Our Staff Team

We’re a dedicated group of professional & experienced youth workers and support staff, working closely with volunteers.

Ben

CEO

Ben Drabble has been part of the TRAIN story since 2010, when he started out as a detached youth work volunteer. Since then he’s served as an Operations Trustee and is now Chief Executive, bringing a long personal history with the organisation and a genuine passion for what it does.

His career history includes leading an international gap-year programme for young people, and the role of Director of Communications and Fundraising at a large international charity.

Like any small charity CEO, Ben can often be found wrestling with the printer, being cheerfully kept in check by his team, or doing whatever needs doing that day. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Justina

Youth Work Manager

Justina has spent over 15 years showing up for young people: building trust and making sure their voices are genuinely heard and shape the support they receive.

She’s JNC-qualified with a First Class BA in Youth Work from Coventry University, where she was awarded the Faculty Award of Excellence. Her career has spanned youth centres, young carers services and mentoring programmes across Oxfordshire and beyond.

Justina brings deep expertise in safeguarding and multi-agency working, alongside personal experience that informs everything she does. She re-joined TRAIN in 2025 to lead our youth work team, and we’re glad to have her back.

Georgina

Senior Youth Worker

Georgina joined TRAIN in 2023, having worked as a Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioner in several schools and outreach environments. She has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Portsmouth and a level 3 qualification in mentoring children & young people.

She plays a crucial role in the Mentoring programme, at TRAIN and believes in empowering young people to make informed decisions.

Georgina’s passion for young people cannot be over-stated. When she’s not working directly on provision, you’ll find her wholeheartedly planning, contemplating and advocating for the best possible ways we can serve the people we support.

Lydia

Senior Youth Worker

Lydia was involved with TRAIN as a young person from around 15 through our detached work, so she knows what it feels like to have a youth worker in your corner.

She’s built up a lot of experience since then: an apprenticeship with Oxfordshire Youth, working with young people in supported accommodation on practical life skills, and a role with Oxford City Council where she set up a youth club from scratch.

She’s super organised, and loves making budgets work to plan trips that young people will talk about long afterwards.

She’s currently working towards her Level 6 JNC Youth Work apprenticeship

Char

Youth Worker

Char is our longest serving youth worker. She started working for TRAIN in 2019, but her connection to the organisation goes back further. A TRAIN youth worker showed up for Char when it counted, and now she’s here to do the same.

She knows the Didcot community well and relates to a lot of the young people she works with. She’s stayed at TRAIN because it genuinely centres young people, and that’s not always a given.

She’s working towards her Level 6 Youth Work apprenticeship, and her favourite parts of youth work are the informal conversations and the youth club sessions where trusting relationships are made.

T’Quan

Sessional Youth Worker

T’Quan came to TRAIN as a volunteer and quickly became a familiar, trusted presence across our youth sessions. He’s now joining the team as a Sessional Youth Worker.

He brings hands-on experience in one-to-one support, outreach, and detached youth work, including time with Abingdon Bridge working alongside young people who feel overlooked or unsure where they belong.

T’Quan was supported by youth workers himself as a young person, and has a particular interest in supporting young men’s groups and sees activities like exercise as a real way in: building confidence and supporting wellbeing without making a big deal of it.

Yasmin

Sessional Youth Worker

Yasmin, like many of our youth workers, attended TRAIN herself as a young person, progressing to becoming a volunteer and then starting an apprenticeship with us. She’s now one of our sessional youth workers alongside working with young people in another provision.

Yasmin’s passion and energy for working with young people is plain to see, and in 2024 she was instrumental in helping to set up our new Wallingford Youth Centre.

Caitlin

Sessional Youth Worker

Caitlin first started working with TRAIN through a placement on her social work degree course, and she’s never left, staying on as a volunteer and now a sessional worker.

Like a lot of people, Caitlin really could have done with support as a young person, and now loves being part of that support for others, now that she knows the power of youth work.

She’ll soon be starting her level 2 qualification with us.

Becky

Fundraising & Communications Coordinator

Having previously worked in business insight, brings a researcher mindset to everything she does – always on the hunt for funding opportunities that help TRAIN deliver real, lasting impact for young people.

Before joining TRAIN in 2026, she honed her skills in operations and communications at a Baby Bank Charity in Warwickshire, where she learned first-hand the difference a passionate team can make in a community.

Alongside securing funding, Becky is the voice behind TRAIN’s communications: championing our work, spreading the word, and making it easy for people to get involved. So, if you drop TRAIN a message on socials, chances are Becky’s the one replying. Say hi!

Nicole

Charity Support Officer

Nicole keeps TRAIN running smoothly behind the scenes. From finance to office management, she handles the details so the youth work team can focus on supporting young people.

