Colette Chiesa
Branch Chair
Colette comes from a business background and spent many years working in London before retiring to Ayrshire over three years ago with her husband and their two dogs.
For the past two years, Colette has been proud to volunteer with SSAFA, which has allowed her to work within the local community and raise awareness of the incredible work this charity does, supporting those who serve and have served our country and their families.
In her free time, Colette likes to enjoy the lovely Ayrshire countryside with her 2 dogs, reading and good movies.
Gary Houlton
Branch Digital Marketing Volunteer
Gary is a Royal Air Force Veteran having served in various squadrons within the Royal Air Force Regiment. Gary left the RAF in 2002 and has had a varied career path since becoming a "civvy". He worked in the public sector for a few years in one of Glasgow's Local Development Companies. He then went onto running electrical contracting businesses until 2014 when he completely re-invented himself and started a freelance Digital Marketing business.
Gary is the Marketing and IT Director for a company based in Spain who are in the language education industry.
In the past he has been heavily involved in volunteering for the Scout Movement but work commitments meant that he had to give that part of his life up.
His connection and bond with the Armed Forces has never gone away he regards his volunteering for SSAFA to be a way to give back to the community that he has always felt a part of and looked after him during his service.
Bob Whiteford
Caseworker
Bob has been volunteering for SSAFA for 14 years and we are incredibly grateful for his dedication to the Caseworker role and for his unwavering support. Bob has won awards for his service to volunteering and goes without saying that a huge number of serving personnel, veterans and their families in Ayrshire have been helped via SSAFA because of Bob.
David Hepburn
Branch Helper and Military Adviser
David is a Veteran of The Royal Scots and has been volunteering for SSAFA for many years. David continues to be an extremely valuable member of our team and has helped countless serving personnel, veterans and their families in Ayrshire. David's military and government service, experience and knowledge helps the branch enormously.
Bill Ponsford
Caseworker
Bill is a Royal Air Force Veteran and served as an Aircraft Engineer for 22 years.
Susan Preece
Branch Treasurer & Branch Administration Coordinator
Susan joined the WRAF when she left school and trained as an Assistant Air Traffic Controller and then spent many years as a military wife. Susan was very aware of SSAFA during this time. The company Susan worked for before she retired was a charity partner of SSAFA, and this reignited her interest in SSAFA and the great work that they do.
Susan is the Branch administrator and also took on the role as Branch Treasurer.
She enjoys reading, loves travelling and also enjoys listening to rock music! After retiring, Susan joined the Ayr Rock Choir.
Charlotte Rennie
Community Engagement Volunteer
In her role as Community Engagement Volunteer, Charlotte supports local outreach and helps to raise awareness of the services available to veterans and their families. Charlotte has over 20 years of experience working in the NHS and has developed a strong understanding of the importance of accessible support and community connection.
Charlotte is passionate about supporting the Armed Forces community as her brother served 27 years with the RAF. She truly enjoys meeting new people, listening to their stories, and helping them feel heard and valued. In her spare time she loves spending time with her family, going on long walks with her dog, and enjoying live music.
Simon Tyas
Caseworker
Simon was born in 1953 in London, and after finishing secondary education he joined an RC religious order for 18 months!
Simon then joined the Metropolitan Police and served as a Constable at Bethnal Green in the East End of London, before becoming a Detective Constable; he served in the Police for 7 years.
Simon then joined the Royal Air Force as an Officer; training to be a pilot, but after an accident changed to an Air Traffic Controller. He was awarded an MBE by HM The Queen in 2002 and left the RAF in 2009 after 31 years.
Simon then joined NHS24 as a call handler; a job he really enjoys. But as of 2 November 2025 he is changing to NHS Ayrshire and Arran in Operations Support in the Ayrshire Urgent Care Service.
Simon is the Secretary of the Troon Branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland, and he also drives cancer patients to appointments as a member of Ayrshire Cancer Support.
Jamie Finlay
Caseworker
Jamie enjoys playing football, reading, researching his family history, birdwatching and nature walks and travelling in Scotland.
He volunteers with SSAFA for couple of reasons.
For the last 30 years Jamie has been a commercial manager with large defence companies supplying the UK MOD. He wants to give back something to the users of those products – people who have served in the armed forces. People like his Granpa who served in the army in World War II. He lied about his age and joined up when aged only 17, giving up a lucrative engineering apprenticeship. When he returned home, he did not have a trade and had to work long hours and constant overtime as an unskilled labourer to support his family. He didn’t know that there was any help available to him from armed forces charities and would have been too proud to ask for it any way. And Jamie's uncle who served with the army overseas, returning to the UK to bring up his young family. Jamie witnessed the difficulties he had adjusting to civilian life and finding a job. SSAFA helped him then and continue to provide valuable and much needed assistance to him now following his diagnosis with multiple sclerosis.
Jamie wants to work with SSAFA to identify and meet the needs of all the other service men and women and their families facing similar obstacles and challenges.
Elaine McFadyen
Community Engagement Volunteer
Elaine is the Community Engagement Manager for the entire Scotland region and works full-time for SSAFA. Elaine served as SSAFA Ayrshire & Arran Branch Chair for 2 years and still keeps a close bond with the branch, volunteering as a Community Engagement Volunteer attending events from time to time.
For over 20 years, Elaine worked across both the public & private sector in leadership, project management and business relationship roles. She also worked in a shoe shop, as an IT Trainer, in a factory, in many many pubs and had quite a varied career!!!
Elaine worked for Dell Computers for 12 + years as a Senior Project Consultant. As many people did over the COVID pandemic, Elaine re-evaluated her priorities and one of the main things she missed was working as a team to help others. So, Elaine made the decision to leave Dell in 2022, did some travelling in her motorhome, then went about finding her ideal role.
She is connected to the Armed Forces through her husband who is a veteran of the Royal Air Force.
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