Hilary Massarella MBE, Founder Trustee

Hilary is wife to Mark and mother of Annabel, Charles, Joseph, Edward and Elizabeth and she is always quick to say that, without their continuous support, she would not have been able to dedicate as much time to SAFE@LAST over the last 10 years as she has.

'My husband has been the foundation stone of everything that I do, giving me a strong base on which to build, and the children's enthusiasm as they have grown older has certainly provided some of the bricks with which we have built SAFE@LAST.'

SAFE@LAST began as an idea in Hilary's mind and heart in 1998, became a reality in 2000 and began to deliver some of the services that we see today in 2004. It was, in those early days, a reasonably small commitment but as the organisation grew Hilary's role has become a full time job which she does on a purely voluntary basis.

Although Hilary is very actively involved in the day to day activity, her main responsibility is to drive the charity forward and in particular to work towards long term sustainability for SAFE@LAST. The Trustees intend that the charity will still be providing excellent services for children and young people for many years to come.

Hilary and everyone involved with SAFE@LAST was delighted when she was awarded the MBE in the 2010 New Years Honours list for voluntary services to disadvantaged children in South Yorkshire.