Our Trustees

Dr Warner studied at St Chad’s College in Durham before completing his theological training at St Stephen’s House, Oxford. He was ordained deacon (1984) and priest (1985) in Exeter Cathedral whilst working as Curate of St Peter’s Plymouth. He moved north to the Midlands in 1988 to be Team Vicar for five years in the Parish of the Resurrection, Leicester before being elected to be the Priest Administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham between 1993-2002. During his time in Norfolk he was also priest in charge of Hempton and Pudding Norton between 1998-2000. He was appointed Honorary Canon of Norwich between 2000-2002. Dr Warner was then appointed as a residentiary Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, firstly as Canon Pastor and latterly Treasurer where he made a big contribution particularly with regards to the Cathedral’s connection with the art world (2003-2010). He was elected as suffragan Bishop of Whitby in the Diocese of York in 2010 and has served the parishes of the Cleveland archdeaconry which includes the contrasting communities of Middlesbrough and much of the North Yorkshire Moors. Dr Warner is a regular contributor to the Church Times and has written five books. He is a cyclist, enjoys the arts and is well known for his hospitality and welcome – an art he perfected when welcoming thousands of pilgrims to England’s Nazareth, as Walsingham is known.

The Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex is Lady Emma Barnard, who was appointed in 2022. Lady Emma was brought up in Ireland. She read English Language and Literature at Lincoln College, Oxford, and took an M.Phil in Shakespeare and Early English Drama. Since 1994 she has lived at Parham House, near Pulborough, an Elizabethan house with award-winning gardens owned by a charitable trust. She is Chairman of Parham Park Ltd, which maintains Parham and opens it to the public. Lady Emma was High Sheriff of West Sussex in 2017-2018. She became a Deputy Lieutenant in 2019. Lady Emma is a Patron of the British Evacuees Association and the Coroner’s Court Support Service. In June 2022 she came to the end of a six-year term as Chair of the Patrons of the National Gallery, London. She is a trustee for a college fund of Lincoln College, Oxford. In West Sussex, she is an Ambassador for the Sussex Community Foundation and President of the Mary How Trust. Other organisations she supports include the West Sussex Ambulance Retirement Association, The Association of Sussex Artists and Kamelia Kids Day Nursery. Lady Emma’s husband James is a barrister, and they have two adult sons.

Christopher Whittick read law at Worcester College, Oxford (where he was president of the University Archaeological Society), qualified as an archivist at Liverpool University in 1975 and in 1977 joined the staff of the East Sussex Record Office; he became County Archivist in 2016. He has a particular interest in medieval crime and administration, and in the application of archival sources to the study of standing buildings and topography. Among his publications are 16 entries for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (including five medieval bishops of Chichester and the Webster family of Battle Abbey), articles in the British Art Journal on the models of Dante Gabriele Rossetti, an edition of medieval manorial records and, as co-editor, Ravilious at War (2002), Eric Ravilious: landscape, letters and design (2008), and Laws, lawyers and texts: studies in medieval legal history in honour of Paul Brand (2012). Since 1991, with the assistance of British Academy fellowships, he has catalogued and worked on the archive of the Webster family of Battle Abbey at the Huntington Library at San Marino, California. He is a vice-president of the Sussex Archaeological Society, a member of the editorial board of Sussex Archaeological Collections, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Historical Society and an associate of the Artworkers’ Guild.

