Sarah’s help) has made Fefest an annual event – last year raising £57000 for Duchenne UK. Plans are well under way for FeFest 2018.

Lisa said “I don’t have a choice; I must fight to help Felix and others with Duchenne, but Sarah and all our other supporters do have that choice. I am constantly blown away by their commitment and generosity to help end Duchenne.” This is why Lisa is our Cheshire Woman of the Year 2018. Her phenomenal strength and courage in the most difficult of situations is awe inspiring. 

Guest Speaker – Annabel Tiffin

Annabel Tiffin’s career in journalism began over twenty years ago when she worked on the Stockport Express newspaper. She moved to the Midlands where she worked in radio and television until 2003 when she returned to the North West to work at BBC.

Firstly she produced and presented the late news bulletin on North West Tonight. In addition she presented the Sunday Politics Show for 5 years.

In 2012 Annabel was appointed to the job of main presenter on North West Tonight, where she can regularly be seen at 6.30pm and sometimes she presents the late bulletin too.

She lives in Cheshire with her husband and two children and a menagerie of animals.

Annabel was our guest ten years ago and we are delighted that she is here with us again this year.

The Right Worshipful the Lord Mayor of the City of Chester Councillor Razia Daniels

Councillor Razia Daniels is truly delighted to be the Lord Mayor of Chester. She brings to the role a wealth of experience having been a councillor for over 11 years.

Razia has sat on a number of committees including Planning, Audit and Governance, Standards and Appeals. She has served as Assistant Executive Member for Ageing Well, Chairman of the Ageing Well Policy Commission and Deputy Chairman
for Licensing.

When Razia was Member Champion for Equality and Diversity, a particular passion of hers, the council achieved the highest level of excellence for the Equality Framework for Local Government.

While Razia was Chairman of the Member Learning Panel, the council achieved the North West Employers Charter level two and the MJ Exemplar Award.

Razia is the ward member for Handbridge Park covering Handbridge, Westminster Park and Curzon Park.
Her chosen charities for her year as Lord Mayor are DIAL West Cheshire, The UNITY Centre (CHAWREC) and St Mary’s Handbridge Community Centre.

Speaking after her inauguration Councillor Daniel’s said: “I am truly delighted to be the Lord Mayor of Chester. This is such an honour and privilege for me. During my year in office I would like to celebrate community spirit and bring together as many people as possible developing new networks and groups.”

Razia was born in Dodoma, Tanzania, East Africa and has lived in Chester since her marriage to Stephen in 1985.
She is a professional gemmologist and member of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain. Her interests include English Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco design and Gemmology.

Patricia Ayrton

Jaine Briscoe-Price

Charlotte Brownhill

Laura Coss

Lisa Cottrell

Christine Davies

Hannah Louise Jones

Ann Mayer

Marion Redfern

Hannah Louise Rose

Pippa Tyrell

Hilary Ash

Hilary was born and brought up in North Oxfordshire, and read Botany at Oxford University. After a gap year spent in voluntary service, she came north to Liverpool University to do a PhD, researching the way native plants grow on industrial waste sites. Hilary plays violin, piano and church organ, and met her husband John in a Liverpool orchestra. They settled in Bromborough, Wirral (where they still live) after their marriage in 1982, and they have two adult sons.

Hilary continued as a part-time botanist round the family, doing surveys, management plans and habitat creation work, mostly in urban areas. In 1987 she became involved with the Wirral Group of Cheshire Wildlife Trust (CWT) – known as Wirral Wildlife – and has been active in nature conservation ever since. This has included 28 years of writing responses to planning applications, and 30 years as Honorary Conservation Officer for Wirral Wildlife, advising community groups, local authorities, other conservation charities and individual landowners. A key project has been New Ferry Butterfly Park, a CWT nature reserve run by a local team, which has transformed a derelict railway goods yard into a thriving park centred on invertebrates, with a strong educational and people-facing focus.

When the recent recession badly hit funding, Hilary slipped out of paid work into more nature conservation; and also increased her training of new botanists, old and young – mostly by taking them out on plant surveys.

When not involved with wild plants, Hilary is a gardener, with a half-allotment on Wingate Road Allotments Association in Eastham. This is a self-managed set, of which Hilary was Treasurer for 11 years and is now President. She is organist of St David’s United Reformed Church, Eastham, which she is also helping with Eco-Church certification and a new Forest Church initiative; and she plays violin in the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Orchestra. Just occasionally she finds time to do some baking and knitting!

Hilary says “I have followed this route because it seemed to be what God wanted me to do, but most of it is and has been very enjoyable, especially wandering round some of the nicest parts of Cheshire with the excuse of looking at the plants growing there!”

Guest Speaker – Jayne McCubbin

I’m a reporter with BBC Breakfast. Britain’s most watched breakfast TV program with almost 7 million people tuning in each day. I’m also a mum of three mega boys, Jim (9) Gil (6) and Ted (4). They are the reason I’m probably the most dishevelled looking face on the box. Life is chaos! I’m married to a Scotsman Scott, who I met on my first day at Liverpool University where we both studied politics. We’ve recently moved back to Cheshire where I was born and we live in Neston which we love.

My Breakfast job is so varied. In the past few months I’ve challenged Government Ministers about imminent education cuts – set to be worst in Cheshire; travelled to Antigua as I followed a group of working mums as they became to oldest to ever row across an ocean; highlighted the plight of children trapped in an inadequate underfunded care system; featured a wonderful scheme in Cheshire to help bereaved women fill the void left by their husbands death by learning new skills in the Men’s Shed; and I spent a month looking at a funding crisis in the Hospice movement. No two days are the same and it is a privilege to meet so many interesting people.

