Who We Are

CPsychol. AFBRsS, is a retired psychologist with experience in the public and voluntary sector and lives on Beck Road.  She has a strong interest in supporting and creating local community organisations. Her experience in the voluntary sector includes helping to establish a Counselling Centre and Women’s Rape Crisis Centre and serving as Chair of the Board of Governors of St Austell College. Since moving to Hackney, she has been Secretary of Hackney Living Streets, Chair of the Association of Beck Road Residents and Co-founder of the Open House London event, By Beck Road 19, which took place in Beck Road.

A resident of Beck Road since 2018, Heather has family roots in Hackney and Bethnal Green dating back to the arrival of Huguenot weavers in London’s East End.

Heather studied Fine Art and maintained an artistic practice alongside graphic design, giving her first-hand experience of the needs of working artists and makers. Her varied career has included assisting artist Liliane Lijn, exhibiting in London and Europe, and designing for cultural, commercial and charitable organisations. She is currently a Senior Graphic Designer at the V&A, leading creative direction for exhibition and brand design across the museum’s sites, programmes and initiatives.

A beneficiary of the Prince's Youth Business Trust, Derec began as a shopkeeper in the 1990s and created the local trade group that transitioned the army garrison location into a town. Known as a practical "fixer", he founded Guardians of the Arches to support railway property tenants nationally after disputes escalated from 2016. Ten years of work with portfolio landlords and SME tenants led him to establish www.ascoten.org.uk in 2026.
 

Seb studied Politics, Psychology, Sociology & International Studies at the University of Cambridge who on leaving university worked in politics. He ran political campaigns and served as researcher to the then Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. Leaving politics, he is now a consultant working in education and the voluntary sector where he has a strong interest in and commitment to social justice and inclusion. 

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Diddy  runs a café/bar on the corner of Beck Road and Mare Street with an emphasis on art and design. Following a career in hospitality and television, her business and wider projects focus on fostering connections within the community.

Her work has included co-curating exhibitions and community art projects involving up to 250 participants, running bars for outside events and organising large-scale community events across Hackney. She also provides space and support for smaller local projects, from podcasts and poetry readings to music videos and television filming.

Simon is a long-term Hackney resident and ceramic artist. Before taking early retirement in 2022, Simon worked with children and young adults with autism and learning difficulties. He was Headteacher of Spa School Bermondsey for 16 years. He was also founder and CEO of Spa Education Trust, and a founder of Spa School Camberwell and also The Park College in Kennington. Simon is very interested in helping contribute to the development of the arts and the wider community in Hackney.
 

Tere was born in Hackney, as were her mother and grandmother, giving her family a longstanding connection to the borough. She studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, before spending eight years working in contemporary art galleries in Mayfair.

She later worked in corporate design research, contributing to British Airways’ international identity programme and sourcing artists internationally. Over the past three decades, Tere has worked across London and Barcelona in administration, project coordination and creative business development. Alongside her own creative practice, she runs art, cooking and cultural workshops and brings extensive experience in visual arts and community engagement to LCN