Action Porty | Bellfield

ACTION PORTY BOARD AND STAFF

Meet the team

Justin Kenrick

**Chair of Action Porty**
**(also on Bellfield Ops Board)**
Supports forest peoples in Africa to retain or regain their community lands - with the Forest Peoples Programme. Supports community assembly processes in Scotland and elsewhere - with Grassroots to Global. Longtime peace and climate activist. Anthropologist. Portobello resident since 1998. Brief bio in Porty Reporter (page 2).
*justin@actionporty.com or (more swiftly) justinkenrick@yahoo.co.uk*

Jennifer Elliot

**Action Porty Board Member**
Jennifer changed career recently and after more than 20 years in IT sales, now works happily as a carer for the elderly. That, plus Action Porty and a young family keep her busy. Jennifer has a great knowledge of many local groups and is a Portobello resident. Brief bio in Porty Reporter (page 2)
*jennifer@actionporty.com*

Al Reid

**Bellfield Ops Board Member**
Public servant involved in the research and scrutiny of a broad range of environment and sustainable development issues, with a longstanding interest in land reform. A Porty resident since 2010, in his spare time he teaches yoga, and loves spending time with his family by the seaside. Joined Board Jan 2018.
*al@actionporty.com*

Morag Donaldson

**Bellfield Ops Board Member**
Retired former Local Government Officer working in Benefits and Council Tax. Active member of local church congregation and involved in the Local Council of Churches. Resident in Portobello for 65 years.
*morag@actionporty.com*

John Muir

**Treasurer of Action Porty**
John is originally from Perthshire and has lived in Portobello for the last ten years with his wife and two children. He is a data analyst currently leading a team in a well-known UK bank. When he is not obsessing over data, he is obsessing over his football team and attending Scotland matches at home, and occasionally abroad. Time with family is most often spent walking their dog, Selkie, or exploring lochs, forests, islands and music festivals in their campervan.
***john@actionporty.com***

**Alison Jeffrey Thom**

**Action Porty Volunteer Co-ordinator**
One of Alison's favourite jobs was her first graduate job, coordinating a project for refugee volunteers in Glasgow (in the mid 2000s) and she is delighted to join Action Porty in a similar role.

Inbetween times she has worked in international development, training, community education, employability projects and has done a lot of volunteering.

Alison describes herself as a pseudo-resident of Portobello as she spends most of her free time here. She can frequently be found on the prom and the beach, with her young son and/or her sailing boat.
***alison@actionporty.com***

Ian Cooke

**Secretary of Action Porty**
**(also on Bellfield Ops Board)**
Before retiring in 2020, Ian was Director of Development Trusts Association Scotland, a post he held for over 10 years. Prior to that he held various community-based posts in regeneration. Ian was a member of the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Review Group and has served on a range of boards of community organisations. He has been a Portobello resident for 34 years, and also grew up in the Portobello area.
*ian@actionporty.com*

**Kyrsta Macdonald-Scott**

**Bellfield Ops Board member**
Physiotherapist. Passionate about accessibility for all – which is reflected in personal and professional experience.
Life-long Porty resident who is involved in a range of Portobello-based activities.
***kyrsta@actionporty.com***

Cathy Maclean

**Board Member Board Member**
Passionate about community ownership. Worked at the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations for many years. Freelance since 2005, in management roles (CKUK, Scottish Autism) and IT implementations involving e-procurement and training projects in Africa. “I have worked with all sorts of voluntary organisations, and like Action Porty best.”
*cathy@actionporty.com*

Gail Stark

**Bellfield Administrator**
Gail has a long career in a retail environment and then many years in Property & Estate Administration at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).
“I am delighted to join the fantastic team at Bellfield. It is so exciting to see an old building brought back to life and being used by the Local Community for all sorts of activities”.
When not working or being kept busy with her two teenage boys and their sporting activities, she likes to travel and enjoy good food with her husband.
***gail@bellfield.scot***

David COOPER

Action Porty Board member

David is active in the Community Fridge sub group, and is one of their two reps on the Action Porty Board.

He is a self employed tradesmen with 40 years experience. He is a founder member of a local Portobello housing cooperative that has been running since 1984. More recently he has been part of a successful collective self-build project which created 4 new flats built to Passivhaus standards in the heart of Portobello.

ANNE BUDO

Action Porty Board member

Anne is one of the two Community Fridge reps on the Action Porty Board, and participated in the foundation of the fridge project.

Anne has lived in Portobello since 1999. She is Belgian but really enjoys her life here in Edinburgh/ Scotland. She enjoys reading, late medieval music and dark chocolate. She joined the Action Porty board two year ago to represent Portobello Community Fridge where she volunteers.