Reflections from Jeremy Soames
As he steps down from his role as Chair, Jeremy Soames looks back on our 60th Anniversary year and his thirty-year involvement with the Churchill Fellowship.
As I look back on 2025, our 60th anniversary year, I have been inspired again and again by the energy and dedication of our extraordinary community of changemakers.
We have had six decades of remarkable individuals turning bold ideas into real-world impact in the UK. Since its founding in 1965, the Fellowship has flourished into a vibrant community united not by background or profession, but by purpose, potential, and a shared determination to improve the world around us.
This year, we had a series of 60th anniversary teas, events across the UK recognising and celebrating our Fellows from across our 60 years. I was delighted to have had the opportunity to catch up with some of our very first Fellows who began their journeys in the late 1960s, as well as those who have undertaken their Fellowships more recently. I was also pleased to be able to launch our £10m Anniversary Appeal to support our new Activate Fund. This new Fund is an important development that will help Fellows to turn their ideas into real-world action.
Alongside our anniversary celebrations, we welcomed 118 new Fellows and brought them together at our annual Connect & Inspire event, having awarded them their Fellowships in June. We also brought Fellows together throughout the year with convenings and specialist skills workshops, all aimed at helping them develop the skills and connections to make their Fellowship a success.
We are already looking towards our next cohort of Fellows, and in preparation for this, we launched three new programmes with applications opening in September 2025 for awards in 2026: Building a Society that Cares, Building Prosperous, Resilient Economies, and Making Space for the Arts.
"It has been the honour of my lifetime to serve as Chair for these past nine years, and I am immensely proud of what has been achieved."
We are delighted to have welcomed new partners this year, including the Health Foundation and the Institute for Public Policy Research, who will help us support our Fellows with knowledge and expertise in their sectors, as well as new Advisory Council members, Lindsay Graham (CF 2014) and Noel Nelson, and two new Trustees, Marina Brounger and Mark Damazer, who will become Chair in January 2026.
After more than thirty years of involvement in this extraordinary organisation, I look back with deep pride and gratitude. It has been the honour of my lifetime to serve as Chair for these past nine years, and I am immensely proud of what has been achieved. I have great confidence in what lies ahead, and it is a pleasure to be handing over to Mark Damazer, who, supported by the Board, will guide the Fellowship with energy and vision into its next chapter from January 2026.
My gratitude goes out to everyone who makes our work possible: the Trustees, Advisory Council members, staff team, partners, supporters, and most importantly, the Fellows themselves.
May I take this opportunity to wish you a happy and healthy 2026 and every success for the future.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.