About us

Our team

Behind every person we support, is a team that really cares

From our CEO to our trustees to our teams working on the ground, the people behind Rainy Day Trust bring strong roots in the home improvement sector, charity governance and workforce wellbeing, because understanding your world means we know how best to support you and your teams.

What we love most about being a member of Rainy Day Trust is that it has never felt like a bolt-on service, it feels like a meaningful partnership. From the training room to the ongoing support, RDT have taken the time to understand our people and our industry. Our ambassadors left that first session with real tools, confidence and a sense of purpose, and that’s carried through into how we now think about wellbeing day to day. It’s not a tick-box exercise, it’s a cultural shift, and having a partner who keeps showing up for that shift makes all the difference.

Cara Miller

Head of Operations – IRSAP

As a business, we talk a lot about taking care of our people, but partnering with RDT asked us to back that up with action, and to keep backing it up. It’s not been a one-off intervention, it’s an ongoing relationship that’s shaped how we lead. Investing in our people’s wellbeing, and in a partner who understands our sector, is one of the most important decisions we’ve made. The mental health of our workforce isn’t a ‘nice to have’, it’s a leadership responsibility, and RDT have helped us get this right, and keep getting it right.

Andy Phillips

Managing Director – IRSAP

We live in very challenging times, often worrying ones, both at home and internationally. It’s not just the stress and worry these issues cause, but the financial uncertainty too, with rising costs almost everywhere. We see this with our own colleagues, and with the businesses we partner with, which is why this matters so much to us at Barrettine. Having trained ambassadors who truly understand that world, and who our colleagues can trust and turn to for help and guidance, could genuinely save lives. We’re proud to be one of the first companies to have trained ambassadors, and our sincere thanks go to Anna and Roz for making that possible.

Steve Bailey

Managing Director – Barrettine Group

Why Haydon has chosen the Rainy Day Trust

Rainy Day Trust helps people who work, or have worked, in the home improvement and construction supply industries when they face hardship. By supporting the charity, we’re giving back to the people who make our industry stronger.

At Haydon, we believe success is about more than business. Supporting the Rainy Day Trust reflects our commitment to caring for our staff and the wider community and making a positive difference beyond the workplace.

Every fundraiser, donation, and awareness campaign helps provide practical support to individuals and families facing challenging times. By getting involved, our team, clients, and partners can all play a part in creating lasting positive change.

Peter Dickens

Managing Director – Haydon Marketing Limited

What really stood out to me about partnering with Rainy Day Trust is that it doesn’t sit outside the business, it lives inside it, in the people our colleagues already know and trust. That’s what makes it so powerful. This isn’t a one-off training day, it’s an ongoing relationship, and we’re not waiting for someone to hit a crisis point before we act. We’re building something proactive, something sustainable, and something that really does reflect the kind of company Barrettine is and wants to continue to be.

Julian Antony

Divisional Director – Barrettine Group

The BMF represents over 1,000 merchant, supplier and service businesses that collectively employ almost 209,000 people. Their wellbeing must be a priority. Partnering with Rainy Day Trust helps us advance the issues that matter most: promoting mental health, championing equity, inclusion and diversity, and inspiring young people to build careers in a sector that has so much to offer. We are proud to work with Rainy Day Trust to help drive changes that will benefit everyone working in our sector.

John Newcomb

CEO – BMF

I have been impressed with the great work of the RDT for 30 years, and the BHETA team and I are proud to support Rainy Day Trust and the remarkable work it does for people in our industry when life takes an unexpected turn. Through our long-standing partnership, including our support through the Exclusively Housewares show, we have seen how the charity provides practical help and hope to individuals and families during difficult times. Our industry has always been about people supporting people. We encourage other businesses to join us in backing Rainy Day Trust and helping ensure that no one in our industry has to face hardship alone”

Stephen Richardson

General Manager – BHETA

The Dormole Group, consisting of Toolbank, Galleon Fixings, Forgefix, Harrison & Clough, Galleon Tools, Faithfull Tools, Scan PPE, Roughneck, Lighthouse, Core Plus, Uni-Com, ADP Diamond and Rollins Tools, are proud to be working in partnership with RDT. RDT’s role, purpose and strategy aligns perfectly with Dormole’s own people focus and values, with a genuine commitment to promoting and ensuring the health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. RDT has a long, impressive history and tradition of providing help to those colleagues from our industry sector when they have been in most need of support and we are extremely happy to be embarking on the journey together as one of RDT’s Gold members.” Wendy Milne-Bennett, Group HR Director.

Wendy Milne Bennett

Group HR Director – Dormole Ltd

Our People

The people who bring hope

Every person in our team is here because they believe the home improvement and home enhancement sectors deserve the same care it gives to their customers.

