Trustees
I have been a CF Companion on the Way for about 10 years. I live with two friends in a community household, where I often practise contemplation with the help of Xena the household cat. In our household, together and with others, we create spaces of prayer and sanctuary in the city. I facilitate quiet days, retreats and “wild sing” walks and I am a life coach and Spiritual Accompanier. I am also an Anglican priest, and I often coach people discovering what “church” looks like when it emerges among people who are culturally distant from traditional expressions of church.
I live with my husband, Simon, near our daughters and their families in Sheffield, having moved up from Colchester. We have run a small data analytics consultancy since 2011 and are still enjoying that. I find deep satisfaction from my work as a spiritual accompanier. I love reading and camping but also dabble in painting and language learning. My three best things about CF are space to listen and to be heard, sharing silence and strengthening contemplative practice.
My name is Jacky Hughes and I was newly elected as a Trustee from October 2023, having been a Companion for just a couple of years. After close involvement with my large, local Anglican church, including being Churchwarden for five years and Deputy Chairman of a ministry called Love Africa for its 15 year history, my spiritual search changed focus at the beginning of the pandemic. Before this I had started a Masters in Christian Spirituality which is now complete. I loved the work on liberation theology, embodied Christianity and the mystics and the course deepened my interest in the contemplative tradition. Along the way I rediscovered Contemplative Fire and the trefoil and the ‘travelling light but dwelling deep’ phrase immediately resonated with me. The 2022 Summer Retreat proved to be spiritually very profound for me too.
I make art, read extensively and write a bit. I used to run an accountancy consultancy. I ponder. I live in a tiny wooden house beside a small pond and love to share this space with birds, bees, water creatures and people. I enjoy mixing all these up and have lived in Devon now over 30 years.