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Fire and Water

The Fire and Water Board

Get to know the gang..

Trustees

Phil Hawdon

Phil Hawdon

Chair of the Board of Trustees

Phil is an architect and has worked in Sowerby Bridge since 1975. He is a founder and producer of the town’s Winterlight Festival and has been actively involved in negotiating the Community Asset Transfer of the Fire & Water buildings with Calderdale MBC. Phil has also advised other local groups through The Community Foundation, represents Fire & Water on Locality’s Community Anchors Network, on the Sowerby Bridge Development Board and on the High Street Action Zone steering group with the council.

Steven Langton

Steven Langton

Trustee

Steven is originally from the North East, but moved to Warley in October 2022 after living in and around West Yorkshire for the past 20ish years. He is a solicitor who specialises in construction and engineering law, and in his free time he loves music, walking, running, and generally being outside. One of the main reasons Steven moved to this area was because he always felt a sense of creativity and community whenever he visited. Soon after he moved, he found Fire & Water and it really summed up what had drawn him here.

Steven joined Fire and Water because after moving to a new area he wanted to be involved in a community project which is striving to provide a real benefit to the area. Having found Fire and Water he was really inspired by the plans of the project and the amount of potential there is.

Mary Dulson

Mary Dulson

Trustee

Mary joined the Board in the summer of 2025 after stumbling into the building for the first time at the Sowerby Bridge Festival a few months earlier, and finding she was bowled over by the drive and enthusiasm of the volunteers behind the bar!

Mary has lived in Sowerby Bridge since 2022. She came to this area entirely for the stunning views and historical buildings and has never regretted the decision.

Mary has spent over 30 years working with children and families within a number of Local Authorities and the Family Court. She has a strong sense that it takes a community to raise a child, and that is at the heart of her involvement with Fire & Water. Mary wants to see youth groups, theatre projects, hobby clubs, performance art, training opportunities, and support systems using every room. She has helped with fundraising through things like the calendar and supporting events and provides practical skills with a mop and bucket when required.

In her spare time, Mary loves attending small venues for live music (usually of the loud and shouty kind), cooking, and walking.

Malcolm Gardner

Malcolm Gardner

Trustee

Malcolm has had Structural Engineers offices in Sowerby Bridge for over 25 years. He was heavily involved in the development of the Wharf and saw the regenerational effect of this project. He is a past chairman of Sowerby Bridge Forum and although now retired is still involved in the management of the Wharf. He is keen to see the Fire and Water project develop and the further regeneration and benefits it will bring to the community of Sowerby Bridge together with the Calder and Ryburn Valleys generally.

Viv

Viv Jorissen

Trustee

Viv has been in property construction, management and letting for over 40 years. For over 10 years, she also worked for The Princes' Regeneration Trust helping to find new uses for old buildings and was greatly involved in the restoration of Sowerby Bridge Wharf. She is very enthusiastic about the Fire & Water Project and the effect it will have on Sowerby Bridge

Clare Nestor

Clare Nestor

Trustee

Clare took redundancy in 2017 after a 25 year career in Citizens Advice that took her from volunteer adviser to a senior national post.

She became involved in Fire and Water because she moved to Sowerby Bridge but after 3 years hadn’t made friends or set roots. She initially did some DIY sessions where she got to use some power tools and knock walls down!

In her nine years on the F&W board she has contributed to fundraising through T shirt sales and the sponsored calendar as well as supporting countless events over the years.

For Clare the development of Fire and Water offers a fantastic opportunity to the community of Sowerby Bridge: a space that can be shaped in whatever way people want it to be.

Finlay King

Finlay King

Trustee

Finlay is from Calderdale and eventually moved back after living in Wales and the West Midlands. He works as a project manager for an education charity, where he has been for the last 6 years. Finlay is involved with Fire and Water as he believes community spaces are important places for people to come together.

Maurice Claypole

Maurice Claypole

Trustee

Maurice has lived in Sowerby Bridge for over 10 years and is an active supporter of local theatre and Calderdale-based creative writers. As an author and playwright, much of his work focuses on the culture and history of Calderdale, in particular two plays produced by Halifax Playhouse, ‘Narrowboat Blues’ set on the Rochdale Canal and ‘The Coiner’s Wife’ based on the historical events surrounding the Cragg Vale Coiners in the late eighteenth century. As head of a Halifax-based publishing house, he has actively sponsored works by local poets and storytellers, including volumes entitled ‘Tales from Happy Valley’ and ‘Between the Stone: Poetry and Prose carved from the Upper Calder Valley’, amongst others. As a performer, he has appeared in plays in a number of local theatres and has served on committees at Halifax Playhouse and Bingley Arts Centre, and elsewhere. He is currently Speaker Finder for Brighouse Probus Club and Creative Director of The Coiners Theatre Company based at the Fire Station Theatre. In addition to helping to establish Fire & Water as a premium location for arts and culture, his special interest is in building up The Fire Station Theatre as a key venue for theatrical performance of all kinds.

Associates

Lucy

Lucy Rose Fee

Freelance producer, artist and facilitator

Lucy isn’t a board member, she’s engaged by us periodically to deliver specific contracts.

Lucy is a freelance producer, artist and facilitator.

Over the past few years, she has contributed to the local arts scene with performances, workshops and collaborative works.

More recently, she has developed a comprehensive arts programme for Sowerby Bridge Fire & Water and has been a community producer for Northern Broadsides' Iron People project.

In her personal practice, Lucy specialises in mixed media art.

She has produced various, often immersive, events in Manchester and Sowerby Bridge.

Lucy is dedicated to fostering inclusive and supportive artistic environments and is a mental health first aider.

Beyond her professional work she enjoys making her own clothes, printmaking, wild swimming, singing, writing and attending live music events.