Like us, our Trustees are passionate about helping Christians in the Holy Land. They bring a wealth of expertise and knowledge across various sectors and provide overall governance, strategic direction and oversight of our activities. All of our Trustees are volunteers, providing their service for free.

Meet our Trustees here:

Jim Quinn, Chairman

Jim has been a Trustee for FHL since 2013 and became Chairman shortly after. Jim is a solicitor, having been the manager of a large and growing legal practice for 30 years. He has experience as a judge of the county court, and assisting in the administration of the local Magistracy in Worcestershire. Jim was International Secretary of the Catenian Association for 6 years and a Director for 14 years; he was also Chairman of Trustees for 10 years of Father Hudson’s Care, the social care agency of the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Jim was inspired to become a Trustee by the visit with Archbishop Vincent Nichols to the Holy Land in 2007 when the charity was started.

Reverend Canon David Longe

Revd David was a lawyer specialising in representing asylum applicants, before being ordained as an Anglican deacon in 2009, and priest in 2010. He served for 6 years in an inner city parish, before spending 3 years in Jerusalem as Chaplain to the Anglican Archbishop.  He is now working in a multi-parish benefice in North Norfolk.

Revd David first encountered FHL while serving in Jerusalem when he was struck by how it sought to engage in a deep and meaningful way with the daily reality faced by many of the Christians in the Holy Land.   FHL understands that many of the communities live in real hardship, many are unemployed (in Gaza around 70% of the population are unemployed for example); many cannot cross the borders to Jordan or Israel to visit family members; and many have their access to medical care severally restricted due to border control.  FHL listens to those cries in the Holy Land and responds to them in an extraordinary and compassionate way, bringing relief to families and communities through its care.   Revd David said "When I was asked to become a trustee, I felt deeply privileged and honoured."

Dr Charles Reed

Dr. Charles Reed is the Church of England’s foreign policy advisor. 

Charles did his undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics and his PHD at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Before taking up his role with the Church of England he worked for the European Commission in Brussels and Burson Marsteller in London. His role with the Church of England involves providing advice and support to the Church nationally on a range of international issues not least the Holy Land. He has travelled widely in the region where amongst other things he meets with local Christian communities to help identify ways that the Church can support their resilience and flourishing in the region. He has been involved with Friends of the Holy Land for 10 years.

Dr David Ryall
David Ryall has been involved with the Friends of the  Holy Land since its beginning. Currently, he is  Director of the Santa Marta Group, which focuses on countering modern slavery and human trafficking. Before that he was Assistant General Secretary at the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, where his responsibilities included working in the Holy Land and the wider Middle East.

Mike Swinburne, Director of Finance

Mike became a Trustee in 2021 and took over responsibility for the Charity’s finances in April 2022. He is a Chartered Accountant, recently retired after a career in senior finance roles in a range of businesses both in the UK and overseas. He has been a supporter of Friends of the Holy since the charity’s foundation. He is also a trustee of Oscott College, the seminary for the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Gail Brown

Gail is married to Stephen (also a Member of our local FHL Group) for over fifty years, and has two Daughters and two Grand Children. Gail is a retired Dentist and Secondary School Teacher and has been a Magistrate for over thirty years.

Gail first became interested in the Holy Land in 2009 when, as a new Member of the  Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, she visited there on Pilgrimage. Soon after the FHL was set up by some members of the same Order to support Christian Families there at the “grass roots”, as opposed to the larger institutions supported by the Order. The local Group here in the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire was one of the Founder Groups.

The Group have raised many thousands of pounds over the last twelve years by running Social and other Events in the local area and have raised the profile of Friends of the Holy Land accordingly. Gail and Stephen have visited the Holy Land on Pilgrimage on three occasions and have met with some of those that we help in that troubled Land.

Gail says "I was very honoured to be appointed a a Trustee and I hope to be able to contribute to the excellent work already done by the other Trustees".

Liam Allmark

Liam is the senior policy and research analyst for international affairs at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. His role involves supporting the Bishops in their work on a range of global issues, including engagement with the Holy Land. In this role he has travelled regularly in the region, including to Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. He is the lead policy advisor to the Holy Land Coordination, an international delegation of Bishops mandated by the Holy See to act in solidarity with the Holy Land’s Christian communities.

Monsignor Jim Curry

Mgr Jim was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Westminster in 1986. Born and educated in the east end of London he has served in a number of parishes in North and West London. Mgr Jim served as Private Secretary to two Archbishops of Westminster.  He was appointed Chaplain to His Holiness the Pope in 2001 with the title Monsignor. Jim served as Episcopal Vicar in West London from 2013-16.

He is currently Parish Priest of Our Lady of Victories in Kensington. He serves as Prior of the Westminster Section of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Mgr Jim is chair of the diocesan council of priests and a member of the Archbishop’s Council. He has served on a number of school governing bodies. He is currently Chair of West London Friends of the Holy land, and Churches together in Kensington and Chelsea.

Sue Oliver

Sue graduated in Law from UCL but then became a social worker for 11years, a Probation Officer and Senior Probation Officer for another 13, in the midst of raising 4 wonderful children, three girls and a boy. She then discerned a call to work in the Anglican church in which she was raised. Eventually a Canon of Worcester Cathedral and Warden of Licensed Lay Ministers with responsibilities in 3 benefices she retired in 2021. 

Whereupon she was was, in due course, received into the Roman Catholic Church. Sue has been a long standing supporter of Friends of the Holy Land and has visited it twice. On retirement she became Chair of the Ecumenical Worcestershire and Dudley FHL Support Group and became a Trustee in 2023.