Meet the Team

Lucie began her career as a secondary school teacher firstly in London and later in Johannesburg. In 1986, when Soweto schools had been closed by the government due to disruptions in the previous year, Lucie opened up a small school in a disused warehouse preparing students for their state examinations which grew into the top performing inner-city St Enda’s Secondary School. Lucie later joined the Gauteng Department of Education in 1997 as Deputy Director, before returning to the UK and retiring from the University of Bath in 2014. 

Vicky Harris, a lawyer, is currently Head of Legal at Clarivate Analytics. Vicky has extensive legal experience with particular expertise in Commercial Contracts and Mergers & Acquisitions.  Vicky spent 4 months teaching at a school in Malawi in 2004 and travelled through Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya. This brought about a love for Africa and its people, and she joined the Bishop Simeon Trust to help support its programmes in South Africa. 

Simeon is the Head of Operations for En:Able Communities, a charity developing communities in Yorkshire and Humberside, with 25 years’ experience of working in local government. Simeon has a close personal family connection to the Trust, having been named after Bishop Simeon Nkoane as his parents were very close friends. In his gap year in 1988 he travelled to South Africa to work as a personal assistant to Bishop Simeon Nkoane.  Simeon retains a passion for our work and the needs of children in South Africa.  

Michael is Director of the Barons Court Project, a homelessness and mental health charity in London. He has worked in the 3rd sector throughout his career, including a spell working in South Africa which he thinks of as his second home. 

Jan’s background is in education, ranging from project-managing cross-phase learning programmes to postgraduate teacher training, including many years’ experience of secondary school teaching and leadership. In 1980 she established the Slough and Windsor Anti-Apartheid Group and in 1995 she set up an educational exchange programme between a group of schools in the Thames Valley, UK, and a consortium of schools in the Cape Flats townships in South Africa. From this was born the Hlanganani Learning Partnership to encourage collaborative learning between teachers and learners in SA and the UK; its focus is on global citizenship education, human rights and the development of young leaders in the community. 

Marie Heyes was a Director of the Redbush Tea Company, and during her 18 years with the company she was instrumental in raising funds and awareness both for the Kalahari San, but also working with 2 AIDS projects in South African townships. Marie is part of the Bishop Simeon Trust’s Communications working group, advising on ways to better promote the Trust and to raise awareness about life for young people in South Africa. She was presented with the BITC International Award by HRH Prince Charles for their work supporting the Bushmen in 2012. 

Sarah has been involved with the Bishop Simeon Trust since 1994 when students visited her local church in Devon. She was so inspired by these young people from very troubled townships in and around Johannesburg that she committed to supporting them however she could from the UK.  Over the subsequent years Sarah has been involved in virtually every area of the Trust's work in the UK and South Africa and has spent many years fundraising with local community groups. Being involved with the Bishop Simeon Trust has had a profound effect on Sarah and her family and she was very honoured to be asked to be a Trustee in 2014.  

Isla MacRae worked with the Bishop Simeon Trust as a Fundraising & Communications Assistant before moving on to commence her PhD at the University of Sheffield in 2021, but has continued her great commitment to our work as a Trustee. Prior to joining the Trust Isla completed an MA in Sociology at the University of Manchester and had spent time living and studdying at the Universiteit van Amsterdam in the Netherlands.