After graduating from the University of Cambridge with degrees in Law and History (1966-1970), Raymond has, for the most part, undertaken academic roles including: Lecturer at Kingston Polytechnic (1974-1977): Sussex University (1977-1994): and Keele University (1994-2008). Professor of Law, 1994. Head of the Keele Law School 1996-2001. On a national body allocating research grants (A.H.R.B.). Pro-Vice-Chancellor 2004-2008. Retired 2009. He carried on teaching until 2018 and continues with research to the present day. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Raymond had a consultancy role with Wynne Baxter Godfree (as it then was) and worked with Tony Allen at Donne Mileham and Haddock. His chief publications since 2004 include: •Sir Henry Maine: A Study in Victorian Jurisprudence, (Cambridge University Press, 2004). •Contribution to the volumes for The Oxford History of the Laws of England: the Nineteenth Century: 3 Volumes 2010. One of six authors. •‘The Middle Temple in the Nineteenth Century’, in R. O. Havery, (Ed.), History of the Middle Temple, (Hart, Oxford and Portland, 2011), pp. 287-336. •‘Sustaining the Character of a Judge’: Conflict within the Legal Thought of British India, The Journal of Legal History, 2014, Vol. 35, No. 1 pp. 44-67. •‘Rights and Power in Nineteenth Century India: Exploring an Unstable Relationship’, in Catharine Macmillan and Charlotte Smith, (Eds.), Challenges to Authority and the Recognition of Rights, (Cambridge University Press, 2018), pp. 296-320. •‘The Bengal Boiler’: Legal Networks in Colonial Calcutta, in M. Lobban and I. Williams, Networks and Connections in Legal History, (Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 124-151. Conference presentations/seminars at U.C.L., Reading, Max Planck Institute Frankfurt, L.S.E., St Andrews, Queen’s University Belfast. Churches: Attending the church at Kingston near Lewes 1984-1994. On moving to Keele in Staffordshire attending various churches including a Methodist place of worship. Returning to the south attending St Mary de Haura in Shoreham and then St Anne’s in Lewes. Involved on a regular basis with the building programme for our extension at St Anne’s and other everyday works. Linking the P.C.C. with the work of our ‘project manager’ and the builders. Also involved with St Mary’s Church Hall on the ‘The Nevill’: replacing windows and repairing pipes etc. Reporting back to the P.C.C. as a member of the P.C.C. Family: Married with two children. In 2016 our daughter fell ill with a brain tumour. My wife took early retirement from her work as an Employment Judge sitting in Birmingham and we came to live in Lewes in a house ten yards from our son-in-law and daughter. Our daughter died in February 2019 leaving three very young daughters. Happily, we are much involved with the children in their daily lives.

After graduating from Edinburgh University, Philip has spent his working life in Finance and related matters, primarily in senior management roles and latterly consulting on pensions. He has served as Chairman of the Chichester Diocesan Board of Finance, and for more years than he cares to remember as PCC and Deanery Synod treasurer. He is a trustee director of the Reliance Pension Scheme, and holds a similar role with the Diocese of Chichester Education Trust. Philip has lived in East Sussex for 35 years and enjoys spending time with grandchildren, travelling and gardening with his partner, Linda. His other interests include supercars, especially Lamborghinis, Hornby Dublo from 1937 to 1964, and Bridge.

Diana has a BA in History from the University of Sussex (1969), a Diploma in Accounting and Finance (1989) and an MA (Distinction) in History from the University of Sussex (2009) Diana spent most of her career as a civil servant in the Treasury, Customs and Excise and Defence. She was seconded to an investment bank, SG Warburg, from 1980 to 1982. In 2002 she changed career and became Director of Somerset House Trust. This charity is the landlord of the Grade 1 listed building, has developed it into an important London arts centre and runs events, including the famous ice rink. In 2005 Diana retired and moved to Brighton. She and her husband Julian have just moved to Hove next to the Cricket Ground. Diana has for many years been a keen supporter of opera and from 1989 to 1996 she was initially Assistant Board Secretary and then Board Secretary of English National Opera. She became a trustee of Friends of the East Sussex Record Office and its successor Friends of The Keep Archives as a result of her research for her history MA, using its records of the justice system during the Protectorate as the basis for her dissertation. She now serves as Secretary and edits the six-monthly Newsletter for members. Diana has for many years enjoyed walking and church-crawling in Sussex.

Having read law and history at Cambridge, Jonathan became a research assistant and secretary to an MP and a number of All Party Committees. Thereafter he spent a period undertaking lay chaplaincy work within the offices of the Bishops of Southwark and Woolwich followed by eight years as a department head with The Children’s Society. Before becoming the Director of the Hamlyn Foundation, he gained an MBA at Strathclyde Business School. His final fulltime role was as Diocesan Secretary of the Diocese of Chichester, a post he held for almost 18 years. While working and thereafter, Jonathan has been a trustee of a wide range of charities as well as being involved in a number of voluntary organisations including the Clergy Support Trust, a number of housing associations, The Charleston Trust, Forward in Faith, two community centres in Sussex and the Sussex Commandery of the Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem. He lives in Sussex and worships in a parish with a grade 1 church to maintain.