Anna Skeats

CEO

Anna is CEO of Rainy Day Trust. She began her career in Public Health Nutrition, where she embraced a very simple approach: be there early, before things escalate; empowering individuals, communities and workforces to live healthier, happier lives. She later became CEO of a charity supporting neurodivergent people to thrive in employment, where she saw first-hand what happens when people are given the right environment, rather than expected to fit someone else’s. This mix of public health thinking and hands-on charity leadership on inclusion and wellbeing puts Anna in a strong position to lead RDT’s new strategic phase, moving the Trust from picking up the pieces to building workplaces where people can thrive from the start.

Anna’s LinkedIn Profile

Roz Shabazz-Johnson

Operations Manager

Roz is Operations Manager at Rainy Day Trust and one of its longest-serving team members, keeping the wheels turning with a rare blend of business acumen and creative flair. She’s the main point of contact for the businesses that support the Trust’s work, looking after corporate and industry partners, delivering the CPD-accredited Ambassador Programme, and championing fundraisers every step of the way. She brings years of experience from the design world, alongside senior office and event management roles, and has first-hand experience of the grants and casework side of the charity.

Deborah Dial

Business Manager

Deborah is Business Manager at Rainy Day Trust. She joined as the Trust began mobilising its new strategy, and has been finding a better way of doing things ever since. Her role is all about the foundations: refining systems, building new processes, and making sure governance runs like clockwork, so everyone else can focus on the work that matters most. She brings years of experience across business support and account management, and is a mental health first aider with a real understanding of what good support looks like.

Deborah’s LinkedIn Profile

Richard Drew

Chairman

Richard Drew has worked for AkzoNobel for over 23 years and currently leads field sales teams while supporting independent merchant customers across the UK and Ireland. Throughout his career, he has been passionate about building strong relationships, developing people, and helping businesses succeed within the decorating and merchant sectors.

Richard is married and has three grown-up children. As a long-standing Trustee and current Chairman of Rainy Day Trust, he is committed to supporting people across the industry when they fall on hard times.

Trevor Mudd

Treasurer

Trevor has been working in the timber and builders’ merchant sector since his first summer holiday job at Gridley Miskin in 1984. During that time, he has worked for a national merchant, a single-branch independent, and pretty much everything in between. He is currently MD of the Timber Division of the Independent Builders Merchant Group.

Over the last 10 years, Trevor has taken part in six Vado and Pavestone Rallies, raising money for Rainy Day Trust on each occasion. Having admired the work of Rainy Day Trust and been a regular fundraiser, joining the board of trustees seemed like a natural progression.

Aaron Frogley

Trustee

Aaron is Business Development Director at Talasey Group and has spent over 20 years in the building materials industry, building lasting relationships across the sector and seeing first-hand how supportive and close-knit it can be.

As organiser of the industry fundraising car rally (most recently the Pavestone rally), he has helped raise more than £900,000 for charitable causes, witnessing both great generosity and the challenges many face behind closed doors.

Joining Rainy Day Trust as a trustee was a natural step. Aaron is passionate about ensuring people in the sector know help is available when life takes an unexpected turn.

Andrew Field

Trustee

Andrew Field is MD of Burg-Wächter, driving the company’s strategic growth and overseeing operations across the UK and Ireland. With extensive experience in the DIY and security sectors, he has strengthened the Burg-Wächter and Sterling brands across residential, commercial, and industrial markets.Prior to Burg-Wächter, Andrew held roles with Techtronic Industries, the tool manufacturer behind Milwaukee and Ryobi, and FTSE-listed equipment rental business Ashtead Group.

Andrew’s career began in his family’s DIY stores, working evenings and weekends while still at school, laying the foundation for a lifelong passion for DIY.

Avril Hicks

Trustee

Avril was appointed to the board of Rainy Day Trust in 2006 as a retailer representative for the British Hardware Federation, now part of Bira. Prior to joining the family hardware and garden business in 1981, she studied psychology and qualified as a social worker, gaining an understanding of social administration and welfare.

Now retired from day-to-day responsibilities after many years running a retail business, Avril is keen to support those across the industry who are facing difficulties.

David Crawford

Trustee

David has worked in the tools and ironmongery industry for over 45 years, beginning his career at Crockett the Ironmongers before joining Toolbank 30 years ago. He has progressed through a variety of roles there, from the warehouse through to Sales, Branch Management, and now Regional Director for Scotland.

Throughout his career, David has been passionate about supporting people and helping businesses grow. His involvement with Rainy Day Trust is driven by a desire to give something back to the industry that has given him so much.

Outside of work, David enjoys golf and football, both a chance to relax with family and friends.

