National Executive

The National Executive Committee is made up of a number of willing volunteers, all of whom are members of the Federation and who wish to be involved at a national level, often in addition to active membership of a local group. The committee meets 4 times a year. If you wish to attend as an observer, please let us know by emailing info@fcbg.org.uk at least two weeks in advance.

Chair      Diane Gaunt (Dudley CBG)
Vice Chair   Tricia Adams (Northamptonshire CBG)
National Secretary    Anne Bradley (Plymouth CBG)
Treasurer    Jane Etheridge (Oxted CBG)

Children’s Book Award Coordinator    Sarah Stuffins (Reading CBG)
Conference programme    Ros Bartlett (Dudley CBG)
Group Liaison Officer and Child Protection Officer   Hilarie Medler (Plymouth CBG)
Membership Secretary   Rosie Pike (Herts CBG)
National Share-A-Story Month   Erin Hamilton (Ipswich CBG)
National Non-Fiction November   Lizzie Hall
Newsletter and Minutes Secretary   Fiona Brady (Harrogate CBG)
Publicity   Annie Everall
Blog   Samantha Thomas (Ipswich CBG)

Chair Diane Gaunt (Dudley CBG)

Diane’s background is in secondary English teaching, teacher training and school improvement. She edited our newsletter for a number of years; as Chair she oversees the management of the national executive committee and strategy.

Vice Chair   Tricia Adams (Northamptonshire CBG)

Tricia was a career librarian from public to government to school and school library services libraries before being appointed as Director of the School Library Association from which she has now retired.

As Vice Chair she is deputises for the Chair and is currently seeking sponsorship to enable the Federation to continue its valuable initiatives.

National Secretary    Anne Bradley (Plymouth CBG)

Having spent many years as a teacher, teacher trainer and researcher into children’s reading enjoyment, Anne has recently retired to South Wales from where she distributes the Newsletter to groups and individual and professional members. She will answer general queries about the Federation.

Children’s Book Award Coordinator    Sarah Stuffins (Reading CBG)

Sarah left the BBC in 2018 after working for them for over 30 years, first as a journalist and latterly in business development. She now works as a freelance cultural events manager.

Sarah has been on the Executive since 2008, in which time she has filled a number of roles including Chair. As Children’s Book Award Coordinator, Sarah is responsible for all elements of the award, from encouraging voting through to organising the annual awards ceremony, working with local groups, publishers and sponsors.

Group Liaison Officer and Child Protection Officer   Hilarie Medler (Plymouth CBG)

Since retiring from full-time teaching, Hilarie has been able to involve herself in organising book events for children, in and out of school, and meeting others who are equally enthusiastic about books and the role they can play in people’s lives.

As Group Liaison Officer she engages with the groups around the country, offering ideas and support.  If you are thinking of setting up a new group in your area, Hilarie will be your first port of call.

Membership Secretary   Rosie Pike (Herts CBG)

A former school librarian, Rosie deals with all the membership issues for FCBG and is responsible for maintaining the membership database and sending out renewals and invoices for this.

She is also responsible for sending out UpdaTED to groups and members.

 National Non-Fiction November   Lizzie Hall

Lizzie Hall is the Prep School Librarian and Festival of Literature Coordinator at Bishop’s Stortford College and writes a weekly book column for The Bishop’s Stortford Independent. She is overseeing the National Non-Fiction November initiative.  She curates the resources, offers and competitions that are arranged for the event in November every year, and will answer any queries that may arise around this initiative.

National Share-A-Story Month and Social Media     Erin Hamilton (Ipswich CBG)

Erin is a former primary school teacher, turned librarian and Reading Advocate.  Erin spends inordinate amounts of time on her book blog and twitter, when she is not reading, of course.  National Share a Story Month will be organised by Erin from 2021. Erin is also the FCBG Social Media Manager.

Newsletter and Minutes Secretary   Fiona Brady (Harrogate CBG)

Having worked as a School Librarian for over 20 years, Fiona is now retired but is Chair of Harrogate Children’s Book Group and Testing Coordinator for their Children’s Book Award panel.  As national minutes secretary she records all decisions taken at executive meetings and any actions these generate.

As newsletter editor, she manages the publication of each edition, commissioning, collating and liaising with the printers.

Publicity   Annie Everall

Annie is a former leader of library services for children, young people and schools and currently runs her own business linking authors with audiences and promoting books and reading.  As publicity coordinator, she manages press releases and oversees our publicity, PR and marketing strategy.

Website Manager   Samantha Thomas (Ipswich CBG)

Sam works as a primary school librarian with prior experience working in another primary school as a volunteer library assistant and parent that would listen to children read. She is also a blogger advocating children’s literature.

Sam manages our blog programme and regularly updates our website.