Above & Beyond, the charity that raises funds for Bristol’s city centre hospitals, has appointed four new co-opted trustees from the city’s diverse business community.
Lee Aston, Steve Bluff, James Fox and Samantha Hawkins bring with them a wealth of experience from the retail, legal, and financial sectors. All have strong ties to the city. 
Lee Aston, pictured right, previously worked at accountancy group KPMG both in the UK and as part of its European leadership team in Frankfurt and is now director of finance at regional law firm Thrings. He is also an elected member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Staff members from Thrings have twice taken part in Above & Beyond’s flagship fundraising event, the Bristol to Paris Cycle Challenge.
Steve Bluff, pictured left, has spent much of his career in senior leadership roles for companies including Crabtree & Evelyn, Nuffield Health and House of Fraser. He has recently set up his own coaching and consulting company nCourage to help businesses develop their operation and leadership teams.
James Fox, pictured below right, has more than 30 years’ experience as a stockbroker and investment manager in Bristol and is regional director at Rathbones. Alongside his management responsibilities, James deals with portfolios for charities and trusts. Rathbones is the sponsor of Above & Beyond’s Christmas Star Concert.
Samantha Hawkins, pictured bottom, has 20 years’ experience in the corporate and commercial legal sector across Wales and the South West. Obtaining her Joint Insolvency Examination Board qualification while at Deloitte, Samantha is now principal of Hawkins Insolvency. 
The new additions bring the number of Above & Beyond board members to nine. Chair of Trustees Drummond Forbes said: “We’re delighted to welcome our new co-opted trustees to the board, each of whom brings a tremendous amount of experience from their respective sectors. It’s a very exciting time for the charity as we move on from the success of our £6m Golden Gift Appeal, and continue to fundraise for projects, big and small, that make a real difference to patient care in our city.”
The board of trustees meets every two months to approve grants that further the charity’s aim to go above and beyond what the NHS can afford so as to provide the best patient experience possible.
Some of the projects recently approved by the board include £108,000 for the continuation of the much valued free hospital bus service used by 12,000 patients, visitors and staff a month; £31,120 for a state-of-the-art camera for retinal imaging at the Bristol Eye Hospital, and £90,600 for a Neurosciences Educator and the development of two university-accredited children’s neurosciences modules at the Faculty of Children’s Nurse Education to enhance the specialist skills of nurses in Bristol and across the country.
Above & Beyond has been working to raise charitable funds for University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust for more than 40 years. During that time it has raised £80m to create welcoming environments, fund innovative research, support staff training and development and provide state-of-the-art equipment across nine city centre hospitals.
