Meet our Trustees

Rachel Adam (chair)

Rachel is a freelance mentor and consultant, drawing on thirty years’ experience in the cultural sector, including Director of Museums Northumberland bait (the Creative People and Places programme in South East Northumberland), Director of Juice (Newcastle Gateshead’s festival for children and young people) and Head of Development at the Sage Gateshead (now The Glasshouse). She enjoys building partnerships and collaborating across sectors and has skills and experience as a commissioner, connecting artists with communities. She loves music and her own creative development currently includes having violin lessons with an inspiring teacher.

Angeline Lucas

Angeline is a theatre-passionate arts advocate with 20 years’ of experience working in the creative industries specialising in community participation, engagement and dance education. Being neurodivergent and disabled, Angeline is extremely passionate about inclusion: committed to increasing equality of opportunity within the arts and promoting accessible high-standard cultural experiences for all. She is an RSA Fellow and the founder of the award-winning North East Dance Co-operative.

The Queen’s Hall played a pivotal role in nurturing Angeline’s belief that a career in the arts was a possible for her and is honoured to serve as a Trustee.

Garry Lyons

Garry Lyons is an award-winning playwright, scriptwriter and producer.  He has written for the National Theatre, playhouses all over the UK, and extensively for television and radio.  He has recently moved to Hexham after 15 years as director of the masters programme in Writing for Performance and Publication at the University of Leeds, which he designed and launched in 2006. His broadcast work has been seen in more than 60 countries, and he has taught and lectured on scriptwriting in India, China, Australia, New Zealand and various countries in Europe.  In 2013 he was a Humanities Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin.

Kathryn Nicholson

Kathryn is a chartered accountant with almost 20 years’ experience of managing business strategy, management accounts, HR and company secretarial duties. She has also held a wide range of voluntary roles - Secretary with The Hearth in Horsley for seven years, a Director of Go Local Food, and Chair of the Friends of Heddon School.  

Lynn Turner

Lynn has had a 30 year career in culture and tourism in Northumberland. She worked for both Tynedale and Northumberland County Councils developing and providing opportunities for people to engage in arts, heritage, tourism and leisure activities. More recently, as Director of Kielder Water & Forest Park Development Trust, Lynn worked with partners to deliver economic, social and wellbeing benefits through culture and tourism.

She has a long association with Queens Hall Arts and was instrumental in the initial setting up of the charity.

Tony Newton

Tony has a life sciences background, a Doctorate from Durham University, and is a Sloan Fellow of the London Business School. Tony’s writing has appeared in The Times and The Independent. He has broadcast for the BBC and contributed to exhibitions at London’s Science Museum. He has held many governance roles including Chair of Tynedale Talking Newspaper.

He has been a public governor of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and sat as an Expert Member on Newcastle & North Tyneside Research Ethics Committee. Interests include fishing and playing trumpet in the Tyne Valley Big Band and Prudhoe Community Band.

Suzanne Fairless Aitken

Suzanne Fairless-Aitken was recently elected as Northumberland County Councillor & Hexham Town Councillor for the LibDems. She works for international poetry publisher, Bloodaxe Books, and also runs her own editing company, Swift Permissions. In her murky past she has been a school governor, activist and campaigner for education, the Arts green issues, anti-austerity and anti-corruption. I believe passionately in cultural regeneration and inclusive arts for all.

She writes in any spare time she can find.

Addison Keen

Addison Keen is an actor and film producer who gained his entry into acting through the Queen's Hall's own Youth Theatre. From there, he has gone on to work with a wide selection of different theatre and film production companies across the North East region, predominantly working with start-up filmmakers. Addison studied Film Practices at Newcastle University, focusing on studies of non-fiction documentaries in which he produced a film centered on the queer-friendly nightlife of Newcastle upon Tyne as part of his final year project.

Ellen Armstrong

Ellen is a theatre PhD candidate at the Guildford School of Acting where she is completing her doctoral thesis on British Sign Language interpreted musical theatre. Her publications and conference papers have explored areas such as accessible theatre pedagogy, disability representation in theatre and sign language interpreted performance. As a practitioner, Ellen worked for several years as a performer before being drawn into the wider world of stagecraft. She now combines her practical experience and academic expertise in her role as a dramaturg and accessibility consultant supporting creatives and producers in developing new work.  

Si Beckwith

Si is a stand-up comedian, writer, podcaster and freelance arts worker from Newcastle Upon Tyne. As a comedian he performs regularly up and down the country and has tried to carve out as many opportunities close to home as he can. Si is driven to make the North East cultural landscape as resilient and creative as possible. He works also as an audio producer as well as in freelance arts marketing and audience engagement roles on a project-by-project basis with organisations such as The Cultural Spring in Sunderland and South Tyneside.

Si is particularly passionate about access to arts and culture. Being working class and growing up in Hebburn, he often never felt like arts or culture were for him, and he sees tackling barriers in accessing the arts as vital. He is thrilled to join the Queen’s Hall board as a trustee and is excited to play a part in helping continue the great work that’s already been done and to get to know Hexham even more with every visit.