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Our Trustees

FIONA HORTON (CHAIR)

Fiona has spent the last 30 years working in the marketing and communications sector, where she’s held COO and MD roles after starting her career as an Account Manager. She now has a portfolio career where she has her own businesses, and is also a dog trainer and accredited dog behaviourist. She also works as a Consultant across various businesses.

In her spare time, she works closely with two dog rescues – where she fosters dogs, transports dogs in need around the country and home checks potential fosterers and adopters.

Whilst she doesn’t work within Hate Crime, her long standing relationship with Sylvia, Adam and Sophie (including being at the murder trial alongside Sylvia every day), means she has a deep and intrinsic interest in the Foundation’s current and future success.

MIKE AINSWORTH

Mike currently chairs the National Police Chiefs Council and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners Independent Advisory Groups on Hate Crime. Mike is a member of the Executive Board of the UK Council for Internet Safety and the Crown Prosecution Service’s External Consultative Group. After a varied career in the Prison Service from officer in HMP Lincoln to running the lifer unit in Wormwood Scrubs and Deputy Governor in HMP Holloway Mike worked in Kosovo during and immediately after the conflict organising the evacuation of refugees and coordinating the work of forensic teams investigating war crimes. On returning to the UK Mike worked in a variety of voluntary sector organisations including Director of Offender Services in The Princes Trust and Director of London Services for Stop Hate UK. Mike is chair of the management board of Arc Theatre.

AL WRIGHT

Alison is a working mother of two.  She has a number of passions in her life, but she always uses music as a way to bookmark times and places in her memories.  Her love of metal and, in particular Alice Cooper, was a phase she was supposed to grow out of.  35 years later and she’s still a proud member of the metal community and enjoys going to gigs and meeting her fellow metal heads as often as possible.  This being so, she’s incredibly proud to be a Trustee of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation.

ELIZABETH ROSE

Elizabeth Rose is the creator and steer of Leeds Festival of Gothica; a string of events and initiatives which were born in 2017 at Leeds City Museum to celebrate the subcultural heritage of Leeds. The project has delivered exhibitions, talks, a fashion show, a photography competition, cabaret de vampyr, a family friendly horror film festival and hosts one of the biggest alternative markets in the north of England. Elizabeth steered the alternative heritage of Leeds project which partners with Leeds Libraries and centred on a community curated city centre mural which links with a live photography archive.

Personally Elizabeth has a passion for avant garde dark historical fashion, gothic literature and the alternative music scene of Leeds. One of her main aims is to create spaces and events that bring the alternative community together and raise awareness of the subcultural relevance of Leeds.

Professionally Elizabeth has over 23 years of experience working in the public and third sector focusing on community development, co-production and health and wellbeing; working with older people and people living with dementia. Elizabeth now leads on the Friendly Communities campaign for Leeds Older People’s Forum.