Trustees

Caroline Croft (Chair)
Caroline is chair of the trustees.  She has lived on the Rochester Estate, less than 100 metres from Edward Edwards House, since 1997.  Caroline combines her role as trustee with a career as a senior civil servant- she is currently the Director General, Employment, with Economic Recovery & UK Governance, Government Legal Department.

Shelley Charik
Shelley Charik joined the Board in 2020 as a nominee of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers, of which he is a Liveryman.  He is a graduate of the universities of Leeds and Manchester, where he studied Chinese, Economics and Business Administration, and a former industrial marketing executive and Civil Servant, specialising in technology issues.  Shelley has had frequent involvement in residents' associations and was a Director of a resident-owned freehold management company in the Docklands.

Neil Coyle MP
Neil Coyle is the Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, first elected to Parliament in 2015. Neil serves on the Work and Pensions as well as the Foreign Affairs select committees. Neil set up the All Party Parliamentary Group on Foodbanks and co-chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ending Homelessness. Neil previously ran a charity helping half a million disabled people and carers a year and has been a Trustee of local and national organisations. Neil also served as a Southwark councillor between 2010 and 2016, including as Deputy Mayor of the borough.

Patrick Crockford
Patrick joined the Board in November 2020 and is a member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee. He has over 30 years’ experience as a senior accountant in industry, latterly founding and running a telecoms consultancy, which was sold in 2018.

Married, he has lived in Southwark for 16 years and is a Freeman of the City of London. Also an active member of the Aldgate Ward Club in the City.

Patrick is currently completing a 2-year MSc at Cass (City Business School), majoring in Charity Accounting and Financial Management, with specialist modules on Grant-making, Philanthropy and Social Enterprise.

Cecily Davis
Cecily Davis is an experienced engineering, projects and construction lawyer.  She is a partner in the London office of Fieldfisher.  Her experience spreads across the built environment including transport infrastructure projects, energy projects (both renewable and thermal) and high end commercial developments. She has advised governments, lenders, project sponsors and contractors in the UK and overseas.  She co‑heads Fieldfisher's Africa group. Cecily speaks and writes widely for the construction industry.

She holds a degree in construction law and arbitration from King's College London and a master's degree in commercial law from the university of Exeter.

Andrew Gordon Lennox
Commander Andrew Gordon Lennox joined the Royal Navy in 1966 as a Seaman Officer, serving over the years in a number of shore appointments and 16 Ships of various sizes; four of which he commanded. He was involved at sea in both the Falklands Conflict and the First Gulf War; and his final appointment was as the Defence Attache in Copenhagen. On retirement from the RN, he was appointed as the College Secretary (the administrator) of the Royal College of Defence Studies in Belgrave Square. Subsequently, after retirement from Government Service, he spent several years as Clerk to the Worshipful Company of Glaziers, hence his connection to Southwark. He joined the Board in 2013. As well as Southwark Charities, within which he is currently Vice-Chairman of Trustees and Chairman of the Appointments and Grants Committee, he holds four other Charity Trusteeships.

Steve Graham
Steve became a Trustee in 2009. He was for many years the Senior Clerk of Landmark Chambers and was tempted out of retirement in 2010 to become a Director and now International Business Consultant of Outer Temple Chambers. Steve is a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers, a Trustee and Chairman of the Glaziers’ Foundation and Chairman of the Glaziers’ Trust.  He is a past Chairman of the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks and is a Trustee and Chairman of the Barristers’ Clerks Benevolent Fund.

Steve is Chair of the Governors of the Wyvern Federation of Schools, and a Governor of the Gipsy Hill Federation of Schools – 5 in Lambeth and 1 in Southwark.

Lester Hicks CBE
Lester Hicks is a former senior civil servant, and also holds a postgraduate degree in town planning.  In his final post at the former Department for Communities and Local Government he was Deputy Director of Planning responsible for planning policy and ministerial casework in England on natural resources and the environment.  Earlier in his career he held various posts dealing with aspects of private housing and home ownership, and as Private Secretary to the Housing and Local Government Ministers.

He has a Southwark connection through his wife, who worked for a charity in the Borough and is descended from Irish immigrants who came to Bermondsey in the late 19^th century.

Lester joined the Board in 2015 and sits on the Site Development Committee.

Alderman Timothy McNally CC
Tim is a Trustee and Chair of Finance of Southwark Charities. He is Chair of both the Newcomen Collett Educational Foundation and of the St George the Martyr Charity. He is also Chair of Finance of the Wakefield & Tetley Trust. Tim is a PCC member of St James Church in Bermondsey, which is where he lives, and is Parish Clerk of St George the Martyr, Borough.

Tim McNally grew up on Dartmoor in Devon and came to London to study Computing and now runs an ICT consultancy helping local and national charities and arts organisations. Tim was formerly a local councillor in Southwark and he is now an Alderman of Southwark and was Chairman of the National Liberal Club 2021-23.

Tim is active in the City of London where he is a Common Councillor and is Senior Vice-President and Secretary of Aldgate Ward Club. Tim is a Freeman of the City of London, and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Companies of Glaziers, World Traders, Insurers, Parish Clerks and Fletchers.

Dr Patria Roman
Patria is the founder and Chair of Trustees at Latin Elephant (Charity No. 1158554) a charity working to increase participation and inclusion of migrant and ethnic groups in processes of urban change in London, particularly in Southwark. The Charity has played a key role, along with other grassroots organisations, in the retention of migrant and ethnic traders at Elephant and Castle following the demolition of the shopping centre. Patria is a Senior Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries (Innovations in Research) at King's College London, specialising in migrant and ethnic economies, urban regeneration and urban communication. She is the author of Narratives of migration, relocation and belonging: Latin Americans in London; and The making of Latin London: Music, place & identity.

Rev Alan Wild
Revd. Canon Alan Wild is the Assistant Priest (Non- Stipendiary) at St Peter’s Church in Walworth and Hon. Canon (Emeritus) of Southwark Cathedral.  He joined the Board more than ten years ago.  In his secular life he worked in the Printing Industry for nearly fifty years, but his focus is now more on the Word of God than the printed word.  On retirement from secular employment, he is able to focus more fully on his Ministry in the church and give whatever time he can to assist the life and work of the Charity.  He is married with two grown up children and has lived in Southwark for a little over 50 years.

Revd Stuart Labran
The Revd Stuart Labran has been Rector of St Mary Newington in Kennington since January 2023. Stuart grew up in the Black Country outside of Birmingham and studied Theology at Leeds before beginning a career in teaching in Warwickshire. He then prepared for the priesthood at Westcott House whilst completing the Cambridge M.Phil. in Theology. He began ordained ministry in 2009 as Curate at Holy Trinity Stratford-Upon-Avon, after which he spent a year in Central America before returning to teaching at James Allen Girl’s School, Dulwich and then as Head of Religious Studies and Chaplain at Emanuel School Battersea. During his time at Emanuel, he was an Assistant Priest at St John the Divine Kennington where he continues as a governor to St Gabriel’s College, an 11-16 comprehensive and visits once a month to lead worship in Spanish for their Latino community.