Chair

Laura is in her 60s with husband, Colin, three grown-up sons, and three grandchildren. Laura recently retired from a General Nursing career she loved since training at the age of 18 – but for a break with election to the House of Commons as the MP for Crawley from 1997 until 2010.

Laura’s interest has grown in GDWG over the years, and this led to her becoming a visitor in 2018. There are many reasons that lead us to the door of GDWG. Laura knew she wanted to become more involved with the fight for those with no voice in detention, so she put herself forward to join the Board of Trustees and was very glad to be accepted.

Deputy Chair

Michael started as a volunteer visitor with GDWG early in 2018 and was invited to become a trustee a year later.

He retired from full-time work in the City in 2016 and now works part-time, including as Chairman of a stock exchange for growth companies. Previously he worked in investment banking for 15 years followed by a further 18 years in communications consultancy. Before that he taught in Italy and in Japan.

Other experience includes 8 years as a Governor of an inner London state school where he chaired the Finance Committee and brief spells as a relief worker in Nepal and in India. He graduated from Cambridge in Classics and has an MBA from SDA Bocconi in Milan. He is married and has two more or less grown up sons.

Treasurer

Adrian started to visit people in the Beehive Detention Centre at Gatwick in 1995. He was appointed treasurer in 1996 and continued in this role until 2010. He is a chartered accountant and has worked in the charity sector in a variety of roles over the last 25 years. He was reappointed treasurer in 2021.

Felicity started to visit detainees in the Beehive Detention Centre at Gatwick in 1995. She became the first Chair in 1996 when the group obtained charitable status and continued in that role until 2007. She has lead GDWG’s fundraising activities and, supported by staff and many dedicated trustees, the group has raised more than £1.5 million pounds since 1996.

She has a degree in Psychology and for many years worked on attitude studies for industrial companies. She has a Diploma in Counselling.

In 2013 Greg heard that St John’s church in Watford were forming a choir. At his second service he met ‘Mahdi’, a 23-year old Iranian tailor, who had been visited in detention by GDWG. His parents had housed personal friends from Uganda, when they became refugees in 1971, and then a mother and young son from Sarajevo in 1992. Following their example, he offered Mahdi the spare room in his flat and transformed both their lives. Shocked by the tortuous six year wait, hopes, setbacks, re-detentions, adjournments and total lack of financial support for Mahdi, Greg wanted to be involved with GDWG.

A qualified Insolvency Practitioner he specialised in personal insolvency before switching to compliance and process technology roles. Mahdi is now Greg’s third God-child, has refugee status, and they share their flat in Hertfordshire with Tala their dog, enjoying off-the-beatentrack travel and learning to run a tailoring business.

Harry first heard of the GDWG in 2021, when looking to find a way of giving back to the community and to support a charity with the skills learnt in the corporate sector. He has a long-standing passion for freedom of speech and equal opportunities and felt the GDWG was perfectly aligned to this.

Currently working in a global role for a healthcare company gives him frequent interaction with people from all over world where he loves to find out more and create connections. He has two young children who keep him and his wife fit from all the running around.

Other experience includes 8 years as a Governor of an inner London state school where he chaired the Finance Committee and brief spells as a relief worker in Nepal and in India. He graduated from Cambridge in Classics and has an MBA from SDA Bocconi in Milan. He is married and has two more or less grown up sons.

Michael became a trustee in 2021. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and runs his own financial consulting firm. His career and experience cover many industries both in the role of Finance Director or Financial Consultant. He is currently a non-executive director of three companies and is a Freeman of the City of London.

He is part of the chaplaincy team at Ford prison and is also trustee of various UK charities (including the Friends of Arundel Cathedral and the Arundel Museum Society) and trustee/treasurer of an American Foundation. Michael was a founder and trustee of the Bosnia Family Aid Appeal; a UK registered charity set up to send medical and other aid to all peoples in Bosnia during the war; regardless of their creed or ethnic race. The charity was instrumental in sending aid valued at over £10 million during this time.

He is married to Melinda and has four children; three of whom live and work in North America.

Pious has lived experience of detention and GDWG supported him when he was detained.

Pious is a volunteer with the Red Cross and has volunteered with GDWG and Refugee Tales for over 5 years.

He wishes to bring his lived experience over two years and nine months in detention to work with the charity for change.

Stephen became a trustee in 2024. He is the author of over a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Commons (2008), the BC Book Prize winning On the Material (2010), and Almost Islands: Phyllis Webb and the Pursuit of the Unwritten (2018)—all published by Talonbooks. A History of the Theories of Rain (2021) was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for poetry, and in 2019, Collis was the recipient of the Writers’ Trust of Canada Latner Poetry Prize. The Middle, the second volume of a trilogy begun with A History of the Theories of Rain, will be published in 2024. He lives near Vancouver, on unceded Coast Salish Territory, and teaches poetry and poetics at Simon Fraser University.

Tom has been a volunteer visitor with GDWG since 2017 and is a member of the Refugee Tales planning group and self-advocacy group. Tom works as a Children’s & Youth Development Officer, supporting local churches in their engagement with children, young people and families and is a mental health advocate and delivers training as a Mental Health First Aid England instructor member.