Bishop Richard was born in Zambia in 1958. He was brought up in Kent, becoming an altar server at his local church. He first felt called to the priesthood when he was eleven or twelve years old and joined St John’s Seminary, Wonersh in 1976, aged eighteen. Bishop Richard was ordained to the priesthood on 3rd July 1982, he served as Bishop of the Armed Forces from 2009 to 2015 and was installed as the fifth bishop of our Diocese on the 28th May 2015, at Arundel Cathedral. Bishop Richard is Chair of Governors at St Mary’s University in Twickenham and Chair of the Department for Social Justice for the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. One of Bishop Richard’s key responsibilities within the department is his role as Liaison Bishop for Prisons. He has been outspoken on a number of issues affecting prisoners and their families including the dangers of overcrowding, the impact of Covid-19 and the importance of creating a criminal justice system ‘that works and offers a genuinely rehabilitative environment… [bringing] humanity and hope to our prison estate.’ Bishop Richard’s motto 'Pax et Gaudium in Domino' is reflected in his Coat of Arms, it means 'Peace and Joy in the Lord'. Bishop Richard chose this motto to express the joy of the Gospel.

Andrew Blackman was appointed by The Queen to be Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for East Sussex on the 18th August 2021. He is a former art dealer who has previously served as High Sheriff. He was an Ambassador for the Sussex Community Foundation; a committee member of the Order of St Richard, which recognises the contribution of lay people in the service of the church; a former Chair of the Friends of Hastings Country Park; and a former trustee of the Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival. He has also sat on the Board of Appeals for St Michael’s Hospice and the Conquest Hospital. Mr Blackman lives in Fairlight, near Hastings, with his husband Richard Smith.

Sara has lived in East Sussex for 55 years and has been involved in her local church since she moved here. Having been a Member of the Cathedral Chapter for 15 years she is now Lay Chairman of the Chichester Diocesan Synod, on the Bishop’s Council and Chairman of The Order of St Richard. In 2002, she was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant and retired as Vice Lord Lieutenant in 2023. She was President of the Heathfield Agricultural Show for four years (retiring in 2023) and is President of the South of England Agricultural Society (2025). Sara is a widow with two children and three grandchildren. She is an embroiderer, designer of embroidery and teacher.

Anthony has lived for over 40 years in Sussex, mostly in Wadhurst but also in Chichester and outside of Hastings. He is actively involved in the local church which is one of the CoE’s first Net Zero Carbon Demonstrator Churches. He spent his early career in Finance before moving into Government to run the national regeneration and South East regional development agencies. More recently he has been involved in international development in Africa. He has been a company director or trustee on over 30 boards in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Anthony is married to Ruth and have three children and 10 grandchildren.

John chairs a number of public and private companies including the London Theatre Company. He also acts as a non-executive director of two investment management businesses and has a range of venture capital interests in e-commerce, media and telecommunications. He is Vice President of The King’s Trust, Chairman of The National Gallery and a trustee of Chatsworth House, the Arts Foundation and several other charities. John read Modern Languages at Oxford University where he is a Fellow of Merton College. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an ambassador for the homelessness charity Depaul International and a Deputy Lieutenant for West Sussex.

Michael Foster is an employment lawyer married to Rosemary and a lifetime resident of Hastings. They have two sons. His community involvement stretches from the youth council to Government Equalities Minister (he was the MP for Hastings and Rye for 13 years) and is former High Sheriff of East Sussex. He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of the County in 1993. Brought up in the Salvation Army he has since his marriage been a member of the Methodist Church and describes himself as an adherent to the social gospel. His charity interests include the Presidency of the local MENCAP and of Sussex Brass. He was made a Freeman of the Borough of Hastings in 2010.