Meet the Team
We’re a small and passionate team working to build stronger, more connected communities across Gloucester. Here are the people behind the scenes
Assistant Director
Rui has a passion for supporting the community and for social impact, that began when he first joined the Red Cross in Portugal, as a volunteer at just 15 years old, dedicating over 20 years to supporting others.
Professionally, Rui brings experience in Health and Social Care Management, having led teams and driven quality improvements across supported living and care services in Gloucester. His expertise also spans corporate responsibility, sustainability, and health and safety management, with recent qualifications enhancing his ability to create safe, inclusive, and thriving environments.
In his current role as Assistant Director at Gloucester Community Building Collective, Rui focuses on engaging with the community, promoting partnerships, fundraising and advocating for corporate social responsibility and sustainable development practices.
Outside of work, he enjoys camping, walking, paddleboarding and activities that reflect his love for nature and community connection.
Rui Laborda
Director of Community Building
Rae has worked for GCBC since it was established in 2019, working firstly as a community builder and more recently moving into leadership. Having worked on the ground with communities, Rae is well placed to Direct GCBC’s strategic direction. Rae is passionate about people and local communities, believing that the people who live in Gloucester are best placed to make decisions about Gloucester.
Rae loves working alongside communities, helping them to amplify their voice and connect in meaningful ways. She believes that connection is key to increasing people’s wellbeing and quality of life.
Rae Bell
Office Administrator
Being part of a community can be very rewarding, especially when we see how it brings everyone together.
Jacky has lived in Gloucester most of her life and has been involved in the local community on and off for several years. She is currently volunteering for the best local community radio station in Gloucester GFM 96.6.
She loves walking, listening to music, reading, cooking and like raising awareness and money for good causes.
Jacky
Community Builder
Sue brings a background in teaching and extensive experience supporting families and marginalized communities. She spent 15 years living and working in Botswana during the HIV/AIDS pandemic and has 20 years of international experience.
Sue began her community building journey in Gloucester, working as a Community Builder and Community Building Guide with the Barnwood Trust. She has also served as Wellbeing Lead in a care setting, using a gifts-based approach to connect residents with the wider community during COVID-19, and helped create a welcoming ‘warm space’ during the first cost-of-living winter.
As Participation Lead for Cirencester Foodbank, Sue worked alongside service users to improve services and support storytelling.
Now, Sue has returned to community building practice, embracing this beautiful and impactful way of working as communities continue to recover from COVID-19, building resilience to thrive amid uncertain times. She believes that the ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development) approach is complex and unique to each community, growing organically as people come together to shape the places they live.
Sue
Community Builder
Kyla lives in Gloucester and is a Community Builder in Westgate, where I build relationships and listen to people’s ideas and opinions every day.
She likes being a community builder because she strongly believes in community led change, be that big or small.
When she is not working, she loves to be out and about with her dog or visiting her friends and family.
Kyla
Community Builder
Agnes is the Community Builder for Moreland (Linden and St Pauls). She is passionate about community building and the asset-based approach, believing that meaningful connections between residents, groups, and organisations create positive change and powerful actions. This is why she loves her job.
She works alongside people to build resilient, strong communities where everyone can thrive and enjoy a good quality of life here in Gloucester.
Agnes
Community Builder
Derrick is the Community Builder in Tredworth, Barton and Parry Hall.
He has lived a rich and varied life, shaped by travels around the world and several meaningful years in Portugal. When he returned to the UK, he settled in Stroud, where he has been dedicated to creating positive change in the community. Through his food business, Jamaica Inn Kitchen, Derrick launched a pay-it-forward scheme that provides meals for people experiencing homelessness.
His passion for jazz inspired him to co-found Stroud Lockdown Radio, a station that’s grown into an internationally recognised platform for music and culture. He’s also a key contributor to the Stroud Film Festival, helping bring people together through a shared love of film.
Guided by the words of Martin Luther King Jr., Derrick believes deeply in the power of community and the importance of collective progress.
Derrick
Community Builder
Flora is the Digital Inclusion Community Builder for GCBC and works throughout Gloucester facilitating the Digi-hubs project. Her role is to tackle the digital divide in a strengths-based and community focused way using what is already strong within the Gloucester community.
She has worked in the care sector for most of her career, first with the elderly in residential and nursing homes and more recently working with people who have complex needs or mental health challenges. She prioritises working in a person-centred way and believes that empowering people is vital to creating positive and sustainable change within communities.
She studied International Studies through the Open University and during which discovered her passion for international development and how this can be achieved through grassroots organisations, finding individualised solutions to suit each individual community.
With the world becoming more digital, people can feel they are being excluded from their community as they lack the skills to get online. She believes it is important to make sure that everyone in our community is able to access the internet and be confident with their digital skills as this will allow people to reach their full potential.
Flora
Work with us
From time to time, we have roles open for community-minded people.