Our Staff and Volunteers

Rachel Robinson (Senior Administrator)

Rachel Robinson. Born and educated in Brighton, England, Rachel has travelled a lot but most recently moved from Cyprus to NI in 2011 with her husband Pete (from NI) and their 3 children who are now aged 20, 18 & 16 and their 2 dogs.

Rachel joined Youth Lyric in April 2017 but has a worked as a PA / Secretary / Administrator / Event planner for many years, in both large and small organisations, in a variety of work sectors; such as BT, Health & Safety Consultancy, and Retail. She is a co-ordinator for a busy Mums & Toddler group and has run childrens holiday clubs and summer events in her spare time. She is very organised and loves the buzz of working as part of the team at Youth Lyric.

Jackie Fisher (Administrator for Antrim)

Jackie qualified from the University of Northumbria in 1996 with an honours degree in Consumer Sciences and went on to complete her teaching qualification at the University of Ulster in 1997. In the same year, she joined the Home Economics Department of Antrim Grammar School as teacher of Home Economics and Health & Social Care and has been teaching there for 21 years now. In 2010 she completed her Diploma in Educational Management with Special Needs. Jackie is also a Director on the Board of Women’s Aid, ABCLN and is a volunteer at The Children’s Contact Centre, Antrim. She is also married, has two teenage boys and three little pooches whom she loves to walk!

As Jackie is past pupil of Antrim Grammar School she is passionate about supporting local children and young people in the surrounding areas. Building confidence and resilience are skills that she works on developing each day in the classroom. Youth Lyric, she believes, provides a different, informal and safe setting to help develop these skills. Jackie has had lots of experience in events management and she managed the work experience scheme in 6^th form for almost 10 years. Although very new to the Youth Lyric team, having only joined in April 2018, she is really looking forward to a very exciting year, supporting Joanna, Lynne, the children and their parents at Antrim Youth Lyric as they prepare to present their Showcase in February 2019 at The Old Courthouse, Antrim.

Salima Ramirez (Assistant Administrator)

Salima Graduated from Universitat de Barcelona in 2013 with a Masters degree in Business and Management and has worked in the Retail Industry for more than seven years in several countries. She is half Spanish half Nigerian, but born and raised in Germany.

Salima moved to Belfast in 2019 with her two children who are now aged five and three. She joined Youth Lyric in August 2021 and is handling the administration for our Strathearn and Orangefield PC classes plus assisting our Antrim administrator. She loves reading, arts and crafts and learning about different cultures and is fluent in German, Spanish and English

Naomi Robinson (Assistant Administrator)

Naomi Robinson moved to NI from Cyprus when she was 9 years old. In her last year at senior school she attending Youth Lyric and achieved a Grade 8 Distinction from Trinity College in Speech and Drama.

After finishing school where she achieved 9 GCSE’s and 3 A levels she worked lots of jobs to raise enough funds to travel to Australia for 6 months as a volunteer for a Charity. She returned home during Lockdown and now works as a classroom assistant in a special needs school.  She loves paddle boarding, watching movies, baking, attending church and walking her cockapoo Zena.

She is now assistant administrator and is responsible for some classes at Stranmillis College and Strandtown.

Sarah Lavery (Assistant Administrator)

Sarah has worked in education for over 13 years and is currently a member of staff at Antrim Grammar School. She loves working with children of all ages and considers it a privilege.

She has two children, 14 year old Calum and 17 year old Emily who is currently a member and volunteer at Youth Lyric. also

Sarah is a huge advocate of Youth Lyric and believes drama is a massive attribute todeveloping self-confidence, self-belief and self-worth.

Sarah feels that it equips children with essential life skills and promotes the ability to nurture good mental health, something she is very passionate about for young people.

Lisa Bates (Assistant Administrator)

Lisa has over 30 years administration experience working in the construction, accountancy and legal industries combined. She has held her current position as Office Manager in FRKelly Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys for over 20 years. During her time there, she sat and passed The Irish Trade Mark exams, qualifying as a European Trade Mark Attorney. In the past years she has taken in the role of filing Patent Validations at the Irish and UK Patent Offices.

Lisa heads up 4U2, a Group which meets for Adults with Learning Disabilities and runs a varied programme throughout the year for the members. She loves the theatre and spent a lot of time both in the auditorium and backstage at GOH thanks to her brother who worked there!

Lisa adores the beach and at weekends can often be found sea swimming. She loves family, food and a good book!

Alison Young (Volunteer)

Alison joined Youth Lyric as a volunteer in September 2021.  Her love of drama is longstanding and Alison is a past student of the Youth Lyric herself.  She has had many years working as a volunteer with young people of all ages.  Alison has worked in both the health and education sectors for the past 20 years.

