Board of Trustees

Chief Executive

Our Chief Executive is Michael Ryan, who began working with us on February 17, 2015.

Michael brings nearly 20 years’ experience of managing and leading charities to St Luke’s. Previous roles include Director and Company Secretary of the Church Housing Trust in EC1, a fundraising charity for the homeless, unemployed and vulnerable. Prior to that, Michael was for seven years the Chief Executive of RADICLE, a charity which offers supported housing to homeless pregnant teenagers as well as day centres and lunch clubs to older people.

Trustees

St Luke's is governed by a Board of Trustees. Seven Trustees are individuals who live locally or have a special knowledge of, or connection to, the area (Co-optative Trustees). One Trustee is the Rector of St Giles' Church, Cripplegate or his or her substitute (Ex Officio Trustee). The remaining Trustees are selected by, and appointed from, outside organisations (Nominative Trustees).

Don Kehoe, Chairman (Co-optative)
Don joined the Board in July 2012 . He is a local resident and has brought up his family in Islington. In addition to running his own software company in Goswell Road, he is a trustee of the local charity, Help on your Doorstep, a director of London Capital Credit Union, and was involved in EC1 New Deal for Communities and its legacy work.

Reverend David Allen (Ex-Officio)
David is vicar of the church closest to the Community Centre, St Clement's, King Square. He was a former Board member of EC1 New Deal for Communities and is actively involved in the local neighbourhood.

Claudia Webbe (Nominative – London Borough of Islington)
Claudia is a Councillor for Bunhill Ward in Islington. She also lives in the ward and is Chair of the Finsbury Wards Partnership. Claudia has a background in equality and diversity having run two independent race equality councils. Claudia is one of the founders and former Chairperson of Operation Trident, a partnership with the police to tackle gun and violent crime across London. Nationally, she is an independent advisory member of the Association of Chief Police Officer’s (ACPO) Criminal Use of Firearms Board. Claudia is a Trustee of the Children’s Society and a Trustee of National Energy Action campaigning to eradicate fuel poverty.

Penny Seal (Nominative – EC1 New Deal)
Penny joined the board in September 2010. She joined EC1 New Deal board in 2002 as an elected resident member and has served as their vice Chairman for 8 years. She is a local resident, has worked for many years at City and Islington College, is a member of the EC1 Neighbourhood Steering Group, and a member of St Luke's

Joe Trotter (Co-optative)
Joe is a very well-known figure in the local area. He lives in the neighbourhood and was born and bred here. He is a former Mayor of Islington. He serves on the Board of a number of local charities and, at one stage, was Chair of the Borough's Housing Committee.

Debra Mendes (Co-optative)
Debra became a Trustee in July 2012. Her background is software engineering and she spent many years at Reuters and the London stock exchange. Today she is the director of her own company specialising in business improvement consultancy. She worked in the area for 16 years, knows the area very well, and lives nearby.

John Thirlwell (Nominative - PCC of St Giles' Cripplegate)
John joined the board in July 2014 and is Chairman of the Finance Committee. He has served on the boards of several banks, insurance companies and charities and is an adviser and consultant on risk management. He lives in the area.

Raymond O’Halloran
Ray has always held a strong belief in having an active role within the local community. He is a ‘local boy’, born and bred in Islington. He is chairman of his estate’s local Tenants’ and Residents’ Association (TRA), was a founding governor of the local school and he is involved in safeguarding and recruitment with them.

Crispin Rapinet (Co-optative)
Crispin is a partner in the international law firm, Hogan Lovells, based on Holborn Viaduct. He has worked in the EC1 area for 30 years. For the past 15 years he has overseen the growth and development of Hogan Lovells' Pro Bono and Community Investment programmes – including its partnership with St Luke's – and he has served as Chair of its Citizenship Panel which is responsible for its Citizenship activities around the world.

