The Board of Directors of the Chisholme Institute
The board of directors is the legally constituted body responsible for overseeing the running of the Chisholme Institute according to its stated aims. The directors meet regularly throughout the year at Chisholme House to discuss all aspects of the Institute including its financing, staffing, maintenance, building projects, household matters, garden, estate and publicity.
Lesley Abadi
Lesley graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1966 after majoring in printed textile design. She worked as a freelance designer and taught in Winchester School of Art, Croydon College of Art and Bournemouth College of Art. Lesley later taught sixth form art A level students and in adult education centres. She has been a director of the Institute since its beginning and is married with one son.
Colin Bingham
Colin is a Social Sciences graduate and a qualified Further Education teacher. Most of his working life has been spent working with adults and young people who have learning difficulties. Colin is currently undertaking an Advanced Practitioners Course in Substance Misuse as he now works with recovering drug users, helping them to maintain abstinence. In his spare time (!!!) he is a keen organic gardener.
Franziska Bockenheimer
Franziska studied Geography at St. Hugh's College, Oxford. During that time she came across Beshara and Chiropractic. After completing the six-month retreat courses at the school, she went on to study Chiropractic in New Zealand and in Wales. She now works in Oxford.
Peter Coates
Peter graduated from Lancaster and researched at Keble College, Oxford. He was senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Lincoln, where he taught courses in the philosophy of science and philosophy and psychology of the self until his retirement in 2003. He has studied, lectured and written extensively about mysticism, with particular reference to Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, the eminent Arab mystic of the 12th century. Peter is the author of Ibn 'Arabi and Modern Thought.
Niels Detert
Neils works at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, UK as a Clinical Psychologist (Neuropsychology specialty), working with neurological patients and with a special interest in Neuro-oncology. His first degree is in Psychology and Philosophy from Oxford University. Neils lives in Oxford with his partner and son.
Paul Finegan
Paul has been a student of the Beshara School for over thirty years. He is a businessman who lives with his wife in the Borders of Scotland and he writes and performs narrative verse and stories.
John Hill
John studied geology and social anthropology at Cambridge University and researched in ethnology at Oxford University. This led on naturally to courses at the Beshara School at Chisholme House. He is currently a garden designer and runs a landscaping business. John has been a director of the Chisholme Institute for ten years and takes particular responsibility for the estate and organic kitchen garden.
Tim Roberts
Tim has been a director for 3 years and has been involved with the Beshara School for 20 years. He is a professional musician, mostly as a teacher, privately and in schools, although he is also a founder member of the nearly-famous Vastearth Orchestra. Tim lives with his partner in the Midlands. He has long been interested in environmental issues, and this is the area he is most concerned with as a director.
Christopher Ryan
Christopher has been a director of the Institute since its foundation in 1979, and currently serves as Chairman. He studied Law at the University of West Australia, and Turkish at Oxford University. Christopher is a businessman, consultant and restaurateur, and also works freelance as a travel and food writer. His current venture is the Damascus Drum, a cafe and bookshop in Hawick.
Rachel Williamson
Rachel is a fully qualified Aroma Therapist and full-time mother, and she lives in the Borders of Scotland.