Meet the Community members of the CAG
Niles Thompson Hailstones (Chair)
Niles Thompson Hailstones, born in London, England in 1965 from Jamaican and Scottish parents, and is an innovative musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer and community activist. He has toured the world extensively and has over 30 years experience.
He is also a leader in providing educational workshops and programs for people of all ages having worked with a wide variety of schools, colleges, universities and community groups both locally and nationally.
He is Chair of 2 grassroots community action groups in his local area of Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington, London (One Voice Community Collective and Westway23), and is well known and respected for his community works.
He is also joint Chair of the Community Advisory Group (CAG) to the TUTU Review into Institutional Racism in the Westway Trust.
Emzee Haywoode
Emzee is an experienced and well-rounded professional musician and song writer who hails from a musical family. Born in the London borough of Kensington & Chelsea although moved around from young, her cultural background is African, Caribbean and American, with family ties in Ladbroke Grove.
She has toured and worked extensively in music over many years and has been able to utilize those skills and experiences into also teaching music for various schools and colleges across London, including Kensington & Chelsea Wornington College, in the community, and independently.
Emzee is a community activist and member of grassroots action groups; One Voice Community Collective, an African Caribbean focused group, and Westway23 a campaign group fighting for the return of community assets and use of land in and around the 23 acres, beneath the A40 Westway, intended for those beneficiaries most in need in North Kensington. Currently Emzee is also a member of the Community Advisory Group.
Clive ‘Mashup’ Phillips
Growing up in Trinidad Clive has been involved with Carnival from the age of 6 or 7, making mas as a little boy. He came England as part of the Windrush generation in 1961 answering the call of the British government to help rebuild the country. Living in west London he spent most of his time in the Ladbroke Grove, finally moving into All Saint’s Road in 1980 opposite the infamous Mangrove restaurant.
As a community activist Clive has spent his life advocating on behalf of bands and pannists, and promoting the cultural traditions of Carnival which is something close to his heart. He was instrumental in setting up the London Brotherhood of Steel and LBSS, now the British Association of Steelbands (BSA) and Caribbean Music Association respectively, and in 1980 he started the Mangrove Steelband. He remains and active member of BAS and is also a member of the Notting Hill Carnival’s (NHC) Advisory Board.
More recently Clive has been awarded the BAS lifetime achievement Hall of Fame and again honoured in the 2019 Mayor’s Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership and efforts in addressing and raising awareness of the disciplines of the Notting Hill Carnival, in the community and across the country. He is also now a member of the Community Advisory Group.
Malcolm Phillips
Though brought up in the north and midlands (Leeds and Birmingham) I have worked for most of my life in West London. At 20 years old I worked in community arts and youth work at The Factory, (now called The Yaa Centre), and as the administrator for the Black Theatre Cooperative.
I went on to work in Hammersmith as a Counsellor for young people and then as Coordinator of the Forward Project in Shepherds Bush, an alternative to hospital treatment and Counselling service for the Black communities. After a period working in the NHS in south London and 18 months as Director of the Stephen Lawrence Trust, I returned to West London as the manager of The Oremi Centre, an African Centred mental health service in North Kensington.
I have worked for 20 years in North Kensington as a mental health manager, at the Oremi Centre and managing the local integrated mental health services through a London based charity. In that role I lead on the development of our well-being services for community following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower.
I was responsible for the development and delivery of specialist support to the community, in the hotels and at the Grenfell Inquiry consultations, memorial hearings and Inquiry hearings. I have supported the development of a number of community organisations in getting the resources and skills to deliver their own services as I believe the future lies in devolving power to those in the community who are best placed to support their own.
I am currently the Director of Kawaida Therapy which provides support and training in mental health and psychology.
I have been a member of the Community advisory group from the first meetings and throughout the review process.
Nicole Belfon-George
Nicole Belfon-George is a community member of the Community Advisory Group (CAG). Nicole was born and raised in Grenada, and like most of the Caribbean descendants in North Kensington, she settled in the borough after migrating to the UK. She has been a resident of Kensington and Chelsea for over 11 years. Nicole is a legal professional who volunteers her expertise to various community organisations and groups in the borough since 2009. She is passionate about community development and firmly believes that the community of North Kensington, especially the African-Caribbean descendants, should receive reparation for all the years they had to endure some form of racism.
Marcia Robinson
Born at 6 Ruston Close W10, demolished to build the A40 motorway known locally as the Westway. Compulsory purchase orders used to tear that micro West Indian community apart. Hence my unwavering interest in the communities 23 Acres and Westway23 the pressure group that have put so much work into making sure the reparations promised to community are met.
A Social Psychology BA year 2000, catapulted me into a career I became professional Senior Social Care Practitioner for over 16 years (RBKC Youth/Play Service; Looked After Children; Mental Health; Disability Assessments with Local Authorities across London.
As a retired Senior Social Care Practitioner, I choose to give my time to my community in the form of my project Just Solutions 123… a member group of the Westway Trust, we run Peer Support Groups and 6 week Counselling Awareness Training courses. Trees4Grenfell and Hope Gardens, fall under that umbrella as sister projects are both environmental development projects which aim to improve our area with the support of and employing our local youths to get involved in bettering their community.
I was invited to the CAG after the Launch of the Review of Institutional Racism at the Westway.
