Meet the team

We have a lovely team of approximately 75 staff on site, in the offices and in our Charity Shops around the area. Our teams are Animal Care, Behaviour, Communications, Facilities, People, Finance, Fundraising, Rehoming, Trading and Veterinary.

 

Our Senior Leadership Team

Our Senior Leadership Team make our strategic vision a reality, working across the organisation with our BCDH colleagues to ensure the best outcomes for cats and dogs in need. 

Rachel Jones
Chief Executive

The CEO position was introduced at BCDH in 2020 when Rachel took up the post after successfully leading BCDH’s Fundraising and Communications team. Rachel is passionate about our people, the animals we care for and expanding our reach to help pet owners in crisis. Rachel currently has 2 BCDH rescue dogs.

Angela Chapman
Head of People & Facillities

Ange and her team keep BCDH running tackling everything people related, site related and much in between. Ange keeps our team safe, our people well cared for and our visitors welcomed! Ange has 2 rescue dogs and tortoises.

Sara Gallagher
Head of Finance

Sara loves numbers and immersing herself in a complicated financial s/sheet! Sara is a chartered certified accountant and is dedicated to ensuring good financial management to guarantee a sustainable future for the charity. Sara loves her dogs and horses and is often found up a mountain or in a lake.

Julie Stone
Head of Animal Operations

Julie has a wealth of experience working in the animal rescue sector having been responsible for the success of many rescue and rehoming centres. Julie is passionate about animal welfare, supporting her team to achieve their best and developing future talent in animal welfare. Julie has lived with a variety of dogs both very big and small but currently has Dachshund Sybil, who rules the roost.

Nathan Fuller
Head of Fundraising and Trading

Nathan looks after our fundraising and trading teams who support our amazing fundraisers and donors. Nathan is passionate about education and outreach, working to stop cats and dogs needing the home and developing a generation of good pet owners. He has a rescue dog called Bones, who takes up more of the sofa than any human being.

Mark Simpson
Head of Communications & Marketing

Mark and his team keep everyone up to date with the comings and goings at Bath Cats and Dogs Home, encouraging potential adopters to come forward, and spreading the word about the charity's transformational work. Mark has one very talkative cat, called Kiki, and is on the lookout for dog who'd be happy to join the family.

 

Our Board of Trustees

We are hugely grateful to our board of trustees, who each give thier time to BCDH as volunteers. They take legal responsibility for the charity and ensure that BCDH is well run, so we can do the best for cats and dogs in our region, now and in the future.

Deborah Gogarty
Chair

Debs has been an RSPCA supporter for around 40 years, volunteering at Stubbington Ark in Hampshire back in the 1980s. About 10 years ago she became a Trustee of the Wiltshire-Mid branch, where she spent three years as their Chair. She became a Trustee of Bath Cats and Dogs Home in 2018, because she wanted more hands-on experience of rehabilitating animals. And she has been our Chair for the last three years. 

Debs shares her home with five rescue dogs - Alfie, Chloe, Kizzie, Reggie and Ruby - who are all a bit long in the tooth now! But they are trumped by Betty The Cat who recently celebrated her 20th birthday.

Sue Pankhurst
Treasurer

Sue has strong links to Bath Cats and Dogs Home having supported the charity in many ways over the years: volunteering as a dog walker, raising funds by running the London Marathon, and adopting three cats. 

Sue has been a Trustee and our Treasurer since 2021. She is a qualified accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. Having worked within a range of industries in her early career, Sue now specialises in charity finance. She has worked in the lead finance role for several charities and has over ten years’ experience within the charity sector.

Richard Deller
Secretary

Over the years, Richard has adopted seven fantastic cats from Bath Cats and Dogs Home. Feeling that he still had more to offer the charity, he became a Trustee in 2023 and kindly fulfils the role of Secretary to the Board of Trustees.

He is semi-retired, having worked in the construction industry for over 35 years, as a contracts and disputes consultant and arbitrator.

Michelle Grima

Michelle worked with pets throughout her school and university days, and, once she started her professional career in corporate law, she felt like something was missing.

She says her family benefited hugely from the company of many adopted animals over the years, and so volunteering as a Trustee at Bath Cats and Dogs Home, where she can use her professional skills for a cause she is passionate about, was an obvious choice. 

She joined the board of Trustees at BCDH in June 2023 and was amazed by the dedicated and talented team here. Her gorgeous poodle cross, Whiskey, was adopted at 8 years old, and although he's sometimes a little cranky, she wouldn't want him any other way!  

Kirsty Iles

When Kirsty was seven she had a rescue tortoiseshell cat, called Shelly, who happily tolerated her playing ‘dress up’ and looked great in her neon pink sunglasses. Since then, Kirsty has shared her home with several cats and dogs, many of them rescues. Currently has a tuxedo cat called Enya, who she adopted from Bath Cats and Dogs Home. 

In her professional life, Kirsty is responsible for HR and volunteering for another charity. As Enya is now aging, Kirsty wanted to do something to give back to the charity that had helped her and Enya to find each other. She has been a Trustee since 2022.

Nathalie Dowgray

Nathalie is Head of the International Society of Feline Medicine, at the charity International Cat Care. She became a Bath Cats and Dogs Home Trustee in 2024 in order to put her animal welfare and veterinary experience to use helping animals in the local community. 

She has a long history with Bath Cats and Dogs Home, having worked as a vet in the local area many years ago.

Nathalie currently has two cats, Tommy and Laz, who she was initially fostering back in 2020 when Covid struck and, as a result of the long lockdowns, they became her pets.

Stuart Donnelly

Stuart was first elected as a Trustee in 2023, and he sits on the Finance, Audit and Risk sub-committee of the Board. In his professional life he is a Chartered Public Finance Accountant and currently works for Reading Borough Council, where he has responsibility for financial planning and strategy, budget monitoring, business partnering and treasury management. 

Stuart lives in Staverton, Wiltshire with his wife and four cats: Rocky, Merlin, Oreo and Dakota; the latter of whom was rescued from a farm as an abandoned kitten. He probably wouldn’t need much persuading to have even more cats running about the house. Stuart is also the Treasurer for the Chippenham and Bath Football League.

Vanessa LaMaire

Vanessa became a Trustee of Bath Cats and Dogs Home in June 2023. She is passionate about animal welfare and wanted to get involved and use her HR background to support and help the charity. 

Vanessa loves dogs in particular and is pictured here with Charlie, her English springer spaniel.

Vicki Smith

Vicki has a huge passion for animal welfare and admiration for those who work tirelessly to support it.  She joined us as a Trustee in 2018, eager to offer her strategic skills in Brand, Marketing and Communication to help support and drive forward the vision of the charity. 

Vicki says she’s probably more of a dog person and, whilst she currently doesn’t own any pets, she shared her life formerly with her beloved Bear, a hugely loyal German shepherd, Lisa the black lab plus Scampi and Scuffle - rabbit, and headstrong guinea pig!