KATHY Reade has left her post as chairman of NHS East Lancashire – to pursue a career as a guitar-playing singer-songwriter.

The outgoing health chief was presented with a framed letter of thanks and flowers from The Prince of Wales during a leaving party last week.

Prince Charles thanked Kathy for her “hard work and tireless commitment to the health and wellbeing of residents”.

But now Kathy, who was the first and so far only female leader of Burnley Council, is swapping a life of board meetings for a life treading the boards.

She said: “I’ve been doing it since I was 20, and I’m 63 now, so the music has always been the core essence of me.

"It is a not a decision I took lightly as I have always been, and will continue to be, a passionate supporter and advocate of the NHS, its staff and patients.

However, I know that the trust is well placed to respond to the challenges of the NHS reforms.”

The mum-of-one, whose music is described on her website as having ‘both British folk and Americana stylings’ and ‘that magic something that evokes the mood of some lost timeless classic’, has already recorded three albums in her spare time.

Click play to listen

The latest, Passionate Nature, was produced by BBC producer David Crickmore and mastered by Burnley band Chumbawamba.

Kathy will be touring in the coming months, with dates already confirmed in Bradford and Calderdale.

A former social worker and lecturer, Kathy led Burnley Council in the 1990s, pioneering participation and community safety programmes.

She was appointed a non-executive director of Burnley Healthcare Hospitals Trust in 1997.

She was appointed at NHS East Lancashire, which covers Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale, in 2006.

Steve Spoerry, the trust’s chief executive, said she had been ‘an inspirational leader’.

To find out more about Kathy’s music visit the website below.