Our trustees

Chair of the Arthritis Care board of trustees

Rosemary is the chair of Arthritis Care’s board of trustees. She was originally elected to the Scotland Committee where she still holds the post of treasurer. She joined the board as one of two Scotland Committee representatives in 1997 having previously been involved with Young Arthritis Care and was appointed vice chair in 2004.

In 2007 Rosemary was elected chair of the board and currently also chairs the organisation’s national/regional chairs, trustees and directors committee.

Prior to joining Arthritis Care, Rosemary worked for over 10 years with Her Majesty’s Forces and for a number of years in the hotel industry.

Vice-chair of the Arthritis Care board of trustees

Ann joined the board in 2004 following years of local service as a volunteer in all aspects of Arthritis Care’s services. In 2007 Ann was elected vice-chair of the board and also chairs the organisation's operations and resources committee.

Ann is also an accredited tutor/assessor for the Expert Patient Programme. She currently helps run the family businesses with her husband.

Honorary treasurer of the Arthritis Care board of trustees

David is a Cambridge University Economics graduate and a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Chartered Management Institute, and holds a Diploma in Management.  David's career has been in Finance. He cut his commercial teeth as a Financial Controller at British Gas/Centrica during the introduction of both gas and electricity competition. From 1999, he specialised in financial management in the public and voluntary sector, with Finance Director roles at a University, Housing Associations, NCVO, and both grant giving and service delivery charities, but he has now retired from paid employment.  He is also a Trustee of Community Links Trust based in Newham.  David is married and lives in Northwood, Middlesex.

Gordon is an economist who has spent over 25 years in Local Government, retiring as Deputy Chief Executive of a London Borough. He then went on to form a Management Consultancy specialising in change management. Since selling the company in 2006 Gordon has concentrated his efforts in the field of Charities and is the Trustee in Wales for the Buttle Children's Charity, a post he has held for five years. Married with two children and a new grandson Gordon and his wife spend their time walking, cycling and golfing in West Wales and at their holiday home in Pembrokeshire.

Peter Anscombe

Peter is the South East England Region Committee representative. He joined the board in 2011. He works for Marsh Limited, a global insurance and risk advisory business. He is also a director of Find A Voice, a charity for those with severe speach disability.

Peter has a master's degree from Portsmouth University Business School, is a member of the Chartered Management Institute, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a founding Fellow of the Sales Leadership Alliance. He is also a semi-professional photographer.

Gordon Blyth is in his sixties. He has lived with arthritis since he was 28 and became a member of Arthritis Care about 20 years ago while still a secondary school teacher. After stopping work in 2002, he trained to lead self-management courses in Scotland where he met many great people.

Elected to the Scotland Committee in 2006 he then joined the board of trustees in 2010. Gordon remains committed to the work of Arthritis Care, which has helped him, and thousands more to make the best of life of their lives with arthritis.

Chrystal Carmichael has been a member of Arthritis Care for the past 37 years and at present she is the chair of Glasgow South Branch. Chrystal originally started as a volunteer driver, and within the first year became the branch secretary, a post she held for the next 29 years, before becoming the current chair.

Chrystal joined the Scotland Committee six years ago, and had been the chair for the past four years, before being elected as trustee for Scotland in April 2009. During her time on the Scotland Committee she has sat on various task groups and presently she is the Health and Safety Champion for Scotland.

Chrystal originally became involved with Arthritis Care, because she was the main carer for a parent who was a branch member and had rheumatoid arthritis. She has been involved with the British Red Cross, where she used to run the Handicapped Children's Group, as well as being the honorary treasurer of the West of Scotland Mobility Group. She currently volunteers at the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice.

Susan Cheetham

Susan joined Arthritis Care, Fleetwood Branch, in 2007. She was the Secretary for the Branch   for one year and then the Treasurer for the past four years. Susan is the North England Regional Committee representative.

Before she retired from work Susan was a registered social worker who held a DipSW, a Certificate in Management Studies and was a Registered Nurse for people with Learning Disabilities. She consulted to Local Authorities, industry, charitable and voluntary organisations. Susan qualified as a Practice Teacher also gained qualifications in Crisis Psychology and Crisis Care. She worked in the private and voluntary sectors advising on management, budgetary control, future planning, staff recruitment and training, and in the Contracts Department of a Local Authority where she wrote their Contract and Service Specification Agreements for several agencies plus agreeing and monitoring Service Lead Agreements with the Private and Voluntary Sectors.  Susan sat on two steering committees for the preparation of the then Adult Protection (No Secrets) Document. She delivered training on Person- Centred Planning and the Safeguarding of Adults. She has assisted a number of organisations to develop their business plans as well working with them on monitoring and performance.  The Social Work Independent Forum (BASW) published a book about working independently, (now available throughout Europe). Susan was the author on the chapter relating to Learning Disabilities. Susan managed the Adviser Service for a local Mencap Group and has been a Tutor for a College on their Dementia Awareness Courses.

