Nick Pitt
I started out in life as a software developer, designing software for the retail banking sector and spending far too much time working in the Middle East. I ended up working for ICE, going into primary schools and talking to children about Christianity! These two (rather disparate) occupations demonstrate so clearly how we can never presume to know exactly what it is that God has planned for our lives. (We can try and guess but we’re usually wrong – at least I was anyway!)
I was able to leave the IT profession in 2001. Still many years the ‘right side of 40’ I had plenty of time to embark upon a more meaningful endeavour. I’d long had a desire to work with children – particularly younger children – so in 2004 I undertook a PGCE course at Exeter University. Shortly after qualifying as a primary school teacher I started working at a school in Torquay, where I remained for several years.
During the summer of 2015, God opened a door for me to join ICE Torbay. During my Christian life I’ve always had a passion for working with young people and children, and this position created so many opportunities to do this, in a variety of creative and imaginative ways.
I’d spent a number of years at our church (Christ Church, Paignton) sharing the Good News of Jesus with children and young people, doing Bible teaching, games, drama, crafts and many more activities. I’d been actively involved in church-based youth and children’s work for over 10 years which gave me some vital experience to bring to my new role.
Debbie Onslow
I moved from Dorset to Torbay in July 2015, having been a Speech and Language Therapist for 32 years in the NHS. This involved a lot of schools work, both in mainstream and special schools and blocks of input into Specialist Residential School settings.
On moving to Devon, I encountered Jesus during sung worship (the day after I moved!) and became a member of Roselands Community Church. I had the privilege to work as Manager of Time Out Coffee Shop and Community Centre for couple of years, before being sent out by the church into ministry in January 2021. For the past three years I have been undertaking Ministerial Formation and academic study at Bristol Baptist College and working on a part-time basis as a Pioneer Minister in Mental Health and Wellbeing in Paignton Baptist Church. Those courses finished in May 2024 and I’m now a recognised local minister with the South West Baptist Association.
Following a number of ‘God prompts’ I am excited to have joined the team at ICE Torbay and I am enjoying getting to know staff and pupils in schools, introducing children to Jesus, sharing testimony when appropriate and collaborating with the team to develop new initiatives in the coming year.
Karen Silcox
My name is Karen and I work for a number of small charities both locally and nationally supporting with their business administration including ICE Torbay. I attend a church in Exeter with my husband and two children aged 13 and 9. In my spare time I like playing badminton and doing quizzes.
Trustees
Graham Massey (Chair)
Gill Harris
David Ball
Debbie Onslow