Who We Are
We all knew Hilary in different ways and each saw the huge impact that sailing had on her life. Mostly based in Kent we meet regularly to discuss new grant applications and to plan future taster days or fundraising events. If you'd like to join us to help Hilary's Dream Trust continue its great work then please do get in touch.
Kim Mason
Charity Director
I first met Hilary when we sang with the Thanet Festival Choir in the late 1990s. Fast forward a few years and Hilary told me she wanted to sail solo across the English Channel. We had just been to the cinema and she casually dropped her plan into our conversation. Knowing Hilary’s iron determination, I knew she would achieve her goal. I immediately volunteered my services.
I was very honoured when Hilary asked me to become a founder member of Hilary’s Dream Trust in 2007. I am committed to carrying on her legacy in the hope that many disabled and disadvantaged adults will experience “flying” across the water.
Martin Cox
Charity Director
Martin has been involved with helping give people with a disability an opportunity to experience the freedom of sailing since 2000 when he helped set up Westberg Sailing Opportunities. A Charity that actively helps around a thousand disabled people a year to sail on the beautiful Westbere Lake in East Kent, and of which he is now proud to be Chairman.
It was a transformative day for all concerned when in late summer 2003 Hilary was brought to Westbere lake and he gave her her first taste of sailing. Within seconds of leaving the pontoon she was hooked and the rest as they say is history.
At Westbere and now through Hilary’s Dream Trust he has seen again and again how sailing can change lives. With a little help or a few minor adaptions with kit, a disability becomes irrelevant and for a while the individual can move and enjoy life on their terms.
When not involved in sailing Martin is a full time teacher of Art and Design and a keen Photographer and guitarist.
Clifford Lister
Charity Finance Director
Clifford is a professional musician with a portfolio of work ranging from conducting to solo singing via choral and consort work. He is also a teacher of singing, predominantly at Kent College in Canterbury.
Fortunately for the Trust, Clifford had what some might call a "proper" job , in fact quite a few "proper jobs" before he settled into the music world. Banking finance and insurance all need the requisite skills to look after the financial aspects of any business, and so Clifford took on the role of accountant and treasurer for the Trust; a role he has fulfilled for the last 6 years, although he has been involved as a Trustee since 2007.
Paul Taroni
Charity Director
Paul Lives in Alton, Hampshire with his wife, four cats and two ducks. He works for South Western Railway. Paul is involved in his local community as a trustee and membership and marketing secretary of Alton Lions Club.
Paul was a team member of Hilary Lister’s Round Britain Dream, he was land based and worked to provide a ‘home from home’ for Hilary and the ‘wet crew’ as she sailed around Britain. Paul enjoys walking and anything huge with a big engine. You will often find him staring at ships, trains, aircraft and buses or walking through the beautiful Hampshire countryside or both!
Jon Goldsmith
Charity Director
Hilary was my big sister and I'll never forget the day she told me that she planned to sail across the Channel. I thought she was mad but I didn't, for a second, doubt that she would achieve it. Although she was 6 years older than me, we had been to the same school and learnt to sail on the same lake as kids. I've always been hugely proud of everything my sister achieved and to be able to help others have similar experiences is incredible.
Away from my work with the charity, I run a small travel company specialising in trips to the Arctic and Antarctic. I am also an on-call firefighter and father to three amazing kids, all of whom have a streak of Hilary's defiance in them!