Voluntary Management Committee
David Moore retired from full-time work in 2010 as a Builder but continued to work part-time for another 5 years. He says, “Somehow or other after that, I ‘drifted’ into Playing for Cake, and I love it! I’m not musical and can’t tell a crochet from a quaver. But! I am full of enthusiasm and willing to learn.”
David recently trained with Sing to Beat Parkinson’s and, along with his partner, Amanda Crofts, has produced several sets for Music at the Hub at Sheringham Little Theatre. David and Amanda also present sessions for the North Walsham Skylarks group. David also assists at the Singing for Health sessions in Sheringham every Friday, presents sessions at the Cameo Cafe at North Walsham once a month and alongside all of this assists Tina and the team at various care homes in the region. He can often be seen loaded-up with the various paraphernalia needed to run our sessions!
David’s other interests include photography and videography and he routinely films sessions and uploads them onto our Facebook page/other social media. David is also a committee member, helping to run “Rock the Lobster” alongside Ervin Munir.
David says “The team at Playing for Cake are brilliant and I’ve made some amazing new friends in the last five years, not only the musicians but the fantastic people who come and benefit from our sessions. I really don’t know what I thought I’d be doing when I retired but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have been this! Long may it continue.”
Amanda Crofts retired from a District Nursing career to re-launch her skills and energy into the community as a musician. Her passion is encouraging others to participate in lively interactive music sessions and enjoy the physical and mental well-being benefits associated with taking part. Characterised by fun-loving, fiddle-playing, and occasional piano-playing, Amanda leads PFC sessions with a flavour influenced by her experience as a folk-fiddle player in South Norfolk Ceilidh Bands. She also provides regular musical in-put performing with amateur dramatics groups, plays recorder and violin in a chamber music group, and enjoys singing in a community choir. Amanda has just completed her Singing for the Brain training with The Alzheimer’s Society and helps develop PFC’s offering for people living with dementia and their carers, including leading regular sessions at The Cameo Cafe in North Walsham.
Dr Tina Blaber (Founder) became a community musician in 2010 following a career in local government, community development and research in the field of the Environmental Sciences at the UEA. She developed skills as a singing for health practitioner through Singing for Lung Health training with the British Lung Foundation, Sing to Beat Parkinson’s training and practical experience with Sing Your Heart Out (SYHO). Tina has also volunteered with Musical Keys and Alzheimer’s UK.
Tina gained her Performing Musician award in 2007 through Access to Music and formed PFC initially as a band. One of the band members developed early onset dementia and it was this experience, coupled with her own personal experiences, that fuelled Tina’s ideas to form a community group in 2016 with a view to helping more people improve their health through singing and music-making.
In 2011, Tina also set up a community-based open mic session in Sheringham, providing a space for musicians to gain confidence in performing, learn and develop skills associated with their music-making. Tina now performs with the band Cutting the Mustard. You can also hear some of Tina’s recorded tracks (own compositions and collaborations) via her website and YouTube channel.
Tina’s research at the UEA developed her understanding of the importance of health for vibrant and sustainable communities. She is keen for PFC to contribute to the social and environmental sustainability of the North Norfolk area via support for residents’ health and wellbeing as well as the financial support it can provide to local musicians (and thus local arts in general). Tina continues to work hard to link PFC’s services with other VCSE sector organisations, health professionals and clinicians within the NHS to support the development and delivery of health and social care services in the area. Tina leads PFC’s Singing for Breathing sessions and is working on a project to expand Singing for Lung Health services across Norfolk & Waveney.
Elizabeth Brown (Secretary & Treasurer) Bio and pic to come!
Other Essential Team Members!
We have a number of voluntary members who provide essential support, lead songs or help promote or organise sessions (please get in touch if you’d like to get involved!). Not all are listed here yet but to name a few … :
Jane Wells is a composer and community musician and a founding member of Playing for Cake. Jane studied music at university to postgraduate level in the 1970s and since has led creative music making projects with many and varied community groups alongside continuing to compose and attract performances of her work. She was a founder member of the community music organisation, Norfolk Music Works, which ran successfully for 20 years serving West and North Norfolk. Until recently, Jane was a long-standing singing tutor for Sing Your Heart Out, an organisation that supports mental health through singing. Jane completed a Dementia Awareness Workshop run by Age UK in March 2016 and leads some of PFC’s ‘Singing for Health, Wellbeing and Fun’ sessions. Jane’s knowledge and experience is a valued asset for the team.
