The Beshara Trust

Trustees

Marie Anda

Originally from Norway, she moved to Britain in the 70s to study drama, and later philosophy.  She has been a care-worker for the elderly for many years, and of late, she is spending much of her time working at the Beshara School in Scotland.

Meral Arim

She was born in Turkey and first came to Britain in 1975 as a Turkish teacher. She has lived in Britain ever since. She has one son and two grandchildren.

Jane Carroll

studied at the Architectural Association in London with a specific interest in sacred geometry and proportional systems. She has lived with her family in California since 1980 where she practices architecture in Ojai. She is also a member of the board of the Beshara Foundation in America.

Martha Cass

is a private tutor/therapist for children and adults with learning difficulties, and is a graduate student (MPhil) at the University of Birmingham, Dept. of Education. She lived and worked at the Chisholme Institute for many years, and has supervised courses there.

Adam Dupré

Currently Chairman of the Trust, read Theology at  London University in the early 1970s and attended the first course at the Beshara School of Intensive Esoteric Education in 1975.  He was Director of Studies at the School from 1980 to 1984, and has worked in building, teaching and company information (shipping and China). He was Chairman of the Chisholme Institute from 1979 until becoming Chairman of the Beshara Trust in 1994. 

He has written for the  Ibn ‘Arabi Society Journal and other publications with spiritual content, and has presented papers at Ibn ‘Arabi Society Symposia in the UK and in the USA .  He is married and has six children.  He lives near Lockerbie in  Scotland.

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Derek Elliott

I graduated from Sussex University in 1973 with a degree in Religious  Studies. I work with wood, with a special interest in contemporary  furniture design. I run an associated business. I have four children  and live in the Cotswolds with my partner.

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Hiroko Nagato-Apthorp

I was born in Kagawa, Japan and since 1987 have been living in the UK. I studied Fine Art and Painting in London and Surrey and have also worked in Preschool Childcare in Oxford. I am married to David and we have two children, Miwa  and Haru. I did the first Six-month Course at the Beshara School in 2005/6. I am now working as Housekeeper in Chisholme. I enjoy living and working in Chisholme.

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Martin Notcutt

He grew up in South Africa, and studied social sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. He came to the UK in 1972, and first encountered Beshara in 1974. He has worked as a company analyst in the oil and shipping industry, and looked after the computer network and database of a company in that sector. Now he mainly works with web sites. He is married with two children.

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Annette Robertson

Mother of three. Worked at the Beshara School for some years.  Now lives in the Borders and works as a part-time carer.

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Charles Verey

I studied Fine Art at the Slade School in London, 1959 - 1963, followed by some years of teaching. Sitting one day, in August 1971, at the desk at Arlington Mill, Bibury, a family concern, a dog came in and sat at my feet, followed by a young man on a bicycle who claimed to be a wheelwright. He told me that his dog had found me and that I was to come to meditation that evening at Swyre Farm, a few miles up the road, a request I was too curious to refuse. A run-down farmhouse I had bought in Radnorshire was converted and used later for the first Beshara 10-day courses.

After attending a 6-month course at the Beshara Trust’s Sherborne House, and a TOPS course in carpentry and joinery in North Wales, I was invited to make the dining table for the renovated Chisholme House. This led to a 20-year career as a garden furniture designer, including contracts with Green Brothers (Geebro) Ltd and Summit Furniture Inc. Now  retired, I am writing a biography of Rosemary Verey, the garden writer and broadcaster who was my mother. It is at last an opportunity to spend longer in the unique environment at the Beshara School at Chisholme and to work in my own garden in Oxfordshire.

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