Gordon Davies

What is your day job?

I am semi retired, and work as an arbitrator and as a mediator for Edinburgh and Glasgow Sheriff Courts and private clients.

When did you become a Leuchie Trustee and why?

I became a Trustee in 2018. Having heard about Leuchie through a local connection, I thought it was such a worthwhile cause, and unique in Scotland, that I wanted to be part of it. The work of local charities is so often overshadowed by the large international ones, yet they can make such a difference.

What do you do as a Leuchie Trustee?

My background is in property management and building conservation, and so I am taking an interest in enhancing the physical environment so that the guests can take full advantage of staying in a beautiful historic house.

What do you get out of it?

It is all about the people and their stories: guests, staff and volunteers.

Tell us one thing about you that we probably wouldn’t expect.

I speak Russian.

If you could invite someone to afternoon tea who would it be and why?

My friend Sam. He is a brilliant artist whose work is found in collections throughout the UK and beyond. He has an uncanny ability to capture wildlife at a frozen moment in time, and his work has raw and rare beauty.

Quite out of the blue Sam was recently diagnosed with MS. He accepted this new stage of his life with total positivity and it has spurred him on to expand his creativity into new areas of work.

At afternoon tea his diet would not allow him to enjoy the cakes which I love, yet his company round the tea table would provide an inspiration to others. So I really shall invite him.

If you could wave a magic wand, what would the Leuchie of the future be like?

The guest experience would hardly need to change, but the funding model would be such that a stay at Leuchie would be free for everyone that would benefit from respite care.