Claudine has spent over 25 years making big things happen. In a career spanning multiple Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games, she has helped deliver major events across the UK and around the world – from ceremonies to torch relays, sport presentation to hospitality operations. She is passionate about creating once in a lifetime experiences for everyone involved.
Originally from London, she relocated to Birmingham for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. One of the projects she led was the design and fabrication of the medals that were produced locally in the Jewellery Quarter and the place she now calls home. Keen to contribute to the communities she is part of, Claudine volunteers as Secretary of the JQ Neighbourhood Forum and on the St Paul’s Church Fundraising Committee. Outside work she plays squash socially, is an orchestral musician and a rhythm tap dancer.
‘I’ve always been drawn to transformations – an overgrown garden, a building with potential, a vision not yet realised. Highbury is all of those things and more and I wanted to help realise that. I love being part of a journey that is still being written and making Highbury a genuinely accessible hub for community, creativity and engagement is what attracted me to becoming a trustee here. Seeing a vision realised, brick by brick, never gets old. The Chamberlains understood that better than most. The more I learn about them, the more I find them woven into the fabric of Birmingham – reshaping its infrastructure, expanding education, supporting leisure and the arts. Joseph is even buried at Key Hill, one of Birmingham’s great historic cemeteries – a fitting resting place for a man so deeply embedded in this city’s story. Highbury and its gardens deserve to be preserved and enjoyed by future generations. I want to help make that happen.
The piece of the Chamberlain story that inspires me most is Mary Chamberlain, Joseph’s third wife. She managed and hosted major social gatherings at Highbury, using it as a place not just for meeting but for creating the environment for ideas, inspiration and connection to flourish. She knew that the right environment, with the right people in it, could spark something special. She was a pioneer and in many ways, Highbury’s very first event organiser. I find that quietly inspiring.’ Claudine Ratnayake
