Our Organisation, people and policies.

LSF-UK is a registered charity managed by seven professional Luthiers with many years of experience. We have no paid staff.

Additional volunteers are recruited for our teaching missions.

Our management committee

Rob Cain

Chair
Rob taught for many years at the Newark School of Violinmaking. He can now be found in his workshop or sometimes at the local hospital CT scanning precious instruments. As well as being Chair of LSF-UK, Rob’s role is in developing missions. He has volunteered in Haiti, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Malawi and Kosovo.

Colin Garrett B.E.M.

Treasurer
Colin lives in Hertfordshire where he works as a luthier. As well as being treasurer of LSF-UK, Colin is a very successful fundraiser. Until recently, Colin was a trustee of the Rowan Armour-Brown trust which supports young luthiers. Colin was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2023 in recognition of his services to violinmaking.

Keith Graves

Secretary
Keith has been a professional violin maker and restorer for over 40 years and works from his workshop in West Sussex. He taught Violin Making and Restoration at Merton College in Morden. Keith has volunteered for LSF in Uganda and Antigua. 

Sarah Beaton

Trustee

Sarah works a a luthier at the Royal Academy of Music in London where she helps to conserve some of the world's most precious instruments. Sarah also works in her own Lutherie workshop in Surrey and has volunteered in  Malawi  and Kosovo with LSF-UK.

John Milnes

Advisor

John works as a violin maker/restorer in Oxford and more recently written books on the history of violins and bows. John was the driving force for the foundation of LSF-UK in 2007 and served as Chair until 2022 and volunteered in Uganda with LSF-UK and Cuba with LSF-Belgium. Recently, John produced twelve videos for use by LSF trainees, accessible on our website.



Nicky Terry

Advisor

Nicky trained at The Newark School of violinmaking and now divides her time between teaching at the Cambridge Violinmakers Workshop and her band 'Morganway'. Nicky volunteered in the Philippines in 2022 and now takes care of our social media.

IJmkje van der Werf

Advisor

IJmkje trained at The Newark School of violinmaking and now carries out restorations and new making commissions in her own workshop. In addition, Ijmkje works at the Royal Academy with Sarah. 


Volunteers
Since 2008 fifteen different volunteers have taken part in missions. The mission is always lead by an experienced volunteer and usually one other person who could be another professional luthier, a graduating student luthier or a current student depending on the needs of the mission. 

Internships
We are currently exploring the idea of taking an intern on missions. This could be a student who is willing to part-fund their trip in order to gain valuable experience.

Our Policies
We are constantly learning how to run a charity and to keep up with changing legislation. 

More information to come.

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