Ervin Munir MBCS CITP is a core member of the delivery team at PFC and manages our e-mailing list (get in touch to sign up!). He is also a local open mic committee member and organiser (Rock the Lobster). He sings and writes songs (www.ervinmusic.co.uk) and regularly plays guitar performing solo and with friends, at Rock the Lobster and other local venues.
Ervin set up the Rock the Lobster record label and produced and mastered the Chilled Lobster 01 album (CD, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc.) of original songs, working with many local musicians in his home recording studio. More recently he worked with Tina and other local musicians to produce the PFC Sheringham By The Sea fund raising EP.
Ervin sings and plays guitar (and kazoo) in a popular local band called Cutting the Mustard alongside George (above), Tina (above) and Brian Eade (bio to follow – Brian is also a part of the PFC delivery team!). In his delivery work with PFC, and in helping to run Rock the Lobster, Ervin has learnt how powerful music, singing and performing can be to a person’s well-being.
George Crawley (Founding member) has been playing in bands or as a solo performer for over 40 years. Other activities included Amateur Dramatics and even playing the organ in church! More recently George helped develop an open mic in Sheringham with Tina, regularly accompanying new artists who may lack confidence in performing in public. He has gained experience of delivering interactive music sessions through those delivered since 2016. George is also a founding member of PFC, playing in PFC with Tina when it was a band. George now organises regular open mic nights at Blakeney Harbour Rooms.
Louise Lim, originally from Suffolk (but a Norfolk convert!) is a Speech and Language Therapist. She has over ten years experience of working in various settings including NHS hospitals and clinics where she specialised in working with adults with neurological changes such as Parkinson’s, Stroke and MND. She spent 6 years working in neuroscientific research at University College London looking to understand speech and language recovery in stroke patients at a brain level.
Louise is excited about the benefits of singing for people with speech, voice, language and communication needs, as well as the hugely positive affects of singing and music on wellbeing. Louise has her own independent Speech, Language and Communication Therapy (SLCT) consultancy, based in Norwich, called ‘Recommunicate Speech’. Louise provides valuable SLCT input into our sessions, including those where core participants are people living with Parkinson’s. See our Sing to Beat Parkinson’s page for some advice from Louise!
Brian Eade is a music teacher, singer songwriter and a founding member of the Sheringham Ukulele Band (SUBs). Brian has delivered community music sessions over the past 30 years, working for Norfolk Music Works. Brian regularly works as a session-leader for Playing for Cake and is a member of Cutting the Mustard (with Tina and Ervin). You can find out more about Brian at Straight Furrow Music on Facebook.
Former Team Members that helped kick-start Playing for Cake!
Steve Wiles was a musician and had a variety of jobs including bespoke 
furniture-making and running a local website. He had run craft workshops for people with learning difficulties and volunteered at Thornage Hall (a Camphill Community for adults with learning difficulties). Unfortunately, sadly, Steve passed away in December 2020.
Steve was involved with bands for a long time covering music genres including soul, reggae and rockabilly. He was in a band called ‘The Press’ in 1978. Steve played electric bass, saxophone and the double-bass. Steve met Tina in 2011 and they decided to form a duo. Steve introduced George to the band in 2013 and came up with the name ‘Playing for Cake’ as they generally toured North Norfolk tea-shops, pubs and restaurants and often literally got paid in cake! Steve always stressed this ensured “we get paid in the right currency!”.
Music was a huge part of Steve’s life and always encouraged people to participate in music-making in some way. He always maintained that the most important thing about playing music is to have fun. This is a major part of Playing for Cake’s ethos as it has been developed into the Community Interest Company that it has become today.
Lyn Wiles is a drama teacher (working in a number of schools local to North Norfolk) and a musician – a singer who has performed in local bands for many years. Lyn helped get Playing for Cake off the ground. Lyn’s experience of creating and delivering drama sessions and interactive music sessions over the years is a major asset to the team, providing creative ideas for our sessions and advice for the team.
We are continually recruiting volunteers and session-leaders. See how to get involved.
Contact us to get in touch with any of our team members (we will pass on your message for you).