​OHMI welcomes Liane Todd to its Board of Trustees

We are delighted to announce that Liane Todd is one of four new trustees to join the OHMI Board.
Liane has lived, studied and worked her whole life in North East England, both
performing and teaching. She studied Classical Music at Newcastle University with clarinet as her principal instrument, along with flute and saxophone. Music has been a lifelong passion and she has played in all kinds of theatre, symphony and jazz orchestras as well as folk gatherings. She worked as a peripatetic woodwind teacher for Northumberland County Council for 26 years and as the exam coordinator for music examination board ABRSM in Alnwick and Morpeth.
 
Liane’s career was dramatically cut short seven years ago. Whilst performing in a theatre pit orchestra, she was hit with a quarter of a tonne of scenery equipment, leaving her with complex regional pain syndrome, a long-lasting condition affecting her entire left side.
 
Whilst undergoing treatment after her accident, Liane’s occupational therapist put her in touch with OHMI. OHMI’s General Manager Rachel Wolffsohn encouraged her to hire the one-handed clarinet on a short-term basis to see if she would take to it, even hand delivering the instrument from Birmingham.
 
Having lived experience of adapting to a one-handed musical instrument following disability is something which Liane sees as a particular strength in her new trustee role. As she explains:
 
“Losing the ability to play my clarinet, flute and saxophone was almost like a bereavement but the encouragement of everyone at OHMI has given me new purpose.

“When I think back to my time as a music teacher, I think of those pupils with particular needs who would have benefitted from the opportunity to play an adapted musical instrument. I should have made it my business to find out and now I’m determined not just to give something back to OHMI – however important that is to me – but to learn more about the wide range of adapted musical instruments and enabling equipment on offer, and to bring the charity a little further north!”

Clare Salters, OHMI’s Chair, comments,
“Liane has a lot to offer OHMI as she joins the board. As well as her experience as a performer and educator, her voice as a previous user of OHMI’s services will be particularly valuable to developing the Trust’s work and ensuring we keep aligned to the needs of our beneficiaries.”
 
All at OHMI extend their warmest welcome to Liane.