Charlie Colchester

Energetic Tutor enthusiastic about working with students of all ages and backgrounds.

Excited to grow individual confidence and skill.

Outgoing, reliable and caring.

Instils confidence in students with encouragement and facilitates learner-focused lessons.

Enjoys delivering interesting sessions for maximum engagement and information retention.

Background: My formative years were spent in Cairo, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Zurich, Athens and Paris as the son of a diplomat which has undoubtedly contributed to my wide-ranging interest in, and understanding of, European history and international affairs

Occupation history:
1972 Employed as executive assistant in Gray Mackenzie Bahrain (Inchcape Group).

1973 Joined a Partnership brokering business opportunities in a wide range of fields in the Gulf States (Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Iran and Oman).

1976 Launched a small public relations and advertising business, with Collingwood of Conduit Street (the Royal Jewellers).

1979 Founded ‘The Well’ a Christian coffee bar and restaurant in Victoria, London.

1980 Launched The Initiatives Project, to encourage local churches to set up similar venues in the High Street.

1983 Co-founded CARE, a Christian charity whose remit was a combination of social action and political lobbying. I also started a successful intern programme working closely with MPs across the political divide, which continues to this day.

1986 Launched CARE for EUROPE in Brussels.

1990 Started EDI (the Ethics Development Initiative) which was designed as a specific response to the ethical vacuum that the collapse of the Soviet Empire had created in the emergent countries of Eastern Europe in the specific areas of Business, Politics, Medicine, Law and Society

2004 -2015 Instigated and managed the Doha International Conference on the Family in Qatar which culminated in the Doha Declaration of the Family. This was subsequently adopted by the UN to mark the 10th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family. I continued to serve on the DIFI Board.

2012 Founded OID (the Office of International Diplomacy), which was set up to work with senior UN diplomats and government ministers on peace and reconciliation initiatives around the world, using the 'Family' as a new diplomatic language. OID also coordinated global initiatives arising in Canada, China, Italy and Malaysia, to combat modern slavery, .


Current Activities:
o Chairman of P&P Trust which is a small grant making trust.
o Patron of the Epiphany Trust which provides:-
 schools and ‘safe houses’ for street children in Sri Lanka schools
 a women's refuge for the Karen peoples in Myanmar
 schools, a feeding programme and refuges, for persecuted Pakistani Christians who have fled to Bangkok
 long term safe houses for severely learning disabled adults in Romania

Other Interests:
Education: Spearheaded a group of parents to start Dolphin school in 1985. This is an independent Christian primary school in South London which was later joined by four nursery schools and which continues to grow and thrive.

Church growth: Church Warden (1979-2010) in two large central London churches

Singing: Member of various church choirs

Portrait and landscape painting

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