Susan was a Magistrate for ten years resigning in 1998 to care for her terminally ill mother.

Susan continues to advise an industrial company in Northern Ireland with the preparation of their contracts and documents.

Edward first rattled a charity collection box in London’s Oxford Street over thirty years ago but started his career as a parliamentary researcher before moving to Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising and only from there into charity marketing and fundraising. For the last twenty years he has worked in the governance and management of charities, in the senior management team at Talking Newspapers for the Blind, Motor Neurone Disease Association and Asthma UK and more recently as Chief Executive of Children with Cancer UK  and Treasurer then Chairman of Endometriosis UK. He brings to Arthritis Care wide ranging experience of campaigning, fundraising and financial management in both branch based and centralized organizations. He is registered blind and has a keen interest in disability issues.

Ian joined the Board of Trustees in December 2011.  Until his recent retirement in 2011 Ian was Head of UK Operations for the Law Society, the professional body for solicitors in England and Wales. His role involved building close relationships with members and their firms, providing business development support, delivering Law Society products and services and partnering major economic and business agencies on joint projects and initiatives.

Earlier in his career he held senior management positions in a number of national charities offering services and support to people with a disability and their carers.

He believes in strong relationship management and the vital importance of building and maintaining meaningful long term relationships with both members and external stakeholders.

William is the Central England Region Committee representative and joined the Board of Trustees in September 2011 after serving as the Chair of the Central England Regional Committee since 2010 and as Chair of the Scunthorpe branch of Arthritis Care since 2009.  He has served in the Royal Air Force and had an extensive career working in dentistry both in the UK and in Holland. 

In May 2005 William became the Mayor of North Lincolnshire Council and continues to be a Councillor serving on several committees.

William is also a trustee, founder member and Secretary of the South Axholme Community Swimming Pool Association.  He helped raise £666000 in the early 1990’s to build the swimming pool which is still runs in profit and without subsidy.

William and his wife Jennie have a son and daughter and two young grandsons.

Ann is a directly elected trustee who joined the board in 2006. She is currently chair of the joint negotiating committee.

During a career in the civil service which lasted over 25 years, Ann was responsible for setting up the transport provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act. She now works as an independent consultant specialising in mobility needs and as a visiting professor for the department of civil and environmental engineering at University College London. Ann also serves as a trustee of both Mobility Choice and the Volunteer Centre, Westminster.

Richard has been a directly elected trustee since 1997. He is currently a consultant rheumatologist at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth. Richard is a highly experienced rheumatologist and sits on Arthritis Care’s board of trustees.

He has previously worked with the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA), is a former convener of the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology (BSPAR), and is a former member of the council of the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR). He is currently principal medical advisor to the charity and chairs the Clinical Advisory Board.

David is the Northern Ireland Committee representative and chair of the organisation’s pensions committee and joint negotiating committee. He joined the board in 2006 after five years with Arthritis Care as a training volunteer.

David became involved with the organisation after completing a Challenging Arthritis course and remains a firm advocate of training services. Prior to joining the organisation David had a successful career in the civil service.

Chris is the South West Region Committee representative. She joined the board in 2006 building on almost 20 years of involvement with the organisation. In 1987 Chris became a committee member of the Salisbury branch and in 2002 she co-founded the Amesbury branch.

Prior to her retirement Chris worked at the Ministry of Defence and, in addition to her work as a trustee, Chris is an Arthritis Care information volunteer.

Robert Pickles is a co-opted trustee who joined the board in March 2010, and is a member of the Business Planning Working Group.

Robert has worked for Canon (UK) Ltd for over 20 years. During that time, he has held a number of management and senior positions within the sales and marketing elements of Canon's business. For the last 10 years, Robert has worked entirely within Canon's significant public sector business. In his current role of director of public affairs he represents Canon in all its dealings with parliament, in Westminster as well as the devolved parliaments in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast.

Married with three grown-up children, Robert enjoys walking, reading and family life.

Karen Willson

Dr Karen Willson came onto the board on 16 September 2009. She has over 15 years experience working within life sciences and engineering working in academia and a large pharmaceutical organisation.

She has completed training at the London Business School and is currently working at the London development Agency managing EU funded projects across London. Karen is the youngest member of the board of trustees and is responsible for the Young Person’s and Families projects.