I’m very honoured to be the holder of two Royal Television Society Reporter of the Year Awards for my previous work with BBC North West Tonight. I was also named the Consumer Affairs Correspondent of the year by Trading Standards bodies, for my work exposing conmen and frauds. My career began working for the Liverpool Echo group before becoming a video-journalist and later joining BBC Radio Merseyside. One of my first ever stories as a journalist was to warn parents of a peril they hadn’t yet heard of – The Internet. An indication of how long I’ve been in this game!

I generally can’t believe my luck at having such a cracking job and lovely family. The BBC Breakfast team are officially the nicest bunch in national television news. In my spare time I pick Lego and dirty clothes up off the floor, play the occasional board game, cycle to Parkgate and drink wine.

Kate Spall

In June 2005 Pamela Northcott was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Pam had watched her own Mother, just 50 years old, succumb to the same disease. She was steadfast in her view that her own children would not watch her die too. She would fight this with every ounce of her being. The family were then distraught to be informed that there were no effective chemotherapy treatments for kidney cancer.

Her daughter Kate took leave from work, put her children into full time nursery and started her journey of forensic research into kidney cancer in the desperate hope of saving her Mum.

She found a world expert in kidney cancer in New York and sent Pam’s medical notes over. The clinician confirmed there were two new drugs that were used in most of Europe and the US: Sutent and Nexavar.  Kate now had a goal, promising her mum that she would obtain one of these drugs, which Pam’s oncologist had stated was “an impossible task”.

Kate began her ‘Fight for Life’ campaign seeking NHS approval of these new drugs for her Mum. After nine months of sleepless nights researching the UK’s cancer commissioning process, Kate discovered a hidden ‘Exceptional Case’ policy, which allowed clinicians to apply to their local NHS board for the funding of high cost cancer drugs for individual patients.  After Kate’s relentless campaign to the NHS Board, Pam became the first person in Wales to access the drug.  Sadly this came to late to her and she passed away 4 months later) it was too late for her. Pam’s dying wish was for Kate to ensure others also gained access to the drug.  On 13th August 2007, the day after her mother’s death, Kate set up The Pamela Northcott Fund – “The Right Treatment at the Right Time for Cancer Patients”.

Kate’s campaigning and advocacy resulted in NHS funding the new drugs for over 70 kidney cancer patients in the first 6 months after Pam’s death. Within 12 months the Welsh NHS had approved both drugs for all kidney cancer patients. Kate was then asked to be Expert Patient Witness for English drug approval body NICE and now both are standard treatment for kidney cancer patients in the UK.

This could have been a great end of the story. However, hundreds of patients contacted Kate with similar stories of new drugs for a multitude of cancers being refused due to cost. She took on every case and ensured over 300 patients gained NHS funding for their specific cancer. Kate has become a successful campaigner for access to all new cancer treatments. She is now an expert in NHS cancer commissioning policy, briefing MP’s, the media and oncologists. She has campaigned for the Cancer Drugs Fund which has now provided new life-extending cancer drugs to over 80,000 patients. She successfully lobbied the government to ensure cancer patient rights, including access to new treatments were top of the agenda.

Kate provides free advocacy nationally for any cancer patient refused NHS funding for a new drug. She also mentors teen cancer patients and supports and advices local organisations working with vulnerable adults and terminally ill children. Kate is resolute that she will continue this work until every cancer patient in the UK receives “the right treatment at the right time”.

Pat Rice

Pat Rice has lived in Wirral since she was a small child. She was brought up in New Brighton and enjoyed many summers playing on the local beach. Even as a child, Pat had a strong sense of ‘wanting to help’, she would offer to do neighbours shopping and more particularly to walk their dogs.

Once working, in the Civil Service, Pat was still active in the community. In her spare time she volunteered at a children’s home, taking children out on trips and having fun. She was also instrumental in fundraising to buy a guide dog for the visually impaired.

In her early twenties Pat spent three years travelling and working in Australia. Even here she got involved in community work at an Aborigine mission. Back in England, Pat’s work with young people began in earnest, firstly working as a volunteer, then training formally as a Youth and Community worker.

Twenty six years on, Pat is very proud of her contribution to the work of Wirral Youth Service and her personal positive impact on young peoples’ lives. She currently works  as Head of Response, an agency which supports young people in crisis; young people  whose experience of life is far beyond what they should be dealing with at an early age. Vulnerable young people who are homeless, at risk of sexual exploitation, struggling with mental health issues, self-harming and contemplating suicide, struggling with substance abuse and addictions, all of these are in a day’s work for Pat. It is a demanding, challenging and often emotional job, but infinitely rewarding.

Keeping young people safe is a crucial part of Pat’s personal philosophy as well as her job. She ensures the service offered to young people is creative, effective, innovative and responsive. Meaningful, supportive relationships are built, not only with young people but with their families, schools and communities. This creates a consistent presence in the lives of young people and goes a long way towards normalising interaction and trust.

In her downtime Pat enjoys walking with her dog (typically a rescue Labradoodle), camping, travelling and the odd spot of DIY (again, helping her friends out).

Pat believes we all have a part to play in making our communities safe. We all have a role in helping to keep children and young people safe, we all have a role in building up resilience, listening to what young people say and hearing what they tell us.