About Us & Our Team
Finding Inspiration in Every Turn
Whether you represent a club, a committee, or group, TJB's unique skills and personal experience in sports clubs and community groups mean we understand the why, the what for, and the why not. We work across a multitude of sporting and community-based projects daily so our finger is on the pulse and your project is in safe hands.
Our Story
At TJB Sports & Community we have first-hand experience of the role sports clubs, community groups, and charities play within the fabric of the communities they represent.
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Our team are actively involved within our own community sports clubs, giving us far-reaching insight into the extent sports clubs have been at the heart of their communities for generations of local people, and how these clubs can continue to evolve for the betterment of not only their members; but the towns, villages, and groups they represent.
Meet The Team
Tom Bailey | Director
Dr Tom Bailey is our company director here at TJB Sports & Community. Tom has been involved at his hometown cricket club, Clitheroe CC for the last 30 years, initially as a player, but more recently following in the footsteps of his family as part of the committee.
Tom has taken up various voluntary roles at Clitheroe CC, where he is currently cricket chairman. Having been fortunate to work as part of a team to marry on the field and off field success, Tom has developed and grown the club's social media accounts to over 7,000 combined followers, initiated and helped to organise community events including a Gin Festival (raising over £6,000), Bonfire Night (£13,000+ raised), negotiated bar deals, and helped enable the development of the club's facilities through grant funding and other sources of income. It is the club's own success, with circa £300,000 raised through grant funding, growth to over 200 Juniors and 6 Senior teams, aswell as a quadrupling of social memberships and bar turnover, that inspired Tom to explore how we could help other community clubs and groups.
Away from sport, Tom is a keen learner, having studied Organisational Psychology at MSc level (where he met Carlina, at the University of Manchester) and through a PhD at the University of Nottingham. Prior to setting up TJB Sports & Community, Tom lectured in statistics and led research projects pertaining to the lives of children with intellectual disabilities, and their families, at The University of Warwick.
In his spare time Tom loves to travel, often following the England cricket team as part of the trip. At home Tom loves to follow local sport and eat & drink around the Ribble Valley's bars, pubs, and restaurants.
Carlina Hill | Head of Business Development
Carlina Hill is our Head of Business Development here at TJB Sports & Community having joined forces with Tom a decade after their meeting at the Alliance Manchester Business School where they completed their Masters in Organisational Psychology.
Carlina is passionate about people, with two psychology degrees and a long history as an active advocate for under-represented and marginalised groups, completing research into LGBTQ+ experiences in the workplace in conjunction with Stonewall, and actively involved with fundraising activities for children with disabilities and charity Adoption Matters.
Research and writing are activities that have followed Carlina throughout her career, originating from her time as a student. Since, she has worked in content creation and copywriting for a well-known payment services provider, international brand The Alliance, and others.
Outside of the office Carlina is dedicated to her three young children (who keep her very busy) and volunteers her time as a Unit Leader for Girl Guiding North West twice a week.
Born into a sporting family, Carlina is engaged in a range of disciplines from rugby to cricket with a preference for track and field, she fondly remembers watching Usain Bolt break the 100m World Record at the World Championships in Berlin, 2009.
In her spare time Carlina enjoys reading, learning, being creative, and socialising.
Chris Rush | Business Development Manager
Chris Rush is a Business Development Manager here at TJB Sports & Community, whilst also being involved in our growing TJB Services arm. He has spent most of his professional career working in sport most notably as a Performance Coach with Middlesbrough, Man City, and Blackburn Rovers FC male senior teams and Manchester United FC women’s senior team.
Chris has also keenly participated in a variety of sports including football, as a Clitheroe Wolves and Clitheroe FC youth player, as a junior cricketer with Ribblesdale Wanderers, and as a runner for Ribble Valley Runners completing a number of marathons and ultra-marathons for charity.
