SCPA is led by a dedicated team of managers, coaches, coordinators and volunteers whose personal experience, professional backgrounds and Christian motivation shape their commitment to tackling poverty across Suffolk. Together they deliver debt advice, money education, life skills and employment support, offering compassion, expertise and hope to local communities.
Laura Knight – SCPA Manager
Laura grew up in Cambridge and moved to Southwold, Suffolk, at 16. After university she moved to London and trained as an English teacher, living in Tooting and Streatham for nearly 20 years. Eight years ago she returned to Southwold with her husband and their two children. She continued teaching in Suffolk until 2021, when she joined Suffolk Coastal Poverty Action. She finds it exciting to be part of such a powerful and growing mission, and to work with CAP, an amazing charity with an inspiring mission statement: “Transforming lives, inspiring churches and an end to UK poverty.”
Doug Fletcher – SCPA Administrator
Doug and his wife, Christine, moved to Suffolk from Horsham, West Sussex, in December 2016. He is a member of Quay Church in Woodbridge. During his time in Horsham, he managed a Christian Centre for 20 years and played an active role in establishing and running an independent Debt Advice Centre for the local churches.
Doug has been involved with SCPA since its beginning, and his role is primarily administrative as a member of the Leadership Team. He also occasionally supports the team of DFRs and Debt Coaches by visiting clients.
Grant Masom – Adviser to the Board and Leadership Team
Grant has spent his working life in Buckinghamshire but moved to Suffolk two years ago, and he is now an active member of St Edmunds Church of England in Southwold. Alongside a business career that has included many Board‑level roles, he has served as a Board member and trustee for several Christian charities focused on theological education, young people, and social justice.
He spent 17 years with Five Talents, an international development charity tackling poverty in ten countries through literacy, financial, and business skills training and support. He hopes to bring that experience to SCPA as it seeks to expand.
Grant is married to Caroline and has two adult children and four grandchildren.
Helen Peats – Schools Money Course Coordinator
Helen grew up in Surrey and trained as a Primary School teacher at university in South Wales. After completing her degree, she moved to Suffolk to begin her teaching career, which continued for many years in Ipswich. She has always viewed teaching as a vocation—an opportunity to make a meaningful difference, however small, in the lives of the children she taught. She is excited to be part of the SCPA team as Schools Money Course Coordinator, visiting schools across the area to deliver CAP’s Schools Money programme to Year 5 and 6 pupils and helping them develop essential money skills for the future.
John Anthony – Church Links Co-ordinator
John is an active member of Woodbridge Methodist Church and serves as an accredited Local Preacher within the Ipswich Methodist Circuit. He is also a volunteer at the ‘At the Crossroads’ church café and shop in Saxmundham.
He has spent many years working in schools and other settings supporting young people and families navigating significant life challenges; and as an advocate for ‘Inclusive’ approaches in Education.
He is a firm believer that small, rural church communities have a unique opportunity to share God’s love through practical, hands-on action. As the Church Links Co-ordinator for Suffolk Coastal Poverty Action (SCPA), He aims to encourage local church communities in their development of community-focused programmes, and in their support for SCPA.
Julia Rose – CAP Life Skills Manager
Julia spent many years teaching Maths and ICT before retiring, and now enjoys time with her grandchildren, selling fair trade, supporting her church in Framlingham with admin, and a variety of other interests. When her children were young, her husband’s business collapsed, leaving the family in a financial crisis and costing them their home—an experience that gave her a deep understanding of what it means to struggle financially and a wish that CAP Money had been available at the time.
She has helped run CAP Money Courses for many years and has seen people from all backgrounds benefit from the structure and online budgeting tools. In 2024 she became CAP Life Skills Manager, joining an experienced team. She values the course’s holistic approach, supporting the whole person and building community through shared meals. Her work with CAP is part of her response to Christ’s call to bring good news to the poor and set the captives free.
Keith Pickersgill – CAP Money Courses Coordinator
Keith and his wife, Christine, moved to Suffolk with their three children in 1991. After experiencing severe financial difficulties in 1995, including losing their home, they worked their own way out of debt, as CAP did not yet exist. By 2001 they were able to buy a home in Melton, where they now live and attend the Avenue Evangelical Church in Woodbridge.
His experience of debt gave him a lasting passion to help others. After discovering CAP’s work, he became a CAP Befriender, trained as a CAP Speaker, and shared CAP’s mission across Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Now a trained CAP Money Coach and Money Courses Coordinator, he is committed to helping people in Suffolk manage their money well and avoid the challenges he once faced.
Rev. Nic Stuchfield – Chair
Nic Stuchfield is the Chair of SCPA and a member of SKC Church (Saxmundham and Kelsale). He was one of the people involved in the original set‑up of what is now SCPA during 2017–18.
Although East Suffolk can appear affluent, Nic recognises that the rural community includes many who experience profound poverty. Over the eight years since this mission began, poverty has not only changed but has become more complex and deeply embedded in people’s lives. In response, SCPA has worked to strengthen and widen the support it offers, seeking to lift people out of debt and poverty one person at a time.
For Nic, the Christian Gospel is fundamentally a Gospel of love: God’s love for the world expressed in salvation, and His command that people love one another—especially those in need or distress. Both SCPA and its national debt‑help partner, Christians Against Poverty, stand as powerful expressions of that divine love for one’s neighbour, and Nic considers it an honour to be involved in this work.
Rebecca Parkes – Employment Support Manager
Rebecca Parkes grew up in Essex but has lived in Suffolk since 2000, when she began her career as a Primary School teacher. She is a member of Quay Church in Woodbridge. Rebecca is married to Mike, and they have three teenage children.
She is delighted that Suffolk Coastal Poverty Action has been able to expand its services to include employment support. Since becoming Employment Support Manager in September 2025, Rebecca has been pleased to play her part in helping people break free from cycles of poverty and look forward with hope and excitement. She loves that, through the Employment Support programme, the team can help people recognise their potential and take control of their future.
Simon Bowles – Debt Coach (in training)
Simon grew up in north London and abroad, and has spent most of his working life as a Physics and Science teacher in Essex. After moving to Suffolk in 2015, he is delighted to be joining the team as a Debt Coach (in training).