David Vasserman (Co-optative)
David has been a General Practitioner at The Neaman NHS Practice since 1990. He has been involved in the medical education of undergraduate students and trainee junior doctors as well as being involved in the commissioning process with the City and Hackney CCG (clinical commissioning group). He has previous experience of working for a medical charity, and also as an external trustee. David is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and of the Royal College of Psychiatry. He has worked and lived in the local area for 27 years.

Phil Graham (Nominative – London Borough of Islington)
Phil is a local councillor and was nominated to the board by the London Borough of Islington in June 2018 for four years. Phil is well known in the area and has championed causes of local residents. He was elected a councillor in June 2018.

Mary Durcan (Nominative - City of London Corporation)
Mary is a Common Councilman for Cripplegate ward. She lives locally and has an interest in housing and community issues. She spent 6 years in the USA. Prior to that she was in Oxford where she was chairman and a trustee of the local Women's Aid group. She was a magistrate for 30 years and was chairman of the Family Panel. She worked in the NHS as a senior manager for several years and was involved as a volunteer officer with the local Scout Group.

Troy Gallagher (Nominative – London Borough of Islington)
Troy is a local Bunhill Councillor since 2010 and has been active in the local community for over 18 years. Troy is a fully qualified HR professional with extensive experience in many HR areas . Troy has previously been a trustee on the St Luke’s Board, was a community representative on EC1 New Deal for communities, Chair of Whitecross Street TRA, Former Governor of Richard Cloudsley School, Board member of Islington Victim Support and the first resident chair of Bunhill Safer Neighbourhood Panel. In his rare spare time, Troy loves the theatre to relax, loves Christmas and enjoys organising fundraising events for local charities

Latest

Summer Solstice Supper Club
Free classes at St Luke’s throughout July

St Luke’s Community Centre, Central Street, is inviting members of the community to sign up as members and enjoy FREE classes throughout July. Come along and try something new!
Meet Tsedal!
Summer Holidays at St Luke's

We've got loads of amazing activities for all the family during the school summer holidays! Whether you want to get creative in the kitchen or get your hands dirty in the gardern, there's something for everyone!

Room hire

Our modern Community Centre offers a range of flexible events spaces, perfect for meetings, conferences, parties or events for grown-ups and kids alike, from two to 160 people. We take pride in keeping the Centre well-decorated and clean. We're located just off Old Street, EC1, close to the City of London and three tube stations - Old Street, Barbican and Angel.
Contact us
About the centre

We own a large Community Centre on the edge of the City of London, a diverse area containing extremes of wealth and poverty. Our modern Community Centre provides a space for local people to gather and socialise, and for us and other organisations to deliver services and activities for the local community at little or no cost.
Garden Room

With its own private entrance and exclusive use of a terrace garden, this spacious and flexible room offers the perfect setting for conferences, seminars, training events and parties. It is a blank canvas to create the right setting and configuration for your event, and benefits from neutral, stylish décor and lots of natural light.
The Loft

The Loft occupies the whole third floor of the Community Centre, and has exclusive use of an entrance (ante) room, kitchen area and toilet, within this spacious and versatile area. It is bright and airy, and ideal for meetings, conferences, training, seminars or less formal events. Its exposed Victorian steel beams and skylight windows offer wonderful views over the roof tops of London.
What we do and who we help

We own a large Community Centre on the edge of the City of London, a diverse area containing extremes of wealth and poverty. Our modern Community Centre provides a space for local people to gather and socialise, and for us and other organisations to deliver services and activities to the local community at low or no cost to them. We also work outside in the community supporting other groups and running community events.
Studio

The Studio is a bright and exciting space for any occasion. Truly unique, this spacious room with its high ceilings and distinctive red walls will provide a striking backdrop to your conference or party. It includes a wall of mirrors with a professional barre for dance classes.
Vacancies at St Luke's
Our people
About the Cookery School

Our stylish, contemporary Cookery School in central London opened in 2012 as a self-funding facility to enable St Luke’s to deliver free or low-cost cookery classes and projects to benefit our community, which are funded by the private hire of the School.