Trustees
Emmaus Gloucestershire's Board of Trustees
Meet our current Board of Trustees
Peter Boxall
Peter has been a Trustee since October 2002. His career was mostly spent in the electric motor industry, and from 1982 until he retired in 2000, he managed his own electric motor repair company in Gloucester. His voluntary work covers 30 years, initially as a Voluntary Associate of the Probation Service and, since 1983, as a member of Gloucester Samaritans. He is currently responsible for Listener training in Gloucester Prison. His concern for those who leave prison, combined with the support that Emmaus is able to offer the homeless, attracted him to be involved.
Alastair Scott
Alastair became a Trustee in January 2003 and is now Deputy Chair. He spent all of his working life in book publishing, much of this being in Nigeria and, latterly, Hong Kong, where he was in charge of the operations (publishing, printing and distribution) of Oxford University Press in Greater China. While there, he pioneered the development of relationships with Mainland Chinese publishers. He retired to the UK in 2001, and was attracted to the Emmaus movement by the ethos lying behind the slogan 'Giving people a bed... and a reason to get out of it'. He also works in a voluntary capacity for The Prince's Trust and for the University of Bristol.
Roland Lethbridge
Roland has wide business experience, at various times as head of Finance and Marketing and as General Manager in a variety of organisations. He became a Trustee in April 2002. He was attracted to Emmaus because it approaches homelessness with a holistic solution, not only providing food and shelter but helping individuals regain their self-confidence and esteem through a community and work
Kate McDuff
Kate has been a trustee since April 2005. She is a qualified solicitor and spent 20 years in London working as a litigator for a large commercial firm. She and her family moved back to Gloucestershire in 2000. Since then Kate has held a number of public and community roles, including serving as a non-executive director of the Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Trust (which has responsibility for mental health in the county). She has been involved with a number of charities including Breakthrough Breast Cancer and War Child. Kate was attracted to Emmaus because of its commitment to helping people rebuild their lives.
Richard Erridge
Before becoming a solicitor, Richard pursued a career in fundraising for Help the Aged. He subsequently qualified and worked in a busy legal practice in Stroud, dealing mainly with commercial property. Since 2004 he has run his own practice in Thornbury. Richard and his wife, Sally, moved to Gloucestershire in 1995 and have two young daughters. Richard joined the Board of Trustees in May 2003 and believes that Emmaus is meeting head-on two of the modern world's worst problems - of homelessness and addiction - by offering practical solutions which help both to rebuild an individual's self-respect and to engender a positive approach to work and social relationships.
Tim David
After education at the Universities of Oxford, Zimbabwe and London, Tim became headmaster of an African secondary school, later working briefly for the British Council and as Education Director for Help The Aged. Tim’s principal career was with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Tanzania, the United Nations, serving as Deputy Head of Mission in Zimbabwe and as Head of Mission, that is High Commissioner or Ambassador, in Belize, Fiji and Zambia.Tim and his wife Rosie and their two children have now settled near Malmesbury. Tim sees working with Emmaus as an opportunity both to make a difference and for personal growth.
Clare Mathews
Clare Mathews grew up in Oxford and studied at Bristol University. She then trained as an accountant in London, and has been working in finance for 15 years. She moved to Gloucestershire in 2006, and currently work as a management accountant for a national company based in Gloucester.
Clare was attracted to Emmaus because it provides opportunities for people to work, thereby both contributing to their
own and to others’ lives, and building the feeling of being valued in their local community.
John Noble, Trustee from 2002 - 2009
John studied at the London School of Economics & the Harvard Business School, becoming a Chartered Accountant before a career which included eighteen years advising companies and twenty one years running companies in 26 countries around the world. Latterly he has advised Governments on privatisation and regulation. John is married to Anne and has three daughters and three grandchildren. His time is spent on his family; work in his parish church, as a school governor and taking all possible steps to ensure the Gloucestershire community is a viable and happy place in which the Emmaus ethos finds practical expression. He joined the Board of Emmaus Gloucestershire in May 2002 and is Chair. In 2006 he became a Director of Emmaus UK, serving on its Finance Committee.