Our Feoffees (Trustees)

Peter Armitage

Nominated – District Council

Peter is a West Suffolk Councillor and retired Civil Engineer. He has worked for private consultants, local and national government – generally on public transport projects which have taken him to many countries.

George Chilvers

Co-opted

Born and raised in Suffolk, George has lived in Bury St Edmunds for the past 10 years and is passionate about supporting his local community. George has over 15 years of experience in the third sector, working closely with businesses and community partners to help raise vital funds for worthwhile causes. George lives in Bury St Edmunds with his wife and their two young daughters. Outside of work, he is a big Ipswich town fan and also enjoys setting himself silly fundraising challenges to help lose a few lbs whilst raising a few £’s.

Diane Hind

Nominated – Town Council

I am currently a District Councillor with responsibility for finance and Property, in addition to role as Vice Chair and Deputy Mayor for Bury St Edmunds Town Council. I have lived in Bury for 33 years, and my working life was spent in Commercial Insurance.

James Cockram

Co-opted

James moved to Bury St Edmunds in 1980 and is the third generation of the Cockram family to be involved in the Feoffment, having become a Feoffee in 2007. Professionally, he is a political campaign manager and trainer, with a career spanning projects across the UK and internationally. Outside of politics, he also a trustee of a national charity providing benevolent support to those in need.

Virginia Dean

Co-opted

After a first degree at the London School of Economics, Virginia joined Private Office of the Home Secretary and started her legal studies. After Whitehall and the City of London she came to Suffolk where family and voluntary work occupied the next few years.Most recently she taught Contract, Company and Commercial Law in collaboration with the University of Suffolk, Cambridge University (Ruskin College) and the University of East Anglia, and developed law programs for several professional institutes.She joined the Feoffment in 1994 and has enjoyed the privilege of carrying forward the work started here in Bury St Edmunds in 1481.

Joe Hawes

Co-opted

The Very Reverend Joe Hawes was installed in July 2018 as the Dean of St Edmundsbury and oversees the spiritual and administrative life of the Cathedral Community. He is a former Durham University graduate who studied theology at St Stephen’s House, Oxford. Joe came to Bury St Edmunds from All Saints’ Fulham and was previously Team Vicar for eight years at St Michael’s, Barnes Team Ministry, in London. He took an MA in Theology and Politics in 2015, served on General Synod, representing the Deans, and is a trustee of USPG.

Elsie Hui

Co-opted

Elsie became a Feoffee in December 2025. She trained as a medical doctor in London and moved to Hong Kong in 1992. There she acquired specialist status in Geriatric Medicine and became involved in strategic leadership and hospital management. She has collaborated with charitable organisations and academics to develop innovations which enabled older people to remain in their own homes. She relocated to the UK and has been working as a Consultant Geriatrician at West Suffolk Hospital. Elsie and her son live in Bury St Edmunds while her daughter is in London. She has just transitioned from being a full time professional to locum work, and looks forward to serving the local community.

Paul Knights

Co-opted

Paul has lived in Bury St Edmunds for 45 years and trained as a Chartered Accountant with BDO before setting up his own practice in 1987 where he remains a Director.His two children and five grandchildren live in Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding area where Paul has always tried to support the local community by fundraising or organising community events.He became a Feoffee in 2017 and has been Chairman since 2022. In his spare time he enjoys sailing and travel.

Greg Luton

Co-opted

Mark Merriam

Co-opted – Chair

As a solicitor Mark worked for what is now known as Ashtons Legal in Bury St Edmunds for 33 years, specialising in Dispute Resolution. He was Managing Partner of the firm between 2001 and 2010 and Chairman between 2011 and 2018. Besides his involvement as a Feoffee he enjoys golf, padel, walking, bridge and travel.

Graham Mothersole

Co-opted

Semi retired. Has lived and worked in the Bury St. Edmunds area all his life.One wife.One dog.Four children. Six grandchildren.

Simon Pott

Co-opted

A Feoffee since 1980, Simon was President of RICS, chaired The Royal Agricultural University then Vice-President, The Almshouse Association and its Charity Investment Fund, Rural Housing Trust Developments, The Day Foundation, BSE Heritage Trust, was Honorary Commander of RAF Lakenheath, has been a governor of schools, currently Culford, and various community positions.

Tiffer Robinson

Co-opted

Reverend Canon Tiffer Robinson is the Vicar of St Mary’s, the civic church of Bury St Edmunds, where Jankyn Smyth the charity’s original benefactor was a member. Tiffer has been in Bury St Edmunds since 2022, having served in a number of rural Suffolk churches for over a decade before that. His chief area of responsibility within the trust is the running of the Jankyn Smythe Commemoration service at St Mary’s, which engages both the children from the school the charity founded, and the residents of the almshouses.

Henry Saltmarsh

Co-opted

Henry was born in Newmarket to a farming family growing up in Moulton, Nr. Newmarket. After leaving school aged 18 he trained as a Chartered Accountant in the City of London returning to join a Bury St Edmunds firm of Accountants in 1971 eventually practicing in both Bury and Newmarket. He specialised in charity accounting acting for many national, regional and local charities. He has been associated with the Feoffment for over 50 years initially on a professional basis and since his retirement from practice in 2003, as a Feoffee.

Margaret Statham

Feoffee

A graduate of the universities of Durham and Liverpool, Margaret came to Bury St Edmunds in 1957, and worked as an archivist in the West Suffolk Record Office. Her edition of the ‘Accounts of the Feoffees of the Town Lands of Bury St Edmunds, 1569 – 1622’ was published by the Suffolk Records Society in 2003, and she has written a number of books on the history of Bury St Edmunds. In addition to being a Feoffee and their Chair, Margaret was at various times hon. Secretary of the Theatre Royal Trust, which restored the theatre in the early 1960s, hon. Archivist of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Chair of Bury St Edmunds Past and Present Society and a governor of King Edward V1 school. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2007