David Hibbert

Trustee

David has been in the home improvement industry for over 40 years, primarily as co-owner of Stax Trade Centres, a wholesale supplier serving retailers and tradespeople across the UK.
In 1997, he became a trustee of the Royal Metal Trade Benevolent Trust, which later became Rainy Day Trust. He currently serves as Vice Chair. For many years, David organised an annual karting event, with Stax partnering in fundraising through dinners and other events, ultimately becoming one of the first Platinum members this year.

James Barber

Trustee

James is UK Sales Director – Trade at AkzoNobel (Dulux Paint), He has worked in the home improvement category for 24 years. Outside of work, his two boys, dog, sport, and music keep him busy.

He is drawn to Rainy Day Trust for two reasons. Firstly, he wants to give something back to the industry that has given him so much. Secondly, he fundamentally believes that we can make a real difference to those who need support, exactly when they need it.

Kerrie Kincade

Trustee

Paul Boyce

Trustee

Paul has spent more than 40 years in the home improvement industry, building a career founded on expertise, collaboration, and a genuine passion for the people who make up the sector.

As Owner and CEO of QEP UK, a family-owned business headquartered in Burton upon Trent, Paul has extensive knowledge of the tiling and flooring industry. He has also lived overseas and led international businesses, giving him a broad perspective on UK and global markets.

Paul has been a Trustee of Rainy Day Trust for seven years and has served on the Board of BHETA for more than fourteen, championing collaboration across the industry.

Rob Willis

Trustee

Rob is co-owner of Max Publishing, which publishes Progressive Housewares magazine and organises the Excellence in Housewares Awards. Deep-rooted within the housewares sector, Rob enjoys being a trustee of Rainy Day Trust because he understands that for every success within an industry, there will be as many people who fall on hard times and need support from the very sector they are in.

He is a firm believer that everyone deserves equal opportunity, support, and guidance, making his position as trustee genuine in integrity and willing in desire.

Seema Grantham

Trustee

Seema Grantham has worked in the UK housewares and small domestic appliances industry since 1998, holding senior commercial roles with Groupe SEB UK, DKB Household, and GreenPan UK, before spending seven years at BHETA as Sector Manager for Housewares and Small Domestic Appliances. She also served as Director of Sales for the Exclusively Show.

She brings nearly three decades of industry knowledge and a strong network of contacts across the sector, and is proud to contribute to Rainy Day Trust’s work. Seema is also a long-standing Trustee Director of The Hope Foundation UK, supporting street and slum-connected children in Kolkata.

Service providers

Our strategic partners who manage our triage, assessment and grant fulfilment service for our crisis support

With over 50 years of grant management expertise, we place our trust in our Family Fund Business Service team to ensure our people receive first class support when reaching out for help, whatever their circumstances. They administer essential items to people as well as providing the gateway service to our other partner services including counselling and debt management advice.

Family Fund Business Services

Our strategic wellbeing Partner and driving force behind our digital campaigns, Habits for Health programme and wellbeing accreditation.

With 20 years of experience in the corporate wellbeing space, Wellbeing People are best placed to ensure Rainy Day Trust is leading the way in supporting a culture of wellbeing at the core of every business across the sector.

Wellbeing People

Our dedicated Mental Health Partner enables us to provide a range of compassionate and professional experienced therapists. Each member of our team is dedicated to helping individuals achieve mental and emotional wellbeing in a safe supportive environment. Our therapists come from diverse backgrounds, bringing a range of expertise in various therapeutic approaches, understanding that every person’s journey and needs are unique. support whatever your needs.

At times in life, we all face moments that feel overwhelming, whether through stress, loss, anxiety, loneliness, or simply the weight of trying to cope alone. Counselling offers a safe and confidential space where people can feel truly heard, understood, and supported without judgement. Through compassionate guidance, counselling can help you make sense of difficult emotions, build resilience, strengthen relationships, and rediscover hope and confidence for the future.

Just as importantly, having support available before life reaches crisis point can make a profound difference to long-term wellbeing. That is why, at Rainy Day Trust, we place such importance on promoting positive mental health. Reaching out for support is a sign of strength, and no one should ever feel they have to struggle alone.

We offer a confidential counselling service beginning with an initial 30-minute consultation to explore therapeutically, the support that would work best for you. This is followed by six, 50-minute counselling sessions with a dedicated counsellor, arranged to fit around your daily routine. Alternatively, we can provide a focused two-hour single-session appointment to help you address a particularly pressing issue.

UK Mental Health Solutions

The team has extensive experience in providing money advice service and debt support. FCA authorised for debt counselling and licensed Debt Relief Order Intermediaries. Pennysmart are members of Advice UK, the UK’s network of independent advice agencies.

The support is provided directly through our digital- and telephone-based, free-to-client budgeting, benefits and regulated debt advice including casework support service.

The team is supportive, non-judgemental and has the expertise and knowledge to help those with spiralling debt, to approach the root cause to help people get back on track.

Pennysmart Debt Support

Our history