His passion for sport extends to the community with a voluntary role as Coach Education Officer for Ribble Valley Runners. Since its inception in April 2021 he’s helped the running club grow from zero members to over 100 active runners in less than a year. He also coaches his sons U7’s Langho FC team.
Chris studied for a Bachelor in Science at Liverpool John Moores and a Masters in Philosophy at Teesside University. Along with this education Chris has always been a keen researcher publishing several research articles in the sport science arena.
In his spare time Chris is the proud father of 2 children who love nothing more than going to watch Clitheroe FC or Clitheroe Cricket Club and share in our passion for sport.
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Sarah Dewhurst | Business Development Manager
Sarah Dewhurst works alongside Tom whom she's known since birth through their local cricket club, Clitheroe CC. Sarah has been involved at the club since 1985 when her then boyfriend played for the first XI, having moved from the Bolton League (Astley Bridge, Eagley, Westhoughton) and Association (British Aerospace).
Thirty six years later her husband no longer plays competitively but their sons have now taken over on the field, both having also played in Australia for a number of years.
Engagement with Clitheroe CC runs in Sarah's family and she is frequently involved with the club to this day as a volunteer, along with her daughter who plays an important role in events planning.
Sarah has been an active member of local tennis clubs Eagley and Clitheroe, sitting on the committee for the latter and providing her an intricate knowledge of the workings of sports clubs behind the scenes. Work wise Sarah has had a varied and expansive career ranging from Hotel Manager to Caterer, Accountant, Librarian, Teacher, and Head of Year. Sarah brings all of her years of hands-on experience to her new role at TJB and channels it into supporting clubs in producing high quality funding bids.
Paul Griffin | Club Consultant
Paul Griffin is an independent club profit improvement and cost reduction consultant. Since 2005 and at the age of 19, Paul turned around his first local working mens club whilst studying his Accounting & Finance Degree at University.
Paul has significant project experience in reducing businesses' electricity consumption, regularly achieving energy reductions of well over 50%, as well as substantial reductions in other club costs (typically amounting to over £10,000 worth of annual club savings).
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Paul's sporting interests mainly revolve around badminton and table tennis, but his main passion has been to enhance clubs' finances and profitability, allowing others to enjoy the benefits of community sport. Away from sport, Paul has a young family, with his daugher Paige now a toddler keeping him on his toes! In his spare time, Paul acts as treasurer and trustee at two local working mens/social clubs and at his local community centre in Menston, West Yorkshire.
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Paul's own business was formed in May 2019 and has grown to assist dozens of clubs across the UK. Subsequently, Paul has joined in partnership with TJB Services to enhance our offering in these challenging times.
Peter Dibb | Head of New Business
Peter is our head of new business and a company director here at TJB Sports & Community. Peter has been involved with his hometown cricket club (Clitheroe CC) for the last 30 years. He began his cricketing journey at the same time as Tom. Initially, they spent many hours together travelling around the North West, playing for various junior representative teams. From growing up together as childhood friends, they now work together in helping sports clubs thrive throughout the UK.
Over the years their roles within Clitheroe Cricket Club have developed down different routes but both remain firmly entrenched in supporting their local club. Peter is the first team captain and an active member of the committee. He has hands on dealings with all aspects of the running of the cricket club and is therefore well versed in the various challenges that sports clubs and volunteer led committees face; which has served him well since working at TJB Sports & Community.
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Peter’s life passion has always been sport. Aside from cricket, he has enjoyed playing success in other areas such as tennis and football and is a keen viewer of pretty much any sport!
As a qualified teacher and having spent years working within both primary and secondary education, Peter is passionate about creating pathways into sport for all children and is fully appreciative of the vital role that local sports clubs play in getting children physically and socially active.
Outside of sport (when he’s not working or playing!), he enjoys keeping fit in the gym and taking his dogs and young daughter on strolls around the Lancashire countryside. Whilst also squeezing in some social outings as often as possible – he is known to frequent the local pubs and restaurants with Tom on a regular basis!