GUEST SPEAKERS
Gemma grew up in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, where she started ballet aged 5 and first got a taste for performing at her church youth drama group and later in the town’s pantomime, where she played the Princess in Aladdin. After a TV appearance on a national search for a new MTV presenter called ‘Is She MTV?’ alongside Richard Blackwood Gemma continued at the University of Bedfordshire, where she gained a first class degree in Media Performance. Before she even graduated Gemma joined the presenting team at CBBC in 2003 debuting on the CBBC Channel and later going on to appear on CBBC1 and CBBC2.
Her time at CBBC was exciting and action-packed seeing Gemma travel all over the world filming in the oceans around Australia, the rainforests of South America and plains of Africa. She hosted the magazine shows ‘Xchange’ and ‘Smile’ and co-presented ‘Best of Friends’, ‘Barney’s Barrier Reef’, ‘Bamzooki’, ‘Barney’s Latin America’ and ‘All Over the Place’. She has reported from Ghana for the Africa Lives season, presented live from Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s 80th birthday and at The Royal Albert Hall for the Blue Peter Proms and ‘Evolution’ Prom alongside Sir David Attenborough. Gemma has competed as a runner and reported from the Great North Run, and regularly hosted CBBC’s live coverage at Wimbledon, and last but no means least, appeared in an episode of Chucklevision.
In 2013 Gemma moved to the younger sibling channel, CBeebies where she fronted the new Pirate themed game show ‘Swashbuckle’. This is now in it’s 8th series with over 200 episodes filmed and has won a Children’s BAFTA for Best Entertainment Show. Gemma was also nominated as ‘Best Presenter’ at the Children’s BAFTA’s in 2017. Her time at CBeebies has also seen Gemma appear on ‘Stargazing’, ‘Justin’s House’, ‘CBeebies Bedtime Stories’, ‘Treasure Champs’, ‘My First’, two ‘CBeebies Proms at The Royal Albert Hall’, and the hugely popular ‘CBeebies Presents; A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Snow Queen, Thumbelina, Hansel and Gretel, The Night Before Christmas and her first Shakespeare role as the Princess Escalus in Romeo and Juliet’.
During 2020 Gemma joined the presenting team on the longest running religious programme in the world, ‘Songs of Praise’. She also travelled around Spain and the UK to film for C5’s ‘Today At The Caravan Show’ which she co-hosted from the NEC with Rufus Hound.
Gemma has presented a huge variety of shows and has hundreds of live hours of TV experience presenting magazine shows, links and hosting coverage from live events and appearing on radio. Gemma also presents ‘Together’ a BBC Education Radio show, downloadable for school assemblies and you can see Gemma presenting live at Festivals around the UK, including Big Church Festival, New Wine, Spring Harvest and Soul Survivor.
2022 saw Gemma become a published Children’s Author. Her debut book ‘Gemma Hunt’s See Let’s Be…A Good Friend’ is a modern retelling of Bible stories using her own mixed race family as the characters, to show diversity in British culture and to imitate her favourite role model of Jesus in helping families to learn together how they too can be ‘A Good Friend’. This is available to purchase from spckpublishing.co.uk or other online bookshops.
Dr Pearl Jarrett
CEO of The Jarrett Foundation
In 2005 Dr Jarrett was diagnosed with Cancer. After winning the fight of her life, she decided to draw up a “Bucket List” of all the things she’s ever wanted to do, but either talked herself out of it, or allowed others to talk her out of it. She decided that as she had been given a second chance, this was her opportunity to change the world. Within two weeks of this decision, she packed up her successful business consultancy and she headed for The Gambia, Africa. The Jarrett Foundation was born. Today she works at the highest level of government both in the UK and Jamaica. In Jamaica the Foundation delivered approx. half a Million pounds worth of furniture and new school resources that was distributed to 136 schools.
In 2021 The Jarrett Foundation wanted to find a way to help Jamaica fight COVID-19, so they shipped a donation of 2 Million face masks worth £620k and distributed them to their National Health Service, Ministry of Education and people on the streets.
The UK Dr Jarrett launched a Youth Mentoring program for disadvantaged youths to keep them away from gang culture and knife crime. She’s currently driving a London wide “Reducing Knife Crime” school program. Her partners include New Scotland Yard, Tesco, Microsoft and Apple.
Revisiting that Bucket list, Dr Jarrett is also an Entrepreneur, Doctor, Actor, Singer, Public Speaker, Musical Theatre Producer, Playwright and Mentor as “Aunty Pearl” to numerous young people with budding entrepreneurial and innovative ideas, and an Adviser to No 10 Downing Street.
Known on social media as the lady who says “I’m #ReInventingMyselfInMy50’s, she is now showing other older women how they can reinvent themselves to be whoever they want to ‘BE’.
Her biggest achievement, however, is that she is a wife and mother of 3 phenomenal kids and has been married for 33 years to her best friend and hero, Dr Errord Jarrett.
