Friends of Home from Home UK

The History

Michael and Margaret Crowley established the trust – Friends of Home from Home – and began fundraising through their church. This was designed to support the work of Home from Home in South Africa. A variety of events linked to Pippa Shaper’s (co-founder) fundraising trips to the UK were arranged by a committed group of trustees and supporters. One of the key annual events is the Royal Parks half marathon.

Pre Covid-19 there were several successful trips to the Western Cape to participate in the Cape Town Cycle Tour, which included supporters visiting a few foster homes.

The Crowleys were joined by Pat and Dennis Goldsworthy (the parents of co -founder Jane Payne). Susannah and Vighnesh Padiachy (Padi) were living in South Africa and returned to the UK in 2009. They became trustees and later took over from the Crowleys. Padi has been Chairman for the past 12 years.

The UK Team

Vighnesh Padiachy (Padi)

Chairperson

Padi has been involved with Friends of Home from Home UK since 2009, having previously met Pippa Shaper and visited some of the foster homes in Cape Town. As a family, they were struck by the vision of the organisation to give children hope and the effective way the model of care works. Padi must be one of the few people in the UK to have entered the Cape Town Cycle tour twice and not done the full race (thwarted by forest fires the first time and strong winds the second). He has worked in the finance industry for 30+ years and splits his time between Bath, London and Madrid.

He has been Chairman of the Trustees for 12 years.

Jo Taylor

Jo first became aware of Friends of Home from Home UK nearly ten years ago after meeting Susannah Padiachy. In Autumn 2013, she accepted the honour of becoming a trustee and took on an admin and treasury role. Jo has been fortunate to visit the homes on a couple of occasions whilst on holiday in South Africa in 2015 and 2018 and supported a team of UK cyclists who took part in the 2015 Cape Town cycle tour resulting in a massive fundraise of £50,000 for the charity.

Now a busy grandma of five, she struggles to spend as much time as the role warrants but remains happy to be a part of this wonderful charity.

Tamsin Ashmore

Tamsin was elected to the Trustee Board in 2019 as Honorary Treasurer. She is from South Africa and now lives in the UK. Tamsin and her family are passionate about South Africa and the support and upliftment for those who are most the vulnerable.

Tamsin, lives in Hampshire and is the Group Chief Financial Officer at Ultima Group. They are a digital, security and cloud technology business operating internationally. The company is private equity backed.

Josh Mills

Josh is based in London, and has spent a number of years working as a Telecoms analyst at firms including Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas. Josh is passionate about raising funds for Home from Home and has completed a number of charity events in the past. He is keen to help organise races and other challenges in the future. In his spare time Josh loves to travel (Cape Town is one of his favourite places), cycle and spend time with his wife and one-year old daughter.

Mark Lawrence

Mark has worked in asset management for the past few years, most recently as head of research and ESG at Somerset Capital, an emerging markets boutique. He has been travelling to South Africa for twenty years, both for business and to visit his wife’s family who were based near Durban. Mark’s experiences in the SA mining industry, in particular, was the reason he wanted to get more involved in social projects, which brought him to Home from Home

Katherine Tait

Katherine currently works at Goldman Sachs International within Global Investment Research covering the Media and Internet Sector. Prior to this, she worked at the Bank of England in the Monetary Assessment and Strategy Division. Katherine first came into contact with Home from Home as part of a fundraising initiative at Goldman Sachs in 2015 and visited projects in South Africa in 2018. She joined the Friends of Home from Home UK team soon thereafter.

Pippa Shaper

Co-Founder

Pippa is a Director of The Resilience Factory and Trustee of several NPOs and consults in the NPO space. Pippa has spent 24 years in the non-profit sector in a variety of roles as founder, fundraiser, trustee, consultant and director.

Co-founding Home from Home in 2005, she was the organisation’s Director for 14 years. She has served as a Trustee on both local and international NPO boards. Her years of experience within the social impact sector has enabled her to work with a wide variety of organisations, helping them shape their fundraising and growth strategies.

Mandy Taylor

Having grown up in Durban and Cape Town, Mandi now lives on a small farm in Derbyshire with her British family.

Starting as a graduate placement at Ogilvy& Mather advertising agency (Cape Town) she travelled to the UK to explore London and obtain work experience at Ogilvy and then RAPP. Mandi is now co-owner of the SHARP advertising agency in Yorkshire.

Her strong connection with South Africa means this role is a perfect opportunity to use her skills to support the brilliant work of the Home from Home.

Dan Russel

Dan was elected to the Trustee Board in 2024 to help with fundraising events in the UK. He grew up and studied in Cape Town, South Africa, and now lives in London with his wife Lauren. Charity has always been an important part of Dan’s upbringing having worked as a coach for various sports charities, including his father’s charity called Sport4Kids. He is passionate about all things South Africa and eager to make a difference where he can.

Dan works at a US multi-strategy hedge fund. He previously worked at a US investment bank in both M&A and Markets, both in Johannesburg and London. In his spare time you’ll find him doing endurance sports, relaxing with friends or traveling