Meet our dynamic, working group team!

Rosie Barnes

Rosie is the creator and founder of Satsuma Neighbour.

She is an award-winning documentary photographer and has had work exhibited in exhibitions in the UK and internationally including in the US, China, Sweden and Germany.  She has worked on stories for the Guardian, FT, Wellcome Collection and has spoken at the National Galleries of Scotland and the Science Museum. In 2014 she published her much acclaimed and groundbreaking book, ‘Understanding Stanley – Looking through Autism’.

Rosie spent 14 years as treasurer of the Southwark Branch of the National Autistic Society. She also spent 2 years running a support group for autistic adults in Southwark.

Along with members of her wider family, Rosie is herself neurodivergent (AuDHD).

Rosie and Martin (her husband, below), have lived in Southwark for over 30 years and have two adult sons, one with a learning disability. She is passionate about the importance and power of communities.

Martin Galton

Martin is a multi-award-winning advertising art director/creative director, with over 120 national and international advertising awards to his name.

At the world’s leading advertising agencies, including Bartle Bogle Hegarty (itself awarded ‘The most creative agency in the world’, for 10 years in a row) and Leagas Delaney, he created award winning campaigns for the likes of Levi’s, Sony, Audi, Porshe, Harrods and Adidas, to name a few.

Martin set up Leagas Delaney America and subsequently started his own agency, Hooper Galton, which, after 12 years, was acquired by VCCP.  In 2019 he founded Beehive, an agency alternative, where he is currently creative director.

Martin was also founder of Bang Said the Gun, a raucous, weekly, stand-up poetry night that ran for 20 years (until the pandemic), in SE1 and at the Bloomsbury and Soho Theatres. He has performed at the Edinburgh Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Latitude, on BBC Radio with Jonathan Ross and on Sky Arts TV. Bang was voted best poetry night in the UK, by the Times.

Karen Edwards

Karen is a social entrepreneur. She is a co-founder and the chief executive of CareTrade Charitable Trust, an innovative and multi-award-winning autism charity, established in Southwark in 2010. CareTrade established the first autism-specific supported internship in the UK and last year supported over 130 autistic Londoners towards, into and to sustain employment.

Karen has over 25 years’ experience in the third sector: she was one of the founders of Ambitious about Autism (Treehouse) in 1997 and remains a Vice President; she was the Development Director for the UCL Cancer Research Institute (2000 to 2009); a school governor (2005-2008) and a Trustee of Sen-Help (2005 to date).

Karen’s inspiration comes from her middle son who is autistic. She believes the best way to challenge and change the status quo is to lead by creating the innovative solutions needed. Satsuma Neighbour is exactly that and crucial if we believe in equity. 

Other thoughts from Karen:

Satsuma Neighbour is an innovative solution to a problem that most families with an autistic child will face one day. It is also a problem that most local authorities are failing to address or even to acknowledge. 

The pressures and challenges in social housing today are not an acceptable excuse for failing to plan and provide for the needs of the more vulnerable groups in our society.

CareTrade believes that employment is the biggest single factor to transform the life of an autistic adult.  But without a safe and secure home, most people whether autistic or not, find employment hard to sustain.

Satsuma Neighbour will bring new meaning to housing options. Truly inclusive communities ready for a more equitable future. Not only building choices, but also a society that we all want to be part of.

Harry Williams

Harry has spent his career in public affairs and public relations across the third and private sectors, focused predominantly on housing and property. Since 2021 he has worked as Policy and Communications Manager for Commonweal Housing, a social justice charity working to trial and test new housing models designed to improve the lives of vulnerable or marginalised groups. He leads on promoting learning from Commonweal's projects and research and works alongside stakeholders and policy-makers to enact changes to policy, practice and provision. He has a master’s in Public Policy and studied Politics as an undergrad.

Harry has been a friend of Rosie and Martin's for much of his life, and himself has comorbid neurological disorders. Having faced the trials and tribulations of London's private rented sector, he now resides on a boat enjoying a quieter, sometimes colder life. More than ever though, he is driven by the radical need to improve housing and communities in Britain and was drawn to Satsuma Neighbour as a vision for how we can build better, more inclusive ways of living.

Linda Jordan

Linda was a teacher for 16 years and is now Senior Adviser at the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), a not-for-profit organisation, where she’s been for 13 years. Their vision is to build ‘A world where everyone matters’.

They have programmes covering learning disability and autism, mental health, older people and children and young people, with the latter following pathways of: Employment, Independent Living, Community Inclusion and Health.

Housing plays a big part in Independent Living and Linda has joined the Satsuma Neighbour team to learn more about what NDTi could do to support thinking and action around inclusive housing. The NDTi supports others to think differently so that people can live in inclusive communities with the support they need.

Linda is in her 70s and has been involved in trying to create change and build inclusive communities all her adult life, though her work became more focused on disability when her first child was born with Down’s Syndrome is 1982.

