Meet our new trustee - could you be next?
OTN’s meeting of the Trustee Board on Saturday 19th July 2025.
COULD YOU be in the picture next year?
NOVEMBER 3rd-7th is Trustees’ Week - a time to celebrate the time, commitment and effort our charity trustees make to the Open Table Network.
At our trustee meeting on Saturday 19th July 2025 we welcomed a new trustee to our board.
Our trustees are responsible for thinking through and putting into practice plans which will develop the Open Table Network (OTN). They play a very important role in our life as a charity, for which they are unpaid.
Dr Carol Joyner, Co-Chair of OTN’s board of trustees, said:
‘We are fortunate and proud to continue to attract such talented new trustees to our team. We can’t wait to work with Aiyana to develop OTN even further.’
Join us in welcoming:
WELCOME to Aiyana Gardner Houghton from Open Table Exeter, newly co-opted to our trustee board until our AGM in April 2026.
Aiyana Gardner Houghton (she/her)
Aiyana is an ordained companion minister in the United Reformed Church, guiding and encouraging faith communities across Devon and Somerset. She also runs a café for LGBTQIA+ young people, and is a founding member and leader of the Open Table community in Exeter.
In a video messsage, Aiyana says:
This work is close to my heart, both as a bi woman and because every day people are hurt just for being who they truly are, often by churches. Safe space is so very needed and I want to be the part of the church that is visibly affirming and welcoming, because to me that sums up the whole of the gospel message.
WATCH: Aiyana’s intro video [2 mins]
As elections to the trustee board can only take place at our AGM in April, Aiyana was unanimously co-opted at our July meeting with a view to standing for election in April for a term of two years.
We are grateful for all our trustees who have guided us through the last four years of challenge, change and phenomenal growth since OTN became a charity in March 2021.
Could you be next?
We have TWO more spaces on OTN's trustee board. We can co-opt new people at any meeting to serve until next year's AGM.