Les has played a significant role in the international contemporary worship music community over the last few decades.
As an author, mentor, A&R manager, record producer and bass player on many albums he aims to encourage and develop many worship leaders, musicians and songwriters, including Matt Redman, Martin Smith, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick & Noel and Tricia Richards.
At the end of 2020, Les’s role as A&R Ambassador for Integrity Music changed to Executive Manager for the Word & Worship Trust, which aims to see the songs & sounds of the nations released.
Les is married to Judith and based in Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK. They have a son and daughter, James and Isabel.
Paul Manwaring
Paul’s life spans 4 career seasons. He began training as an SRN/RMN and working as a staff nurse in intensive care. Next, he joined the Prison Service of England & Wales, where he became a Prison Governor, with a particular interest and experience with young offenders. In 2001 he and his wife moved to Redding, California. They had no plan of a career in church leadership, they were just pursuing God. This journey resulted in Paul joining the Senior Leadership Team of Bethel Church where they spent 15 years.
After 15 years’ experience in the unique atmosphere on the Senior Leadership Team of Bethel Church, they were drawn back to live and minister in Europe. His experience at Bethel included developing a global network for church leaders, teaching in many church and conference events, overseeing 3rd year school of ministry and a general involvement in the growth of a globally impacting ministry.
The return to Europe began an itinerant travelling and teaching ministry as well as serving the Europe Shall Be Saved and Awakening Europe teams. They are excited, encouraged and challenged by the great harvest field of Europe.
Paul has much diversity in his ministry but sums it up as fathering people and fathering organisations and all that embraces. He has a passion to empower everyone to know that they are sent from heaven to earth to bring the transformation of the Kingdom of Heaven. whoever they are, whatever they do, and wherever they go.
Central to this is erasing the secular sacred, equipping the church to be apostolic families which raise up world changers. Paul ministers with the prophetic, healing, and his passion of maximising moments in the presence (closing worship).
He has been married to Sue for over 40 years, has two sons, two daughter in laws, two grandsons and a granddaughter.
Darren Armstrong
Be Strong
Darren’s history is full of violence, destruction and addiction. Eventually, he ended up in prison for stabbing someone in a town centre sports shop and was sent to prison.
At 28, desperate to break this cycle, he ended up in church and gave his life to Jesus. With a degree in Sports Development and a passion for supporting people in the same cycle of addiction and violence, he provided gym memberships and personal development programmes.
Be Strong now has 3 houses and a 2 bed apartment to support 11 male and female homeless ex offenders and addicts. In addition, Be Strong provides gym memberships and provides practical employability skills.
Darren is married, has five children and one grandchild.
Bazil Meade
London Community Gospel Choir
Born in the Montserrat, Bazil Meade is the charismatic and multi-talented vocalist, pianist and leader of Europe’s premier vocal ensemble, the London Community Gospel Choir. Moving to England at aged nine family circumstances caused him to leave home in his teens. His ambition was to bring the two fundamental aspects of his life together, his faith and music, to inspire and entertain audiences. Having built up a legion of dedicated fans the choir perform regularly to audiences all over the world.
Many of the greatest musical artists have called upon the services of Bazil and the choir including Madonna, Sting, Sir Paul McCartney, Brian May, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Luther Vandross and Kylie Minogue. Bazil can turn his hand to any type of genre and his and the choir’s versatility have made them the first point of call for soulful vocals for high profile concerts and recordings.
As well as with the choir, Bazil runs his own vocal workshops around the world and also the Bazil Meade Experience – Bazil on keys with 3 backing vocals and the band, an imitate performance.
His book A Boy, A Journey, A Dream tells the story of his life with the choir. The foreword written by Sir George Martin.
Awarded the MBE in 2018 for Services to Gospel Music. If you talk about British Gospel Music you are talking about Bazil!
Dr Lionel Wallace
Lionel Wallace DL was born and raised in Hertfordshire. He is a senior aeronautical engineer and an alumnus of the University of Hertfordshire, having studied Law part-time while continuing his aviation career and graduated in 2014.
Lionel has been a Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire since 2008, and he was the first Black High Sheriff of Hertfordshire when he was appointed for a twelve-month tenure in 2021.
Lionel was made Honorary Doctor of Laws.
Samuel Leeds
Training Kings
Samuel Leeds is an international speaker, two-times best selling author and a leading property investor.
Samuel had a spiritual experience in 2007 which resulted in him leaving his job to pursue ministry and become a property investor. The church challenged his motives and desire to succeed which led him to go to Bible college for three years and study Biblical Economics. Samuel came to the conclusion that God had given him an entrepreneurial brain, and he had to use it!
Within a few short years Samuel was able to retire through his property business, but instead of retiring he established Training Kings, a support network for Christian entrepreneurs. This rapidly became a nationwide organisation with branches all over the UK.
Today, Samuel is the CEO of six successful companies as well as owning over £1M of property throughout the UK. He has inspired tens of thousands of people across the world to invest smarter and to live better.
