Meet The Team

John Gillard

PRINCIPAL & DSL

John sailed out from Liverpool and regularly across the Irish sea from a young age.

After moving to the south coast, he was lucky enough to start a traineeship with Britannia sailing in Southampton and over the course of 2 years work, achieved his Yachtmaster offshore qualification. He then went on to a successful professional career at sea that spans almost 30 years so far.

He is passionate about now passing his wealth of knowledge and experience of the diverse worldwide marine industry to the young adults of Plan B, to help give the next generation the opportunity he received of a route to employability.

He works tirelessly to those ends to try and ensure that no student is left behind.

Vikki Gillard

OFFICE MANAGER

Vikki aka ‘Admin’ is our office manager, bookkeeper and much more. Coming from a large dockyard town with a Shipwright Grandad, she has a passion for the community and has the marine industry in her blood. Vikki spent 20 years working in the industry with highlights of a 3 year circumnavigation from 2004-2007, followed by 7 years working for Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Clipper Ventures. Vikki has always supported John’s youth projects and Alternative provision work in the background, until coming fully onboard in 2017 and not looking back. She is known for her meticulous attention to detail, and against all odds, always manages to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.

Chris Hill

WATERSPORTS
MANAGER & DEPUTY DSL

Chris (aka Obelix) has worked full time in the watersports industry since he was 15 years old.

He has previously specialised in performance dinghy, windsurfing and catamaran sailing as well as power boat and rescue boat instruction. He is experienced in the management of multiple beach activities working alongside a team to ensure safety and fun on the water. Later in his career, he went on to run sunsail beach clubs worldwide before deciding to come ashore for a time. He is also a keen mountain biker and qualified to lead groups as well as the service, maintenance and repairs required to all cycles. He now enjoys instructing the next generation to help them go forward into enjoyable and fulfilling lives.

Gill Heron

STUDENT & FAMILY
SUPPORT WORKER & DEPUTY DSL

Gill is now on her second career, having had 30 years as a dental nurse, she is well placed to remind students of the importance of dental hygiene amongst many other physical and mental health responsibilities. She is our staff member primarily responsible for student wellbeing, transport and attendance. She is dedicated to ensuring students arrive daily and are enthusiastic to engage and learn.. She has a passion for the safeguarding of students at Plan B and in the community and understands that this starts before they arrive with us and does not end when they leave. This means she communicates with parents and carers regularly, building bonds across the family support network of our students, giving a holistic approach to their time at Plan B.

Martin Bennett

KITCHEN MANAGER

Martin has come aboard at Plan B, not only for his good looks and charm, but because he is a trained chef with over 30 years experience in the catering industry. During Martin’s previous work in alternative provision, he re-discovered his passion for teaching culinary skills, and has proven he can bring the passion for cooking out in Plan B students. He was raised on a large council estate alongside some of the families that Plan B works with currently, and has a heart for the community, surpassed only by his strong family values and his kind, caring nature. With all this in mind, and combined with his love of fishing and thirst for life makes Martin the ideal person for his role at Plan B.

Kaisa Oliver

ADMIN ASSISTANT

Originally from Sweden, Kaisa came to the UK over 20 years ago for the warmer weather, and joined Plan B this year for the warm atmosphere.

Alongside being an admin expert, Kaisa has great interpersonal skills and thrives in a busy environment.

Also speaking several languages and
her positive can do attitude, means we are extremely happy to have Kaisa onboard to take a lead in our ever growing administrative responsibilities.

Stuart Mcclellan aka Stuey Mac

NON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND FUNDRAISING MANAGER

Stuart has once again joined us on our journey to help support the students, families and communities in which we work.

Having previously worked alongside him for many years, we could not ask for a better person in this role. He is a highly knowledgeable and experienced fundraiser with a unique and innovative approach backed up by his tireless and thorough research.

Stu totally shares our passion for Plan B, and will be designing our strategy in line with Plan B's vision to do even more for the young people of Gosport, Portsmouth, Havant,
Southampton and beyond.

Brendan Duffy

CORE INTERVENTION AND CREATIVE THERAPIST

Brendan has joined Plan B to support students who need something more than our core programmes can offer. Having worked in specialist education for the majority of his career he is well placed to understand Plan B students and families concerns. He leads on our student and family support, welfare, wellbeing and counselling. He will be located between Plan B HQ and our new wellbeing centre on Gosport High Street to deliver one to one and small group sessions using his strengths in creative therapy. With his experienced, skilled and empathetic approach we are ensuring pastoral care is a priority throughout everything we do…

Dan Johnson

AKA DJ

Dan brings a wealth of talent and enthusiasm to Plan B. Having been a musician for over twenty years, he now uses those skills to help students regulate, enjoy and achieve. He has experience in multiple instruments and loves to teach. After working in schools and alternative education, he decided to make Music Matters to fill in the gaps and help the young people that would benefit from music the most.

Having seen first-hand the power of music and the positive effects it can have on the mental health and wellbeing of SEN students; it has become a core part of Plan B’s daily provision.

We could not have been blessed with anyone better to help deliver that message at full volume. Music Matters not only resonates across our site, but also reach’s the community and estates Hampshire wide.

Joe Swindale

WORKSHOP MANAGER

Joe has joined the Plan B team as workshop manager. Having struggled in mainstream education from a young age. He instantly found his strengths in alternative provision, based around the marine industry. He wasted no time in engaging with the programmes on offer and quickly found employment with a commercial diving company, alongside finishing his GCSE’s.

After leaving secondary education he went straight into a 4 year marine engineering apprenticeship and despite losing almost a year through the covid lockdown, he achieved a level 3 qualification and went straight into the technical side of carbon boat building and fabrication. He has taken the role at Plan B to pass on his skills, knowhow and experience to the next wave of AP students, paying forward the opportunity he was given….

Adam Pankhurst

WORKSHOP &
WATERSPORTS
TRAINEE

Adamskii was commissioned to Plan B as a Year 10 disengaged student from education and frequently involved with the police and disturbance in the community. He quickly found his passion working and training in the marine industry and is now on the RYA (Royal Yachting Association) cruising scheme pathway towards gaining his Yachtmaster Offshore qualification.

Once qualified, he would like to stay on and help pass on the skills he has learnt to the next Plan B generation, before pursuing a career in the superyacht industry. He enjoys boat building and workshop tasks as they give him an insight into the structures of vessels which will help his career. Above all he loves being on the water sailing and that is where he is happiest…

Lily Gillard

NIPPER

Lily is the youngest member of the team and brings an extra level of youth and enthusiasm to Plan B.

She helps with anything that needs doing from clothing to clearing up. Her real skill base is around IT and social media to ensure the ‘oldies’ keep up to date with posts, trends and hashtags.

As John and Vikki’s daughter she has been on the water from a young age. She has sailed thousands of miles inshore and offshore and despite suffering from seasickness offshore, always maintains an A1 attitude and gets on with the tasks in hand onboard.

She achieved her RYA powerboat certificate at 12 years old, and has competed at 3 NJIRC’s (National Junior Indoor Rowing competitions) She loves helping out and is passionate about helping the next generation of Plan B students be their best selves.