Hello, my name is Karen and I live in Kettering with my husband Christian, daughter Maddie and son Dylan.  Dylan was born with Down’s syndrome and it was through his arrival that my journey began with UpsnDowns.

I am one of the original founders of the charity which was formed in 2006, the year Dylan was born.  I feel privileged to have been a part of Upsndowns since it began and to see how it has flourished over the last 12 years.

I work full time as a Paediatric Sleep Practitioner supporting children with a broad range of disabilities and I am also a qualified Portage Visitor.   

I live in the village of Gretton (near Corby) with my husband Paul, 3 children (and 3 chickens!). I joined UpsnDowns in 2012, when my youngest child Rory (who has Down’s syndrome) was 18 months old.

I have been a charity trustee and vice-chair for several years and was recently elected Chair of UpsnDowns. I feel both delighted and privileged to take on this responsibility representing our wonderful families.

I teach geography in a local secondary school and have a keen interest in education, specifically what we can learn from cognitive research about how children learn more effectively. I am passionate about working towards genuine inclusion, equal opportunities and high expectations for all children with Down’s syndrome in all educational settings.

I relocated to Burton Latimer from Windsor in Berkshire in 2004 with my husband and first born.  She is now 15 and has twin sisters who are13!  We love Burton Latimer but are lucky enough to still be frequent visitors to Windsor as our families still live there and we still have strong links with our now, ‘not so local’ football club, Windsor FC!

I have the extremely rewarding job of working as a Teaching Assistant in a local Primary school, which is how I became linked with the UpsnDowns charity.  I had the pleasure of working with two amazing children who have Down’s syndrome, one of which had a direct link with the charity and whose parents asked me to join the charity as a trustee. 

As a previous vice chair on a governing body in a school, I hope to have gained some of the qualities and skills which are needed in my role as Trustee.   

I have a passion for learning, whether I am helping others or learning myself.  Seeing any child flourish with a smile on their faces when they realise, they can do it, is a great feeling and makes my job worthwhile.

I look forward to being part of a team striving for the very best provisions and experiences and for our children.  I hope to meet some of you soon, if I haven’t already.

Hello, my name is Tracey, I am a parent trustee for UpsnDowns. I live in Kettering with my husband Steve, son Owen and daughter Tayla.  We joined UpsnDowns when Tayla was 14 months old and really enjoyed being part of a great charity, who not only support the children but the whole family too.   

As a trustee and the training coordinator, my job is to organise the training for schools, ensuring that all the education settings our children attend can access professional training funded by the charity, and to generally help in any way I can.

I work two days per week at a Mental Health Charity and have worked there for 16 years.

 I am also Treasurer for the PTA at the school my daughter attends.

Hello, I am Leanne. I am 39 and a mum to 3 beautiful children, Georgia, Lewis and Elsie, always keeping me busy of course. If I’m not playing with my two younger babies aged 1 and 2, I’m kickboxing with my oldest or trying to keep my fitness levels up.

Before family I was a very successful sales executive with a client base of corporate and public sector customers from across the UK, selling IT products and services. I did this from the age of 19 and can happily say I was very successful and achieved awards every year for high accreditation’s such as sales person of the year.  

I now look after my family and take care of Elsie’s needs with Down’s syndrome and love watching her learn new things every week, enjoy taking her to groups, helping her sign and swim.

I am Gayle, I have been a member of UpsnDowns since 2014. For the last 2 years I have been a trustee and this year I am delighted to have been elected as vice chair.

I first found about UpsnDowns through the charity’s information pack which was given to us in hospital shortly after my son’s diagnosis at birth.  In those early weeks and months the ability to meet with other parents, share experiences and advice was invaluable to us as a family.  As he has grown we have seen the benefit of the charities support and services for us and those working with him.

As a charity we grow and evolve as new members join us and as our oldest members move towards adulthood.  I am grateful for the support that UpsnDowns have given to me and am keen to ensure that the work the charity does continues to support our members, and to explore additional services that we can seek to provide. 

Our young members inspire us to look at life from a different perspective, to challenge our own presumptions about their ability and as parents and carers we can learn so much from them.

I live in Northampton with my wife Di, son Charlie who is 6 and our 3 maine coon cats and 6 chickens. We joined UpsnDowns in 2012 while my wife was pregnant with Charlie.

I became a trustee in 2013 and enjoy being part of our wonderful charity

I work as a design engineer in the European Technical Centre for a Japanese pneumatics company, were for the last few years we have celebrated World Down Syndrome day, and raised money for UpsnDowns by wearing our colourful socks

My name is Nicole. I am a parent trustee. I am mum to Abbie and Ollie and I have been involved in the charity for about 8 and a half years. I first became involed when Ollie was around 8 months old.

I work in a local special school as a level 3 teaching assistant.