The Trustees

Di Gallagher

Di recently retired as the Trustee and volunteer Director of the Meeting House Arts Centre in Ilminster Somerset. Prior to this she had a varied, interesting and fulfilling career, spanning the artistic, military, charity and commercial worlds.

As a Third Officer in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, she worked for 6 years in communications and administration.  She retired to get married and then had a variety of part-time jobs whilst bringing up two boys.  When the boys flew the nest Di continued working in various fields both voluntary and salaried.

Administrative, PA and secretarial experience was gained working for an architect, a solicitor and an auctioneer. For 3 years Di worked as secretary at a Special School for children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties.

Di has always had a keen interest in the Arts. For 20 years she had her own upholstery and chair restoration business which led to having her own antique shop.  Painting and drawing, clay and willow sculpture, basket making and felt work have all been practiced in Di’s studio.  She has exhibited her work and demonstrated willow sculpture at country shows.  Di trained and handled her dogs for television and film work – featuring in Casualty, Grange Hill, Ivanhoe, the film "The Red Violin" and a TV advert. 

Voluntary work included working for Save the Children Fund as Trade & Industry Secretary in Fife, then as Chairman of a small branch in Somerset. For many years Di worked as a volunteer helper and driver for day centres for the elderly in both Surrey and Somerset.

Di now lives in Somerset with her husband, Leo, and is devoting all her time and energy to FMVSO, and to fund-raising for the Orphanage.

David Brown

Dr David Brown is a researcher in the biomedical field. Over the past 30 years he has worked to find solutions to diseases of both advanced Western societies and Developing Countries.  He has held senior executive roles with a number of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and been instrumental in the discovery of several important medicines. He has also previously served as Chief Executive Officer and Board member of a biotechnology company and he currently serves as Chairman and/or Board member of several biotechnology companies in the UK as well as Chair of FMVSO. In addition he serves as Senior Advisor to the CEO at OneWorld Health, San Francisco, where his work is dedicated to bringing medicines to the poorest of the poor in the world.

In his private life Dr Brown has for over 30 years been a practitioner of Chan (Chinese Zen) meditation; he is a Fellow of the Western Chan Fellowship and spends 7 weeks each year in intensive retreat in the UK and USA and offers tuition and classes in Cambridge, UK where he lives with his wife Ann.

James Crowden

James Crowden was born in Stoke Damerel, Plymouth, and brought up on the western edge of Dartmoor. In 1976 he gained a degree in civil engineering from Bristol University.  He has travelled extensively in the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan. In 1976-77 he spent a year in the Zangskar valley, a remote Himalayan area of Ladakh, North West India. Since then he has been visiting many different regions of India including Arunachal Pradesh in 2005.  He is a writer and poet and has written ten books on a variety of rural topics. See www.james-crowden.co.uk

 Grainne Purkis

After graduating from Aberdeen University with a degree in Marine and Fish Biology, Gráinne headed a six person zoological expedition to Prinz Karls Forlands, Svalbard (Arctic) during the summer of 1990. Gráinne’s position as a Marine and Fish biologist has taken her to work in Conamara (west coast of Éire), Vancouver Island (Canada), Nairn (Aberdeenshire) and The North Atlantic Fisheries College in The Shetland Isles.

Gráinne has lectured and instructed in offshore survival techniques for the Scottish and Norwegion oil sectors. Following a post graduated course in second level teaching  (PGCE Science and Biology) in 1996 and acquiring additional qualifications in Learning Support, Gráinne has taught at various schools in Aberdeenshire. Teaching in Learning Support at Peterhead Acadmey was her final post in Scotland before returning to her native Conamara, Éire in 2006. Gráinne and her two children spend the school year in Indreabhán, Conamara where she teaches english to children of immigrant workers. Her daughters receive their teaching  “as gaeilge” (through Irish) at the local national school. Holiday time is spent in Aberdeenshire where Gráinne’s husband runs his Engineering business.

Gráinne’s voluntary work includes 5 years (2 as Chairperson) as committee member of Colliestons Rising 5’s Group, Registered Charity. She has also served 2 years as secretary of Colliestons Primary PTA and a further 2 years as member of Whinnyfold and District Council, Aberdeenshire. Gráinne continues to be a supporting member of UNICEF for the past decade and also holds membership in Amnesty International.

Gráinne’s interests include the promotion of minority world languages and cultures as well as local and world travel.