Welcoming Elly Taylor to Sailor’s Children’s Society

We’re delighted to announce that Elly Taylor will be joining Sailors’ Children’s Society as our new Events Manager. Elly brings a wealth of experience, having previously worked with the Village Hotel, Bonus Arena, and most recently as Operations Director at The Edge and Federation of Sport. Her knowledge, creativity, and energy make her a fantastic addition to our team, and we look forward to seeing her take our events to the next level.

Our Events Manager role is part-funded by The Seafarers’ Charity and is a key, strategic position in our fundraising efforts—helping us grow our national events portfolio, strengthen relationships with partners, and generate vital income to support seafaring families in crisis.

Of course, this also means we will soon be saying goodbye to our amazing Fran Lane, who has been with the charity for almost two years. Fran has delivered some phenomenal events during her time with us, and we’re incredibly proud to share that she will be moving on to Hotham Hall as their new Events Manager.

Our CEO, Natasha Barley, said: “Fran joined the charity at a pivotal point and her expertise, professionalism and enthusiasm helped the charity to grow existing events and establish new ones. She has helped establish Ladies Lunch as a key event going from 350 to 466 attendees in a year, she was instrumental in launching Waves of Influence in London with The Seafarers’ Charity, generating over £50,000, and took last year’s Sports Lunch to a record-breaking £100,000 raised after costs.

I am so proud to see her move on to this next step in her career and we can’t wait to collaborate with her and the team at Hotham Hall on our future events there.”

Linda Kilburn, owner of Hotham Hall, added: “The next chapter of Hotham Hall Estate will see our events expand far beyond our reputation for stunning weddings, great parties and private dinners. With the launch of our new dedicated Event space, Members’ lounges and bar and additional 5* Accommodation, the opportunities for creating unforgettable experiences are endless.

It was important for us to bring in someone who wouldn’t stop at the obvious but whose creativity and drive could push our events into new territory, delivering occasions unlike anything seen before in our area. We think Fran is the perfect person to make that happen.”

This next step for Fran feels particularly special, as Linda and her husband, David Kilburn, have been long-time supporters of Sailors’ Children’s Society offering their backing since Linda first moved to Hull more than 30 years ago.

We couldn’t be prouder of Fran as she takes on this exciting new role, and at the same time, we are thrilled to welcome Elly to the team as we continue to grow and develop our events to support seafaring families across the UK.