If something needs sorting, Nicole sorts it. (Including the new kitchen. Paintbrush, anyone?)

She brings a strong background in the charity sector, including a previous role as HR Manager for a Charity supporting those living with social inequalities. She lives locally in Didcot and loves being part of a charity that makes a real difference on her doorstep.

Outside work, she’s all about her little boy, good coffee, cake, and Netflix. Not necessarily in that order.

Join us!

Interested in joining our team?

Click here to see vacancies

TRAIN does such incredible work for local young people, providing them with a place to feel safe and supported. Their team cares about helping everyone reach their potential, and it shows.

Olly Glover, MP for Didcot and Wantage

Our Trustees

We are governed by a board of trustees who bring a breadth of valuable experience, helping us to serve young people in the most effective ways possible.

Andy Couldrick

Chair of trustees

Andy previously served as CEO of Wokingham Borough Council, followed by his role as CEO of Birmingham Children’s Trust. During his time in Birmingham, Andy led the Trust through a remarkable transformation, taking Children’s Services from an Ofsted rating of “Inadequate” to “Good”. Currently, he serves as Chair of Birmingham Children’s Trust and as a children’s services commissioner for the Department for Education.

“I am delighted to be taking on the Chair of Trustees for Train. I grew up in Didcot, my kids went to school in the town. I’ve spent my career trying to make a difference to the lives of children and young people. The opportunity to support the team doing such great work at Train was too good to resist.”

Jackie McDowell

Treasurer

Jackie is an experienced charity finance manager, having held senior finance roles at large Oxfordshire charities. Jackie has a postgraduate diploma in Charity Finance and Management from the Centre for Charity Excellence at Bayes Business School. Prior to entering the charity sector, Jackie was CEO of two successful Waste Management and Construction business following a career in taxation management. Jackie joined the Board in 2024 as TRAIN’s Trustee for Finance.

Sabiene North

Trustee

Sabiene joined the Board in 2024 – bringing a wealth of experience from her unique career trajectory. During her career in investment management, she primarily worked as a Private Banking Manager with Lloyds Private Banking and St James’s Place Wealth Management. After a career change, she joined the charity sector in 2020, gaining experience in fundraising, before taking on the position of CEO for a local charity, Be Free Young Carers.

Sabine sits on the Oxfordshire Safeguarding and Children’s Board, representing the Voluntary and Community Sector. She has volunteered as a mentor at Didcot Girls’ School for several years. Sabiene is also a trustee at the national charity Supershoes. Her passion, focus, and main area of expertise is in supporting young people, children, and the youth sector.

Nicole Guest

Trustee

Nicole is a chartered accountant and CFA charter holder. She trained with Price Waterhouse, London, and worked in investment banking before becoming a Financial Trainer at Fitch Learning. Nicole joined the board as Treasurer in 2017, after moving to Didcot the previous year. In 2023, she undertook the role of Chair and continues to be inspired by the dedication of staff, volunteers, and trustees, as well as the generosity of sponsors and donors of TRAIN.

As Didcot expands, Nicole envisages TRAIN continuing to thrive with the support of the community, ensuring it can meet the growing needs of young people in the town and surrounding areas.

Paul Brown

Trustee

Paul is Head of Strategy & Impact at Reading FC Community Trust, shaping the strategic direction of the club’s community programmes, including Premier League Kicks and Reading Alternative Provision, and developing new and existing partnerships with agencies in the public, private, and voluntary sector. He is also the Designated Safeguarding Lead at Reading FC Community Trust, as well as a member of the Environmental Sustainability and EDI Working Groups at the Trust.

Paul has over 10 years’ experience of supporting young people that display multiple risk factors and joined the Board in 2023. He is passionate about providing young people the support they need to overcome increasingly complex societal challenges.

Arthur Brown

Trustee

Arthur is an experienced charity leader and youth work specialist with a career spanning over 25 years in youth and community development and intercultural engagement. He is currently Director for Mission at one of the world’s oldest international charities. Previously, Arthur spent over a decade in Lebanon, developing youth work programmes and training future youth leaders at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary. He has also managed government-funded youth projects in the UK, mentored at-risk young people, and led a youth work degree programme. A published author on youth work and mentoring, he has contributed to books, journals, and training materials.

Kate Courtney-Taylor

Trustee and Governance Officer

Kate has over 15 years’ experience in commercial management within the engineering and medical device sectors. While leading the BOC Gases Inspiring Gases programme – a school-based initiative promoting creative problem solving in science education – she developed a strong commitment to supporting education and young people.

Following this, Kate served for two years as a Trustee of Denefield School in Reading, working closely with the Headteacher to shape the school’s strategy. She brings to TRAIN a breadth of organisational and strategic skills and is keen to apply her experience to support the charity’s work with young people.

Our Team & Trustees