Meet the team: directors, staff and volunteers
- We're North East Sport. We're here for Sunderland's young people, week in, week out. These are the people who do it.
- We try our best every day to make a difference
Our Directors
Peter Curtis: Founder & Operational Director
Peter is Sunderland born and bred. He grew up in Town End Farm, left school with next to nothing on paper, and was working by fifteen. He went round the world in the Merchant Navy, did a stint in security, where he picked up a formal commendation from the government, then went into construction and worked his way up to foreman, running big jobs all over the country and away from home most of the week.
In 2008 the crash put him out of work. He had two young lads and had already lost a son, Callum, so being there to watch his boys grow up mattered more than anything. He started coaching them and their mates in Southwick. That became North East Sport. It cost him money he didn’t have and he’s never regretted a penny.
Eighteen years on he’s still on the pitch most nights. He’s an FA Level 3 (UEFA B) coach, one of the club’s welfare officers, and the first person most parents speak to. His own words: “an ordinary, angry, authentic bloke from Sunderland trying to do my best.” What he’s built runs on trust, which, as he puts it, “no money can buy.”
Lindsay Williams: Director and Finance Officer
Lindsay is North East Sport’s Director and Finance Officer, and one of our two welfare officers. She started volunteering with us in 2009 at the age of 21 and has done just about every job here since: coaching qualifications, running the admin for North East Sport Youth FC, and qualifying as a Level 3 Beach School Practitioner. More than a decade of blood, sweat and tears, in her words.
These days she looks after the money. She has been central to winning and managing our grants, and she has been a director of another local CIC, so she knows what community businesses like ours need to get right. Every pound that comes in is accounted for and spent on the kids. That’s her job, and she’s good at it.
Director
Ruth Ibegbuna
Ruth brings a national view to our board. She’s an Ashoka Fellow and a Clore Social Fellow, and Virgin named her one of the top six women changemakers in the world. She founded RECLAIM, a Manchester charity that helps working class young people into leadership, and ran it as CEO for eleven years, campaigning nationally alongside young people for a fairer deal for their communities.
She now runs The Roots Programme, which brings people from very different communities together to learn from each other, and Northern Soul, a consultancy that puts the North’s voice forward. On our board she connects what we do on a Monday night in Sunderland to the bigger national picture.
Director
Anthony Woods-Waters
Anthony joined the board after a long career in the public and voluntary sectors in the North East. He set up and ran the regional charity Building Futures East from the start, serving as its Secretary for nearly sixteen years, and spent eighteen years as a public sector manager, including running services for children and young people and regeneration programmes such as the Single Regeneration Budget Challenge Fund and the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy.
He has sat on the regional advisory group on social enterprise, been a director of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies in Manchester, a Foundation Governor of St Mary’s Catholic Comprehensive School and a trustee of St Anthony of Padua Community Association. On our board he keeps us connected to the council and the bigger funders, and keeps our feet on the ground.
- We try our best every day to make a difference
Our Staff
Coach
Katerina Gibson
Katerina is a teacher and youth leader, and the driving force behind our Bambino Ballers programme for our youngest players. She leads PE sessions, after school clubs and holiday camps, and works with our youth and mini youth groups. Every child gets noticed, gets a go, and gets told when they’ve done well. That’s her way, and it’s ours.
Administrator
Leanne Wilson
Leanne has been part of North East Sport since she was thirteen. Now full time, she runs the admin: member communications, football administration, data collection and the reporting that keeps our funders happy and our funding coming in. If you’ve emailed , you’ve dealt with Leanne. She’s the heartbeat of the place, and we’d be lost without her.
- We try our best every day to make a difference
Our volunteers
Volunteers
More than forty adult volunteers
Every one of them started by turning up once. They coach, run teams, manage the kit, do the social media, keep the pitches and grounds right, and help out at the digital hub. North East Sport doesn’t work without them.
Volunteer with us
If you’ve got a Monday night spare and you can remember a kid’s name, we’ll sort the rest, DBS check included. Coaching, admin, social media, grounds, digital hub support: there’s a job for everyone. Email or call 07883 885708.
Thank you to every one of our volunteers.