Colin Brewer formerly directed the Westminster Hospital’s alcoholism unit and the Stapleford Centre. In 2015 he co-published the book “I’ll See Myself Out, Thank You”, in which he described conducting mental capacity assessments for six British citizens hoping to end their life in Switzerland. His forthcoming book “Let Me Not Get Alzheimer’s Sweet Heaven”, explores the dilemma of dementia and assisted dying. He has previously served as a committee member for the Voluntary Euthanasia Society (now Dignity in Dying).
Phil worked as a research scientist before getting involved with the assisted dying campaign. The unpleasant end of life experience of his mother and aunt, who both suffered from dementia and other conditions, convinced him of a need for a change in the law. Between 2015 – 2019 he coordinated the campaign which My Death, My Decision is the proud successor of.
Ellen is an architecture graduate with an interest in policy development and campaigning. She joined My Death, My Decision after working in a political role.
ellen.day@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk
Carrie works as a freelance editor and proofreader based in Brighton & Hove. She joined My Death, My Decision in 2016 and is passionate about changing the law to move assisted dying from the realm of criminality to healthcare.
carrie.hynds@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk
Robert Ince trained as an engineer and spent his professional career in the international oil industry, with a short time in banking. Subsequently, he became Treasurer and then Convenor of the Unitarian church. He is currently President of the International Association for Religious Freedom – the world’s oldest interfaith organisation and chair of a number of other charities.
In the early 1970s Susie co-founded and ran a women’s circle for a large northern newspaper group before becoming advertising manager for a prestigious department store. In the 1990s she spent nine years in the charity sector coordinating volunteer groups for Arthritis Research.
Claire Macdonald started and ran a chain of children’s nursery schools. She has been a founder trustee of a family support charity, an independent school governor and an Independent Monitor of one of Her Majesty’s Prisons. Claire believes in personal autonomy and that it is ethical and compassionate to legalise medically assisted death, for mentally competent adults whose suffering has become more than they can endure.
Born in 1959, Preston Lancashire, Gary obtained a degree in accounting and then qualified as a Chartered Accountant with BDO in Manchester. He joined the now BAE Systems in 1986 holding financial controller and finance director roles across civil and military aerospace divisions; then Thales in 2008, a French blue chip, where he held Finance Director roles in the UK until 2018. Currently a trustee for a North West of England based charity supporting people suffering from drug and alcohol abuse and associated mental illness.
He believes that citizens in the UK have gained new rights over the years, rights that should have existed in the first instance, and the right to assisted dying when a person has an incurable condition is one such right.
Simon Menneer spent two decades working in Corporate Finance, after which he worked for Millwall FC and the London Development Agency before moving to Cornwall where he was until recently CEO of Cornwall Cricket. Simon has been a lifelong believer in the right to choose the manner of one’s own death. This was reinforced when he watched his close friend Tony suffer terribly with late-stage pancreatic cancer.
Trevor Moore spent much of his professional career as a partner in a City law firm, followed by several years as a consultant and freelance speaker. In the course of his current work as a humanist celebrant he often meets people who are approaching the end of life. That experience, as well as meeting grieving families after someone has died, has deepened his interest in end of life matters. He has recently co-edited Words in Pain, the letters of a terminally ill woman from the early twentieth century described by The Times as ‘a right to die pioneer’. Trevor also serves as a schools’ panel member for the Faith and Belief Forum.
Liz has been in marketing and communications for all of her working life. She started her career with Unilever, moved on to one of the world’s most notable advertising agencies, then Wedgwood China, and Barclays Bank. For the last 15 years she has been part of the senior leadership team in the University world, most notably as Associate Dean. Understanding people is at the heart of good marketing so it is hardly surprising that Liz is compassionate and drawn to issues around assisted dying.
Grace has an undergraduate degree in Religious Studies and the Philosophy of Ethics and a postgraduate degree in International Marketing. She helps My Death, My Decision keep its social media platforms and supporters up to date with real-life stories, legislation updates, and insights into the assisted dying debate.
Nathan is a History graduate as well as a communications and technology aficionado. He joined My Death My Decision at the start of 2022 after spending two years working for the Jo Cox Foundation and two years in Brussels at a political communications agency.
nathan.stilwell@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk