The Charity has five Trustees:
Josie Whiteley – Chair of Trustees
Josie worked with Rich T at Barnsley College and was his line manager for a number of years when he was Head of Music and Performing Arts and she was Director of Arts for the College. Working with their talented and committed colleagues they gained a Grade 1 in Ofsted and for a time held the prestigious position of being one of the best Colleges in the country.
A keen musician – she started learning the piano at the age of six – and an enthusiastic (although not particularly talented!) dancer she believes in the power of the Arts to inspire. Just like Richard Tolson she strongly believes in their importance in a rounded education.
“Rich was a fantastic team member and a great manager,” said Josie, “and during his time at College he inspired hundreds of young people to grab every chance they could in order to achieve. Rich never stopped believing in them, even when they had no faith in themselves. I hope EnRich Charity helps to continue this legacy by helping and supporting Barnsley people to achieve their creative dreams”.
Kevin Tolson – Treasurer
Kevin is Richard’s brother. He said: “I am very happy to be a Trustee of EnRich Charity because it is aimed at helping the Arts in Barnsley and Rich felt that was so important. Local people have been very generous in their fund-raising and this is allowing us to support a number of people along their creative journey. I hope my business experience will ensure I’m an excellent Treasurer to make sure we get the best for the people of Barnsley out of the funds raised by the people of our town”.
Rachel Bostwick – Secretary
Rachel knew Rich’s family for a number of years and is committed to the place of the Arts in a well-rounded education. She said: “We hope EnRich can carry on what Rich believed in. He understood the importance of creativity for everyone regardless of age or circumstances. We are only a small Charity but we want to help foster that creativity wherever we can in Barnsley”. In her working life Rachel is Business and Enterprise Coordinator at Carnegie Leaders in Learning Partnership.
Sarah Tolson – Trustee
Sarah met Rich at the Electric Theatre after leaving school and they were married for 14 years. They had two children together, Ellis and Lauryna. Sarah is a teacher at Outwood Academy, Shafton. Sarah said: “Rich was such a hard-working and dedicated family man who was an inspiration to many young people in Barnsley. I hope he would be really proud that EnRich has been set up in his memory to encourage creativity in our town”.
Tim “Spag” Speight – Trustee
Spag knew Rich T from the age of five at Longcar Primary School. At the age of 16 they studied together at Barnsley College’s Electric Theatre. After university they worked together within the Music Department at Barnsley College.
Spag is a well-established, highly successful freelance engineer and mixer from Yorkshire with over 20 years’ experience in the music industry. He specialises in recording, engineering & mixing various genres of pop music. Spag graduated from the highly acclaimed Gateway School of Sound Recording at Kingston University in 1993. He then gained employment at P.W.L where he was introduced to the world of pop music by guru Pete Waterman, and began engineering in-house projects. Whilst working at P.W.L Spag engineered and mixed much of the massively popular Steps albums.
In 1996 Spag became a freelance engineer/mixer and producer and since then has repeatedly worked with the very accomplished production and writing team – Topham & Twigg (Steps, Westlife, Allstars, Kim Marsh). More recently Spag has teamed up with the hugely successful record producers Morrison & Sidoli (M&S) (M People, Blockster, Ultra Nate, Barbara Tucker), Jewels & Stone (Rachel Stevens, Gareth Gates, S Club 8, Dannii Minogue) & Craig Hardy (McFLY, V).
Since 1997 Spag has been producing his own tracks, some of which have been signed by record companies in America and Europe including TOMMY BOY, USA and TRANSK/BEATS INCLUDED, Holland.
In 2013 Spag joined forces with local songwriters & producers Ari Rannus and Dave Laycock to form Brainbox – a production company dedicated to delivering multi-media projects for external clients. They are based in Barugh Green with additional studios in the heart of Barnsley.