In her spare time, Alison loves to read both fiction and non – fiction genres. She is hoping to join a choir next year should she have any free time left !!

Orla McManus (Volunteer)

Orla has studied and been involved in Drama all through secondary school then chose to study it for an Undergraduate degree. She loves helping to teach young people perform and watch their confidence bloom as it was such a huge part of her life growing up!

In her spare time she loves to bake and spend time with her family

Eden Byrne (Volunteer)

Eden has recently started volunteering in Youth Lyric in June 2022 and has really enjoyed it so far! She has just completed her A levels in Geography , English Literature and Health and Social Care. She hopes to study Primary Teaching or Social Work in the future as she is enthusiastic about working with children and young people.

In her spare time she enjoys reading, spending time with her friends and family, celebrating the holidays and participating and coaching in Taekwondo!

Ann Quinn (Volunteer)

Ann Quinn graduated from University of Ulster in 2009 with an honours degree in English with Psychology and went on to work in Early years for the next 10 years. She also worked as a Learning Support Assistant and then Pupil Support Officer for two years, which rekindled her love for learning and helping students to achieve their goals.

In June 2022 she completed a counselling degree, and is currently an English and Drama PGCE student at Queens University Belfast.

Ann loves to sing and has been part of the Ulster Youth Choir. In her spare time she enjoys going to concerts and reading.

She joined Youth Lyric as a volunteer in November 2022, and she is delighted to be a part of the fantastic Antrim group. “I cannot wait to see what exciting opportunities and experiences are coming my way.”

Aimee Hayes (Volunteer)

Aimee is a mum of 2 children and started volunteering as admin support for Youth Lyric after her son attended classes. Recently Aimee has started volunteering in classes with the tutors as she loves working with children and being part of the students journey in learning skills and gaining confidence week by week.

Aimee enjoys being in the outdoors, taking walks in forests or on beaches. In 2022 she went back to college to do an Access into university course and has applied to do childrens nursing at QUB for this academic year. Her work background has been looking after people from newborns to 96 year olds as she loves spending time and having a positive impact on people around her.

Patrick Hetherington (Volunteer)

Patrick, a volunteer at Youth Lyric, graduated with an law degree from Reading University in 2016 but has always had a passion for drama. Throughout his academic years, he participated in numerous student productions and went with the drama society to the Edinburgh Fringe, playing Valere in a production of Tartuffe.

Currently Patrick is working at a marketing agency based out of Leeds, doing creative and branding work for small businesses as well as studying part time for his diploma in Speech & Drama, aiming to expand his skills in this field. As a Youth Lyric alumni, he has performed in several plays, including “The Twits” and “The BFG”, which were some of the earliest performances he did in front of an audience.

Néidín Hendron (Volunteer)

“Néidín has completed her PGCE at Queen’s University, specialising in English and Drama.

With a background in education and good relations, she is passionate about using drama and the arts to help young people build relationships, follow their passions and improve their confidence-all of which Youth Lyric are perfect for!

Néidín previously spent three years as a children’s facilitator, working to deliver shared school programmes to primary school pupils across Belfast and Derry. She began volunteering with Youth Lyric in November 2022 and has loved every minute so far”

Serena Cochrane Browne (Student Volunteer)

Serena is currently studying A levels at Sullivan upper in Holywood. Next year she plans to study acting at a conservatoire in England. She has been a member of Youth Lyric for 7 years now, achieving her grade 8 last year and is so excited to share all the valuable skills she has learnt  to the younger generation. She also loves to partake in musicals and singing is one of her favourite things to do (after drama of course)!!”

Chris Cairns (Student Volunteer)

Chris is currently studying Film and Production at Queens University , starting his second year there. He enjoys producing films, writing scripts and acting in productions as well.

He would like to volunteer to help kids who haven’t quite built up their confidence or skills yet and to allow them to flourish in their acting abilities. He would also love to see the film industry in Northern Ireland thrive in the future, knowing how the whole Arts industry suffered during Covid.

In his free time he enjoys going to the cinema to support the films that are being released, as well as going there just to relax.

Isla Scott (Student Volunteer)

Isla is in year 10 and hoping to do Performing Arts and Child development for her GCSEs.

She joined Youth Lyric in 2021 and earned her grade 4 in 2022. Isla’s favorite time of the week is her drama and volunteering classes. She volunteers to help children achieve the level of confidence and excitement she found through Youth Lyric. In her spare time, she enjoys attending performances in the Waterfront and Lyric theatres.

Yasmin Saunders Mulgrew (Student Volunteer: Duke of Edinburgh)

Yasmin is volunteering with Youth Lyric as part of her bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Yasmin has been attending Youth Lyric classes since she was 9 and is currently working towards a grade 6 certificate.

Yasmin is a big fan of Broadway performances and musicals and enjoys watching them in her free time.