CHESS is run by a small team who are home educating or have home educated their children. They have a wealth of knowledge is many areas of home education and are always on hand to help answer your questions. Being a small team with a BIG vision there is always room for new committee members, so if you have a passion for home education please drop us a line at admin@chessuk.org
Esther Brombley - Support/Oversight
Esther is originally from Northern Ireland, married to an Englishman, Jonathan, living near Glasgow. They have five adult children, two daughters and three sons and one daughter-in-law. While now officially finished their home-education journey, they have always home-educated (although the oldest three had a year in a Spanish school when the family was living in Madrid for a couple of years and also went to school for a year to complete Scottish Highers.) Esther has been a committee member for over ten years and until October 2024 her main role was overseeing the bookings for the CHESS members’ annual holiday to Cefn Lea in Wales.
Ian & Jane Walkington - Regional Co-ordinators
We are based in Staffordshire and parents to three ages 21, 20 and 16. Our youngest has just started an apprenticeship part-time so the home education continues for the two days he is at home. We’re so grateful for having been able to home-educate. Along our journey we’ve adopted, and dealt with chronic health issues in our children along with special needs. I’m always happy to connect with another mum if anyone ever wishes to talk through anything. Ian works in flood risk analysis. We are both involved in running a tiny, not-for-profit, Christian exam centre on the Cheshire/ Staffordshire border (cedexamcentre.co.uk) and we are also the owners of Rainbow Books (rainbowbooks.co.uk). As we look to the end of our own home-education journey, we remain passionate about supporting others with theirs and pray that the Lord will use CHESS to strengthen the home-ed community in our land.
Ruth Barber - Administration
Charles & Ruth Barber live in Bradford, West Yorkshire. They have seven children: six boys and a girl, who have all been home educated from the start. The eldest three went to University and are now working. Ruth has a background in Banking and worked at Christians Against Poverty as a debt counsellor before home educating. She now helps with a range of administration tasks for CHESS and is the current Editor for Home Time magazine.
Michael Lane - Chairman
Originally from New Zealand, Michael & Deidre came to the UK in 2002 and have made the UK their home ever since. They now have three children, Jessica 18, Daniella 16 and Kayden 14 (that’s their ages, not middle names) all of which are God’s work in progress. Being slight outsiders they were not pulled into the ‘children go to school’ cultural norm and, not having any family around, they never asked, so their children never did go to school. Michael remembers telling a friend that they started with the question ‘what type of education?’ rather than the question which most non-Christian and sadly Christian parents ask ‘which school?’ So for them that was a home based Christian education. 14ish years on they continue with God’s help and grace to suppport other Christian Home Educators.
Nathan Field - Website/IT Co-ordinator
Nathan and Becky are second-generation home educators. Both were taught (and met) through being home educated using the A.C.E. curriculum and have spent several years working in home education. They now home educate their four children, two girls and twin boys aged 3-9, in Shropshire.
Jo Clarke - Finance Manager/Pastoral Care
Hi I’m Jo,
I have been home educating and a member of CHESS (Originally the Home Service) for 30 years. With 11 children, 2 married, 1 engaged to be married and a 20 month old grandson, life is busy. In the mornings, I home educate the 3 youngest, in the afternoons I work from home as a bookkeeper and in between I run an Organic mixed livestock farm from our home in West Wales. I also help out a little with the CHESS admin. I love spending time with family and friends, keeping fit and rare moments in a hammock with a book and I’ll always make time for a cuppa and a chat.
Katharina Wright - Holiday Co-ordinator
Originally from South Africa and Germany, we moved to the UK from Germany in 2016 to home educate our children. We are very grateful for the opportunity, we love the freedom here and moving from Suffolk to Oxfordshire to Nottinghamshire, we have always found great a community of home educators for friendship, learning and encouragement. Our six children are between 17 and 4, five boys and one girl. Our eldest son is now doing A-Levels at college. We have been coming to the Cefn Lea CHESS holiday since 2019 and wouldn’t miss it for anything.