Meet the team

Seven people make up the Newark Carnival 2008 committee from a range of local arts, media and education organisations with a wealth of experience of different areas of event management. To contact any of the people below, please click here.

Chairperson

Rachel Brown

Rachel, who was born and bred in Newark, is currently Marketing Director for the Advertiser Group of Newspapers. Having organised many of Newark's favourite events such as Miss Newark,

Newark Business and Retail Awards, Wedding Fairs and many more, she has a wealth of event management and marketing experience. She has recently featured on a 10-minute 'Liveable Communities' documentary on Newark, organised by Newark Town Council. Rachel is this year's elected Chairperson for the Carnival committee.

Company Secretary

June Rowlands

Born in Nottingham, June lived and worked in Liverpool, London, Bedfordshire, Dubai, Surrey and Lincoln before moving back to Nottinghamshire and finally to Newark. As well as working full-time in events, marketing and PR, June has been a member of Newark Business Club and Women in Newark since they both began, and a presenter with Newark’s Boundary Sound since it first went on air in 2004. When she isn’t working, broadcasting or helping to organise Newark Carnival, she spends her time shopping, reading, shopping, renovating her Victorian terraced house in what the estate agents call “the fashionable London Road area of Newark,” and more shopping! “Newark’s a great place to live and work” says June. “Being involved in the local community is really rewarding and I’ve made lots of good friends. I love the fact that, wherever I go, I meet people I know – even if it does mean I can never set foot out of my house without making sure I’ve got the full slap on!”

Treasurer

Elaine Ellison

Elaine is a partner in Newark-based Chartered Accountancy firm Malcolm Ellison FCA and runs it with her husband, Malcolm. She is also the founder Chair of Newark Business Club and current Chair of Women in Newark - an organisation set up to help businesswomen in the Newark area. As an artist working with stained glass and other artistic forms, Elaine became involved in the 2007 Newark Carnival on its fringes. Elaine said: "I was so taken aback by the people of Newark and the way they supported the 2007 carnival that I wanted to join the management team and use my exceptional organisational expertise to make the 2008 event bigger and better than ever."

Marketing Director

Stuart Graham

Stuart was born in Ealing, London and moved to Nottinghamshire after he left school. He studied English Language and Law at Grantham College, Lincolnshire. Stuart then moved to New Zealand where he worked for the Yellow Pages group, having spent time in Hong Kong, California, Nevada and Arizona. He has seen a lot of the world, and says travelling is one of his favourite things. "I've travelled to some of the most interesting and dangerous places there are," Stuart said.

His travels have seen him in the Caribbean, Europe, Israel, Egypt, the Palestinian territories and even Syria. On his return from New Zealand, he was Head of News at local radio station Boundary Sound, where he had been a presenter for three years. After a year working for the Newark

Advertiser as a writer and designer, Stuart is now Managing Director of Wet Paint Creative and

editor of Life&Style Magazine.

Artistic Director

Carolyn Drury

Carolyn was trained as an actress at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and now works as a professional adjudicator and director as well as running her company, Nearly Instant Theatre Session. As an expert in raising achievement through creative role-play, Carolyn not only delivers workshops in schools and colleges but has recently been working in Lincolnshire factories teaching spoken English to migrant workers and training in multicultural diversity to managers and supervisors for the East Midlands Food and Drink forum. This work led to an Anglo-Portuguese Festival which she produced at a theatre in Grantham. Carolyn is also chair of Newark Arts Forum; who assisted the committee in the organisation of last year's carnival. Carolyn says: "Last year was such a tremendous success, I am looking forward to Carnival 2008."

Logistics Director

Andrew Jackson

Born in Newark hospital in the early 1960s, Andy lived at Clifton House before moving, with his parents, to Greenway on Hawtonville where they spent their remaining years. His education began at Christ Church on Victoria Street and then Hawtonville Junior, Cardinal Hinsley and All Saints in Mansfield. Andy was in the 6th Newark scouts starting at Cubs and progressing to Sea Scouts then Ventures before realising his ambition to join the Royal Navy where he served for almost 8 years. Andy played football for the now defunct Newark Squires - for which his dad was the manager - and he also had many happy years with The Old Kings Arms as part of the legendary Fat Back Four! Today, Andy still lives in Newark and still DJs, but specialises in Northern and Modern Soul, '80s and corporate nights. He has been married for 22 years and has one daughter. Having worked on a number of local radio stations in other areas, he felt that Newark deserved its own station and so formed Boundary Sound. Andy said: "By being on the Carnival committee, I feel I am giving something back to the area I grew up in and still regard as the friendliest town in the world."

Community Liaison Officer

Howard Newport

Howard's biography will appear here soon.