Meet the Team

Meet our Volunteers, Coaches, Athlete Reps & Trustees

Our Volunteers

Kate Busfield

Hi, I’m Kate, and I am a volunteer with Plymouth Mayflower Specials.

I have worked as the Professional Assistant to the Lord Mayor of Plymouth since 2006 and had regular contact with the group via my role.

I had always wanted to start volunteering in some capacity and together with my husband, Stuart, we attended our first session and never looked back.

Being part of such a great group has made me realise first-hand the power of volunteering and how we can all help to build a more inclusive and thriving community. I’ve also made some wonderful new friends who have welcomed me and greet me with smiles and laughter each week – a fab way to spend and give some time.

Ray Johns

I’m Ray Johns. I retired in May 2022 after working with adults with learning disabilities. I currently volunteer with Scope at the Life Centre and when the Mayflower Special Games were resurrected I happily got involved.

Volunteering at the YMCA seemed to be the logical next choice.

Stuart Busfield

Hi, I’m Stu, and I am volunteering with Plymouth Mayflower Specials.

I am a Senior Supply Chain Professional and have been heavily involved with the Rugby community all my life.

Having played and coached rugby for many years this was a fantastic opportunity to utilise those skills and experiences whilst making a difference to the local community.

Having had the influence of great coaches as a young man (including Alan.S.) I have realised what a difference they made to my life. Doing the same for others in such an amazing environment was a no brainer for me.

Sue Johns

I’m Sue Johns, 66 years old & married.

After retiring in May 2022 I wanted to do something different so I volunteered for the Plymouth Mayflower Specials. I loved supporting them and decided to do some more so I also volunteer at the YMCA.

I know a lot of the people as I play disabled bowls with them at the Life Centre.

Jackie Carter

I am now retired after almost 20 years of working in the care sector as a Regional Manager. My role involved overseeing domiciliary care and supported living services that provided care and support for adults with learning disabilities and mental health needs.

Married with grown up children and grandchildren I enjoy spending time with family as well as travelling, especially to Australia where our son and family live.

I am a member of Plymouth Mayflower Rotary Club having joined 25 years ago as a founder member and held a number of chair positions over the years including club president.

My previous voluntary experiences includes working within the education sector as a school governor and Trustee of Special Families Trust a charity providing help and support to families of children with physical disabilities.

Plymouth Mayflower Specials is now an extension to my existing involvement with the sports activities of members of the club and I look forward to being involved with future development.

Mike Tozer

I was the founder and CEO of Yourway, an organisation that supports people with intellectual disabilities to live the life they choose. Until 2018 I was responsible for all of the company’s operations, including end-to-end management of Yourway services. Currently I have a key role in working together with local partners to co-produce innovative new services for customers.

Prior to my involvement with Yourway I worked in senior management roles within the adult social care sector in Plymouth and have extensive experience in management consultation, team building, strategic implementation, and company collaboration.

I am a passionate believer in inclusive sports and the benefits it brings to people’s health & wellbeing and reducing social isolation.

Lee Fergusson

I am a retired Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Supply Officer, and more recently an NHS acute care, burns and Sarcoma administrator who caught the travel bug aged 16 when my family emigrated to Australia.

I have lived and worked in four countries (UK, Australia, USA and China) and cannot say no to a volunteering opportunity. I was born and raised in Sussex but the Navy brought me to Plymouth in 1976 and I have been here on and off ever since.

After an amazing experience volunteering at the London 2012 Paralympics, I was introduced to Special Olympics Plymouth and District, and am still with them. In 2019-20 I was Volunteer Co-ordinator for the sadly cancelled Mayflower 400 Commemorative Games and have been part of the team that in 2021 built Plymouth Mayflower Specials as the legacy of those games.

I am now honoured to be treasurer of the charity and look forward to watching Plymouth Mayflower Specials grow and become a major resource for people in the intellectual disability community in the Plymouth area.

