However , due to other pressures she has reluctantly decided to retire from the Board.

Ann describes her time as a Trustee as having been a great privilege. She feels that she has been able to support a team of committed people whose focus was to provide children, who for various reasons could no longer live with their birth families, with a loving and supported family. The support for life that is offered to families and children is something which Ann considers is unique and makes FFC very special.

Ann is a qualified Social Worker with over 40+ years’ experience working in the field of Social Care/Health, the last five of which were spent in the Department of Health, Social Care Group, supporting the Secretary of State in exercising statutory powers of guidance, direction, inspection and enquiries.

Ann is currently a Lay Canon of Exeter Cathedral and Head of Exeter Cathedral’s Library and Archive Service, a post she has held since 2009. She is responsible for supporting the professional members of the Library and Archive Team and has facilitated the team in working towards, among other things, achieving National Archive Accreditation in 2013. Ann also and recommended the Exeter Book for Inscription on the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register in 2016. The Library and Archives are an academic resource involved in research and academic studies for people from all over the world including those researching their family or local history.

Ann was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the Cathedral Library and Archives in the New Year’s Honours list 2013 and in January 2018 it was announced that she had been appointed an Honorary Associate Research Fellow in the College of Humanities at the University of Exeter in recognition of her work in strengthening the academic links between the University and the Cathedral.