MSHCDT BOARD

Lorna Downer
Trustee (Chairman)

Lorna Downer has extensive experience working directly with African Caribbean communities across England on issues of social justice and human rights. She is the Vice-Chair of the Moss Side & Hulme Community Development Trust, a co-founder of Windrush Defenders Legal C.I.C, the founder of Shiloh’s Way, supporting African Caribbean families with autistic children, and she is a trustee of the Caribbean and African Health Network.  Lorna Downer has a background in youth work which informs her engagement with community development and regeneration.  She is experienced in consulting and delivering training for cultural institutions on Autism Awareness and special educational needs to enhance understanding and accessibility. 

 
Otis Thomas
Trustee (Vice Chair)

Otis Thomas is an African Centred Social Entrepreneur, a trustee of the Moss Side and Hulme Community Development Trust, Director of Business Development at TAP, the African Pot project, the CEO of Nonstop Media Hub, President of the Minerals Committee, Sableassent Coin Corporation, an Advisory Board Member of the African Business Chamber and Director of ECO: Tech for Good Africa.

 
Volney Harris
Trustee (Finance)

Volney Harris, Dip.M&T, BA Bs, MEd, MIPD, MIC
Financial Director & Trustee
As a young Activist Volney participated in community work, begining in Oldham with Race Relations
and Chairing the United Nations Youth Committee. Volney worked with Investigation companies in
New York, USA, before returning to Manchester, where he was employed by the Greater
Manchester Economic Development Corporation (GMEDC). As Chief Executive /Director of the
Agency for Economic Development (AED) and then the Moss Side & Hulme Agency for Economic
Development (MSHAED) Volney has dedicated his life to 20 years of economic development work
within the Moss Side & Hulme area.

 

 

Dr. Mario Farquharson (FWCI, FRSA)
Trustee (Company Secretary)

Dr Mario Farquharson is an International Judge, Law Professor, human rights advocate
and philanthropist, and judiciary official, who has dedicated his career and life work to
advancing humanitarian missions through timeless historical institutions.
Mario holds an LL.B. law degree, an M.S. in Education, and a Ph.D. in International
Law. He serves as Chief Inspector General, an investigating Instruction Judge,
adjudicating Presiding Judge, and enforcement Compliance Judge for a UN IGO Court
of international justice. He was also a sitting Professor of International Law for a
licensed and government accredited university.
Mario is an accomplished senior leader of official certifying bodies of the legal services
profession in the United Kingdom, a member of the prestigious Royal Society for Arts
(RSA), and a permanent lifetime member of the elite Inns of Court of the UK justice
system.
Mario’s career features combined overlapping education and experience consisting of
more than 14 years of non-profit philanthropy and humanitarian charity work, 12 years
of international law specializing in human rights, and 8 years of electrical engineering
providing a highly effective systemic-analytical approach to legal practice,
supplemented by 8 years of banking and finance.
He was awarded the nobility titles of Count and Hereditary Knight, and appointed to the
Upper Parliament position of Grand Justiciar, by the Sovereign Magistral Order of the
Temple of Solomon, a constitutional parliamentary nation-state subject of international
law having the same juridical status as the Vatican. Under the Constitution, Ministers
also serve as Members of Parliament. , which is the direct continuation of the original
“Knights Templar” from 1118 AD, through royal dynastic succession recognized and
legalized by Queen Elizabeth under the UK constitutional monarchy system.
He was appointed to the honourable title of office of Grand Justiciar of the Temple of
Solomon of the chivalric aspect of the Order as a historical institution. He achieved the
highest level of initiation as a High Priest of the Ancient Priesthood of Solomon, the
medieval continuation of the most ancient Priesthood of Melchizedek as preserved by
the Knights Templar. He was also granted official European nobility peerage as a
Count, by letters patent from the Order with full juridical Fons Honorum authority.