Trustees

After training and working in many of the finest hotels in the UK and then opening his our own award winning hotel in North Devon, Geoff then became a specialist in creating new models of care. Often working across both the public and private sectors he was involved in delivering innovative commercial projects (including the building and construction of assets), change management (including the re-design of systems of work), and strategy (working at a local and national level). Geoff retired from full time work in 2014 and now has a portfolio Non-Executive Director career. He is a keen amateur chef and enjoys fine food and wine (particularly from the New World), travel and watching most sports. He is also an Accredited Humanist Celebrant leading non-religious celebrations on a regular basis. He has been married to Helen for over 42 years and has two grown up daughters.

He has held a number of Insurance Institute roles, including that of the last ever President of the Insurance Institute of Truro and joint President of the Plymouth & Cornwall Insurance Institute. Since becoming self-employed in 2009 he served a term as a Cornwall Councillor, including chairing the Children, Education and Families Scrutiny Committee and being the Cabinet member for Economic Development. He was a member of the Cornwall Council Pensions Committee and was also involved in a substantial overhaul of the Council’s governance arrangements. He has had a number of charitable roles, including chairman of Victim Support Cornwall and trustee for Cornwall Rural Community Council. He was a governor of two schools: Westbourne Primary School, Bradford and Falmouth School, Cornwall, the latter including during its conversion to an academy. Since relocating to Gloucestershire in 2015 he has been a town councillor for 18 months, including a period as chairman. Chis works part-time in insurance quality standards. Leisure activities include current affairs, an allotment and practising a stoic approach to life.

Prior to that she was employed as a Support Worker with Stonham Housing, supporting mental health clients in the community. At present she is a Carer Respite volunteer with Cotswold Friends and was a member of the Volunteer Steering Group. Diane is qualified as both an Integrative Counsellor and a Cruse Bereavement Counsellor, although doesn’t currently practice. She was also a parent governor at the local Primary School for 8 years with the last two years as Chair. Diane and her husband moved to this area from Hampshire in 2018. She has a schnauzer called Jeff, enjoys travel, gardening, reading, sewing and knitting and has been known to bake a cake!

This was a fun hands-on role with Gary undertaking everything from site-finding, management recruitment, finding volunteers and even shopfitting the shops. Most of his working life was in retail with roles in Operations, IT, Buying, HR and Logistics for many high street names including Marks and Spencer, WHSmith and Woolworth.Gary has always enjoyed volunteering, including coaching a rugby team, chairing a local community group, co-ordinating a COVID response team, working with Cotswold Volunteers and most recently signing up as a volunteer driver for Cotswold Friends.

Gary currently holds two other Trustee positions for the Cirencester Civic Society and the Bingham Library Trust as well as several executive positions for the Cotswold Liberal Democrats. He has two children who live and work in London and one granddaughter and is especially interested in social history, art, music, politics and the London Underground. Gary believes in trying to make a difference and sees joining Cotswold Friends as a great way to continue doing this.

Two further decades in private practice have enabled Asad to utilise his detailed and varied experience to provide a unique perspective on all aspects of business and personal finance. Asad is involved with a large and diverse range of clients and always available at the end of a phone or face to face to help. He specialises in personal tax and unincorporated entities and deals with the firm’s administration requirements.

A fan of most sports, Asad played cricket, rugby and hockey in his younger days and is now an avid skier. He has lived nearly all his life in the UK, but his family hails from India via East Africa. Asad’s grandfather, who was practising law in Zanzibar, met Gandhi in 1930 - sadly a little before his time!

Those institutions include the Unilever Visiting Professor at Queen’s University, Belfast, Visiting Professor at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, and 21 years as CEO of CampdenBRI, Chipping Campden. He has served on government and industry advisory committees in the UK, Belgium, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, South Africa, and Singapore, and has served as President of the Institute of Food Science & Technology (UK) and of the Institute of Food Technology (USA). He is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of International Food Information Service (IFIS Ltd), serves on the Board of the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink, and is a Trustee (Immediate Past Chair) of the British Nutrition Foundation. Colin chaired the Economic Advisory Group of the Gloucestershire Development Agency from 2001 to 2009. He was one of the founding members of the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire in 2008, served on The Court from 2012 to 2021, was Warden in 2014-2015 and has served on the Community Support Group since 2013. He is also a mentor for charity personnel, as part of the INVEST initiative between The Gloucestershire Community Foundation, the Cranfield Trust and the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire. He has served as a Deputy Lieutenant in Gloucestershire since 2005, including being an assessor for Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service from 2011 to 2021 and chaired the Lieutenancy Honours Group from 2019 to 2021. He was appointed CBE in 2009 for services to the Agri-food sector. Colin and his wife, Sue, currently live in Ilmington. They enjoy gardening and travel and Colin is a member of Broadway Golf Club. They have a married son and daughter and 3 grand children.

Ed was born and raised in and around the Cotswolds where he now lives with his young family. Ed is a Solicitor and having worked for both law firms and multinational companies is now a director and shareholder in a law firm, Meed Law, whose head office is in the Cotswolds.

After training and qualifying in the Oxford office of a national firm Ed opted for a change of scenery when he was headhunted by a European company to be their in-house counsel dealing predominantly with intellectual property and property. After years of moving between England and Europe he returned to a law firm again based in Oxford dealing with litigation.

Following the events of 2020 (and the many lockdowns that followed) Ed decided to setup Meed Law with an old colleague where he specialises in both property and litigation matters acting for a vast array of clients from multi-national corporations to startups and individuals.

In his free time Ed enjoys spending time with his family or travelling (in particular to France).