Welcoming three new Trustees

We are delighted to welcome three new Trustees to our Board of Trustees, formally known in our Royal Charter as our Court of Assistants.

Anna, David and Timothy bring a range of complementary skills, experiences and insights. All ordained and having served within the Church of England, they recognise and understand the challenges facing clergy and their families across all of the national Churches. We look forward to working together and striving to improve the lives of thousands of our applicants.

We last welcomed new additions to our Board of Trustees at our Annual Assembly back in October 2025. Our now former Governors approved the election of Patience Thody - who previously served as Deputy Chief Executive of The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts - and Peter Warren - who also serves as a Trustee of the Connection at St Martin's, one of London's largest homelessness charities.

The Revd Anna Drew

Since 2023, Anna has been the Director of Communications for the Diocese of Southwark, one of the largest in the Church of England, where she leads all media, marketing and communications, and sits on the Bishop's senior team.

Her twenty-year career in communications has been almost entirely with faith organisations, including as Head of Media & Engagement for the Diocese of Canterbury, and Lead Media Officer for the Methodist Church.

Anna combines this ministry with her role as self-supporting priest in the Diocese of Rochester. She is also an experienced trustee, including with the Sandford St Martin Trust and Li Tim Oi Foundation.

The Revd David Poultney

David is a highly experienced parish priest in the Church of England, currently serving (since 2018) as Rector of Bedworth, a large parish in Coventry with twenty-eight staff and weekly attendance over 400.

Since arriving, he has had the joy of sending out several church plants to revitalise dying churches. He has a passion for seeing struggling churches revitalised, a calling which began on the multicultural estates of Luton, where he served his curacy.

An Area Dean and former Pioneer Minister, David is also chair of the Nicholas Chamberlaine Schools Foundation, a grant-giving charity with assets of £50m, and is currently studying a course in AI at the Said Business School.

Before ordination, David was a Senior Systems Engineer working for Alstom and is a passionate advocate for Systems Thinking. David and his wife, Ann have three teenage children and a bouncy and fluffy dog called Levi.

The Revd David Poultney is wearing glasses, an orange jumper and a white clerical collar.

Bishop Tim is wearing a black jacket, pink shirt and a white clerical collar. He is looking at the camera and smiling.

The Rt Revd Dr Timothy Wambunya

Timothy is the Bishop of Wolverhampton, a Suffragan See of the Diocese of Lichfield.

His prior ministry has been both in the UK, most recently as Vicar of St Paul's Slough, and Africa, where he was for seven years a Diocesan Bishop in Kenya, and for three years Principal of Carlile College.

He brings significant governance and fundraising experience from his various voluntary roles, as well as a deep passion for clergy wellbeing and formation, and holds a PhD from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and the University of Wales.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

Photo credit: Clergy Support Trust, Diocese of Oxford.

Clergy Support Trust is the largest and oldest charity focussed on the wellbeing of clergy and their families. The Trust, originally founded in 1655, provides confidential help for Anglican clergy and their families across the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man, and Diocese in Europe. The Trust are confidential, independent, inclusive, and impartial, and we support clergy from training through to retirement. In 2025, we supported over 2,900 households with more than 7,000 grants.