Our Trustees

Tom Lavis

Hello, my name is Tom Lavis and It gives me great pleasure to serve as a member of the Plymouth Mayflower Specials Board. I’ve been working in the charitable sector for over 25 years, most recently as the CEO of YMCA Plymouth and Discovery College, based in Honicknowle, Plymouth. This role has allowed me to establish great connections within the business community, serving as a member of the Plymouth Area Business Council (PABC) and Devon and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce.

In addition, I was a former Headteacher at Discovery College for 10-years, predominately focusing on Post-16 community education. Alongside this role, I became the Chair of Manadon Vale Primary School, a position I still hold to this day and thoroughly enjoy.

More recently, I’ve focused my efforts on a range of funding streams, successfully securing over one million pounds worth of grants to improve YMCA Plymouth’s facility, allowing us to better support the local community’s needs, inclusive of forming the new partnership between YMCA Plymouth and the Plymouth Mayflower Specials.

Hopefully my background demonstrates my commitment to Plymouth, our local community and the people within it. Therefore, I welcome this next challenge as a Trustee of the Plymouth Mayflower Specials . I look forward to supporting the Board, parents, carers and most importantly the athletes of this great organisation.

Maureen Stockdale

I’m Maureen Stockdale and I am a Trustee for Plymouth Mayflower Specials. Married to Alan for 54 years, I have two sons and three grandchildren and two dogs. I went to DHS for girls and worked for SWEB and then the NHS.

I first became involved with disability sport in 2009 while attending the Special Olympics Summer Games in Leicester. The courage commitment and dedication to their sport shown by the athletes we met inspired Alan and I to start Special Olympic Plymouth and District in 2011.

Through sport so much can be achieved friendships personal potential combat isolation and improve mental health. I am honoured to be part of the Plymouth Mayflower Specials and to help facilitate these amazing people to reach their goals.

Alan Stockdale

Hi, my name is Alan Stockdale, married to Maureen and I am proud to be the Chair of Trustees for Plymouth Mayflower Specials and co-founder of Special Olympics Plymouth & District.

Was employed as the Nuclear Standards Manager in Devonport Royal Dockyard, I am now retired and co-founder of Special Olympics Plymouth & District and one of the founders of The Plymouth Mayflower Specials.

Why I do it, because I want to change attitudes towards people with Intellectual Disabilities and provide opportunities to achieve their potential and dreams through sport.

Kate Bamforth

I am married with two grown up children and I have been a volunteer for the Plymouth Mayflower Specials /Special Olympics, Plymouth and District for over ten years, my main role within the club has been as the Safeguarding and Welfare Officer.

I trained as a Learning Disability Nurse in 1984 and also qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1986. I spent some years working within institutional hospitals and then was involved in supporting people to move out into smaller group home settings where they were able to live more independent fulfilled lives.

Subsequently I have worked in a variety of settings, including community general hospitals, managing group homes and as a Practice Nurse in a GP surgery, before setting up the Learning Disability Liaison Service at Derriford Hospital in 2009, then working within the service until 2019 when I then set up a similar service in Derriford for Autistic people without a Learning Disability, developing that until I retired from the NHS in 2022.

Building a relationship with the athletes on club nights and seeing them when well, was of great benefit to both them and myself if they were unfortunate enough to need to visit the hospital.

I continue to be involved in training in regards to Learning Disability Awareness and Understanding Autism, and am passionate about providing people with the opportunity to enhance their health, (both physical and mental), and fitness through sporting activities. I do my best to keep myself fit and well through performance training in a gym, horse-riding, cycling and walking.

Over the span of my career I feel incredibly privileged to have seen such a change in circumstances for individuals who have a Learning Disability, from Institutions to Independence, and to know that I played a small part in enabling that process.

The Plymouth Mayflower Specials allows me to continue to facilitate individuals with a Learning Disability to live life to the fullest, it’s an absolute gift!