Who we are

Gi Cheesman

Gi enjoys working in conditions of change with individuals, teams and organisations. She has:

• Provided consultancy support in organizations across the public sector including university and not for profit sectors
• Combined this with regular periods as an interim manager at Director and Head of Service level across both the NHS and the Local Authority sectors.
• Recently functioned as a Director of HR across a PCT and a unitary Council, a 14 month assignment which was closely followed by a role as Head of HR for a new Unitary Authority.

Previously Gi has been employed as a senior civil servant in the Department of Health and as an Assistant Director/Regional Lead in the NHS with responsibility for workforce planning, OD, education and commissioning.

Gi is an experienced Independent Assessor for the Appointments Commission and the West Yorkshire Police Authority. She has recently been trained as a fitness to practice panelist for the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

As well as wide experience in management and organisational development, Gi has provided career management, coaching and mentoring support to many colleagues over the years.

Gi has a BA (Hons) in Management, an MBA (Leeds) and is a qualified teacher.

Brian Cheesman

Prior to his teaching and lecturing career Brian had been a social worker and mental health officer for 13 years specialising in work with young people, young offenders, children and their families.

He spent twenty four years teaching and lecturing at Leeds Metropolitan University (formerly Leeds Polytechnic) deciding to move into freelance consultancy whilst extending his voluntary work, in September 2006.

Brian’s career has spanned a broad spectrum of academic and practice based experience through which he has built a strong and knowledgeable focus on the play lives of children, Playwork, and the culture of childhood, young people and their families. He continues to maintain a commitment to teaching and learning whilst continually developing an extensive network in areas of children’s play, Playwork and a variety of related fields.

Brian is a strong advocate for the experience of play and playing in children’s lives and beyond into adulthood. This is why Brian introduced the very first honours degree in Playwork in a UK University and why he continues to contribute regularly to a range of television and radio broadcasts.

A significant theme running throughout Brian’s life has been the importance of playing both for him and those with whom he has worked. He remains a trustee of two children’s play organisations in West Yorkshire.