ZANE Trustees

A diplomat for 35 years, serving in Washington DC, La Paz Bolivia, Geneva at the UN, Jordan, Gibraltar and as Ambassador to the Holy See. Since then involved in prisons, governing schools, Christian Satellite TV in Arabic and Farsi, peacemaking in the Sudan and the local church. Married to Jane with three children and four grandchildren.

Caroline Compston worked in the art world in London, at the Victoria and Albert Museum and then as an assistant curator at the Tate Gallery. After moving to Oxford with her three children and her husband, Christopher, also a trustee of ZANE, she became Co-Chairman of the Children’s Benefactors’ Board at the Oxford Children’s Hospital in 2008. Between 2006 and 2018 she organised operas, Christmas concerts and a circus in order to raise money for the  Children’s Hospital. She also organised a Flash Mob at Marylebone station in 2017 in order to raise money for Syrians in need of medical help.

Christopher Compston, after a law degree from Magdalen, Oxford, was a barrister for twenty years before becoming a circuit judge in 1986. He retired in January 2013 after twenty-seven years, mainly in the criminal and family courts with some civil and mental health work.

David Covell worked as an executive director in Zambia and East Africa with the Booker Group’s trading, manufacturing, pharmaceutical,  poultry and sugar interests for forty years, having completed  National Service with the Royal Navy in the Fishery Protection Squadron.

Dr Richard Ekins is a Tutorial Fellow in Law at St John's College, Oxford. He received his BA, LLB (Hons) and BA (Hons) degrees from The University of Auckland, before going on to read for the BCL, MPhil and DPhil at Oxford. He has worked as a Judge's Clerk at the High Court of New Zealand at Auckland, and a Lecturer at Balliol College, and was a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Auckland before moving (back) to Oxford in 2012.

Nicky Gayner trained as a Montessori teacher and worked in the education field for 15 years. As a full time mother, she ran the parents' associations of two school's and is also a Governor of a prep school in London. Nicky is an International cabaret singer. She has performed her one woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and also in London, New York and a tour of Norway. In 2015 she performed in Bulawayo and the British Embassy residence in Harare, Zimbabwe. Nicky became involved with ZANE in 2006 and brings a valuable talent for fundraising and organisation to the ZANE team.

Educated at Exeter University Career 1973 -75 The British Council 1975 - 87 The Lord Chancellor's Department Voluntary Positions 1993 - 2015 Board member of several theatres 2011 - 17 Council Member The Theatres Trust (a statutory body, appointed by the Secretary of State) 2008 - current Board member Clarity (a supported business, providing employment for people with disabilities) 1997 - current Member of Governing Body of Linden Lodge School (a maintained school for children from 3 till 19 years of age with complex needs, including residential care) 2017 Chair of The London Arts in Health Fund. 2008 Awarded an OBE in the Queens Birthday Honours List.

Nicky grew up in Zimbabwe where she taught for most of her professional life before heading up the work of ZANE in Zimbabwe for eleven years. In 2015 she moved with her husband, Tony, to Melbourne. Her work with the elderly was recognised in the Queen's New Year Honours List in 2015 when she received an MBE. Nicky is CEO of ZANE Australia.

Angus Ramsay enlisted in the Black Watch in 1964, and was with the British Army for 37 years. Subsequently he served as an international civil servant with the UN in war-torn Bosnia, Kosovo and Sudan, and then in 2003 became the Secretary to the Beit Trust, and for 14 years helped it to develop Zimbabwe and its neighbours. In 2004 he also became the Zimbabwe Council Member of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Servicemen's League, which is a strong supporter of ZANE. In 2019 he joined ZANE as a Trustee.