She ran education services for disabled children for 12 years and worked with the Department of Health on the ‘Valuing People’ learning disability strategy.

Pamela Douglas

Pam has a BSc (Hons) in Social Sciences and is a gardener with a City and Guilds (L2) qualification in Horticulture, working for many years for a garden designer in Kensington.

She has a specific interest in community gardening, promoting growing and the benefits of social and therapeutic horticulture and helped set up (and is involved with) a community gardening group on an estate in Peckham.  As someone who has lived in co-operative and council housing, Pam has over twenty years’ experience of resident involvement and believes passionately in the importance of community and access to plants and green spaces.

Pam joined the Satsuma Neighbour working group because she believes that there is a spark of creativity and authenticity in the shared vision of the project that will create a truly unique inclusive community. She would very much like to ensure there are lots of plants involved in the design!

Pam is the parent of an autistic young man and as chair of the Southwark branch of the National Autistic Society, for many years, helped to run support groups for parents and carers, along with organising educational talks and family events.

She currently volunteers with Southwark Independent Voice, Southwark's parent carer forum, working with SEND focus groups and consultations with an aim to help strengthen the voice of families and young people within council SEND services.

Patrick Crockford

Patrick is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, with over 30 years’ experience as a senior accountant in industry, latterly founding and running a telecoms consultancy, which he sold in 2018.  He holds a master's degree from Bayes Business School, formerly Cass, (City, University of London), majoring in Charity Accounting and Financial Management, with specialist modules on Grant-making, Philanthropy and Social Enterprise. 

Patrick is a trustee of Southwark Charities, an alms-house charity, where he is a member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee.  He is also a trustee of St George the Martyr Charity and a trustee and Treasurer of the Surrey Dispensary charity. He currently acts as an independent examiner (pro bono) for two charities in Southwark.

Patrick and his wife have lived in Southwark for 19 years and is a Freeman of the City of London and an active member of the Aldgate Ward Club in the City.  He is tri-lingual: English, Maltese and French, with a good working knowledge of Italian and also some Japanese. 

“Most importantly, my wife and I are god-parents to a young couple who have an autistic daughter, and who are certain to face the worries and anxieties experienced by Rosie and Martin.  It is a privilege to join such a committed campaign group working to realise the vision of Satsuma Neighbour”. 

Desiree Beard

Desiree is a versatile professional with a diverse background, who brings a wealth of experience and expertise to every endeavour. Having initially trained as a lawyer, Desiree has channelled her analytical skills and legal acumen within various sectors, making significant contributions along the way.

Driven by a passion for education and a desire to impart knowledge, Desiree transitioned into the world of academia, and served as an educator teaching at Further Education Colleges throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Inclusivity is not just a concept for Desiree; it is a guiding principle that shapes her actions, choices, and interactions in both her personal and professional life. Desiree joined the committee of Satsuma Neighbour to advocate for change and develop initiatives that foster inclusivity and contribute to the creation of a more equitable and diverse environment for everyone.

Karen ‘Kas’ Pritchard

Kas began her career in IT which progressed into a teaching career.  Kas is passionate that everyone is entitled to an education and should be able to obtain one regardless of their social mobility, social standing or intellect and spent several years working in special community projects teaching those who were excluded from learning.  This led to her working more in philanthropy and she now works for large consultancy company, driving their corporate social responsibility program throughout the UK, Europe and India.

Kas is a trustee of the Mountain Adventure Fund, a charitable initiative designed to give children from deprived backgrounds the opportunity to experience outdoor activities in mountainous environments.  Giving the children the opportunity to try different activities and be inspiried by the what outdoors can offer, influencing both their physical and mental health.

Kas has an adult autistic son and is very aware of the challenges that he has had to overcome or accept over the years, this being the main reason why she joined Satsuma Neighbour. Her strong sense of justice is what drives her to be a part of this very special group of people, with the ambition to create something that the majority of society take for granted.

Richard Bell

Richard has a 1st class honours degree in Civil Engineering and started his career as a Civil Engineer working on a number of diverse Civil construction sites. He then moved into project management and now has over 25-years’ experience managing housing schemes. He has worked with a number of companies, including O’Rourke, ISG plc and the Berkeley Group and in the last eight years has worked as Project Manager and Consultant delivering projects for Jubilee Resource Community Ltd. He was also involved in the setting up of J49 Ltd, a Residential Provider of Social Housing, registered with the government’s Regulator of Social Housing.

J49 is a registered ‘not for profit’ limited company whose vision from the outset has been to enable ‘Creative Community Living’, with the desire to build housing that promotes: (i) Creative environments to thrive in, (ii) a Community context to engage with and (iii) Living in a sustainably affordable way. When hearing about the vision of Satsuma Neighbour, it was obvious to Richard that their aims dovetailed completely with J49’s, in a unique and visionary way, so he decided to join the team.

Richard is married with two grown up children and since moving to London to study for his degree, has remained living in Southeast London for the last 35 years.