Meet the Team

Almost 45 years ago, this remarkable lady founded this charity in memory of her daughter, Lucy. Kate set up the Friends of the Baby Unit to raise much-needed funds to ensure that vital equipment was available at Derby NICU. Over 4 decades and more than £2.5 million pounds raised, Kate has dedicated her life to supporting NICU because ‘tiny lives matter. Kate stepped down as Chairman at the end of 2019 but is still very much involved and at the heart of the charity.

Proudly appointed as Chairman in November 2019, I first made contact with the charity whilst fundraising in 2017 following our little boy being on the unit. After initially getting involved with helping with the charity's stalls, I was soon invited to join as a trustee. 

I started working with FOBU in June 2015, after the birth of my premature daughter.

Hi, I'm Jess. In 2017 my youngest child was born at 37 weeks and soon after birth, he developed breathing problems. 

My name is Kara and I am the proudest mummy to Alfie who was in the baby unit in 2017 after a complicated birth and him falling very poorly. 

I was invited to join FOBU as a trustee at the AGM in 2019 after supporting the charity since my second daughter was born extremely premature in September 2017. She spent 117 days in the care of the unit. During our time in NICU, we experienced first hand the incredible work of the unit and team.  It was at the unit where I met Kate Repton who supported me through my journey and now I am able to give back to those who might be experiencing something similar. 

Our son Richard was born in Aug.1975. 6 weeks prem and spent 4 weeks on SCUB (as it was known). In July 1977 we were invited to a party at the hospital for prem babies to celebrate the Queens Silver Jubilee which had been organised by Kate. We had our first coffee morning in October 1977 and since then have stood on dozens of stalls along with my husband Andrew. In recent years I have done the Teddy Tombola. I was Secretary for the Friends for over 30 years standing down in 2019.

The Friends of the Baby Unit is something quite special. We’ve had our own journey through the NICU unit and through that we realised we wanted to help others. Graduating as a NICU parent is quite possibly one of the hardest things ever but definitely the most rewarding. I help with all things relating to marketing and communications, and thoroughly enjoy it! We all love to shout about the amazing stories and fundraising events that ensure those special miracles have the best start in life.

I am Ashley and I started to volunteer for FOBU in 2015 after the birth of our daughter Esme.