Bill Hampson OBE
Bill has been quietly inspirational in establishing one of only a few local international charities, changing social attitudes to the disabled and disadvantaged both within the project countries and within the UK. He is a director of Chrysalis Holidays, a social enterprise, running themed and educational holidays for adults with a learning disability in the UK. A former founder member of the Jubilee Campaign. He was made a Freeman of Wigan in 2000 for his work, particularly in Eastern Europe. Bill was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Lancashire in 2005 and he was awarded an OBE in in the New Year Honours List 2020 for services to vulnerable people overseas. Fittingly the year 2020 marked 30 years of charitable work, driven tirelessly by Bill himself.
Bill’s background is in surveying in which role he has worked in Europe and the Middle East. Bill is President of Lowton Independent Methodist Church. Bill is married to Pam, they have three children and four grandchildren.
Director, Bill Hampson founded the Epiphany Trust in 1991. Initially providing vital support after the Romanian orphanage crisis of 1990. In the years since he has encouraged more than a thousand people to travel there to see for themselves what can be achieved by ordinary people. During the same period, Bill has overseen Epiphany’s projects throughout the world.
Back in the 1980’s he worked tirelessly in the pro life and human rights field helping to free many dissidents in the then Communist regime. This he has continued to the present day, helping young children to be released from a life of bonded labour in India. Currently he is spearheading awareness of child trafficking. In Lahore, Pakistan he has seen first hand the best and worst effects that a developing economy has on disabled young people. Establishing lasting relationships and financial support to a school for children with learning difficulties.
Sharon Ainscough
In large due to her experiences in Romania, Sharon decided to go into special education and work with children with severe and profound learning disabilities. In her first teaching post at Chatsworth High School in Salford, she taught her specialist subjects of Music and Drama and became an established Arts Award Advisor. Sharon developed a specific interest in Autism and took her next post in the same school as a teacher of students with Autism. Sharon moved to Piper Hill Specialist Support School, Manchester in 2011 accepting the post of ‘Assistant Headteacher’ where she was responsible for leading the Key Stage 3 department, transition, the Arts, and teaching the full range of National Curriculum subjects. Alongside her teaching job, Sharon studied a Masters Degree in Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Education and graduated with distinction in 2012.
Sharon remained a friend and volunteer of Epiphany Trust, and visited Romania once or twice every year. She was also supported by Epiphany Trust to become a member of the International Young Leaders Network, established to identify and train young and emerging leaders. Sharon and husband Martin spent the summer of 2011 in Sri Lanka, where they worked as volunteers in the street centre in Kandy. In April 2014, 10 years after first becoming involved with Epiphany Trust, Sharon resigned from her teaching role and was appointed as Deputy Director of the Trust. Sharon and Martin live in Lancashire with their three children.
Sharon is a director of Chrysalis Holidays, a not for profit company running themed and educational holidays for adults with learning disabilities in the UK. She is also President of Epiphany Association, a not for profit organisation in Romania.
Sharon first became involved with Epiphany Trust in 2004 when she was introduced to Bill Hampson (Director and founder of Epiphany Trust) on a big band tour to Romania with Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra. At the time she was studying a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Manchester. In early 2005 she met with Bill to discuss volunteering opportunities and after graduating in July 2005, Sharon flew to Romania in the August to help establish Epiphany’s new project ‘The Arc’ in Sinaia, Prahava Valley, which was set up to support young adults with learning disabilities who had previously grown up in the orphanage in Lugoj, Timisoara. Sharon returned to England the following July and worked for a brief spell in the Epiphany office before embarking upon a postgraduate course to train as a teacher.
Trustees
Professor Robert Song is a founder member and Chair of Epiphany Trust. He is Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Durham.
After an undergraduate degree in classics, he did a PhD on theology and political theory. He has written on a wide range of ethical issues, and is the author of several books and articles, including Christianity and Liberal Society and Human Genetics: Fabricating the Future. Recently his research has focussed on theological approaches to medical ethics and the ethics of the life sciences.
From 2009-12 he was President of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics.
Robert is married to Margaret and has two children.
Dr Robert Song
Before retirement David was the North West Regional Manager for the Lloyds TSB Foundation and worked extensively with many charities in relation to their applications for grant funding. He is currently Church Warden of St. Mary’s in Lowton and Vice Chairman of The Three Towns Operatic Society where he also stage directs and performs.
David Kay
Being the son of Director Bill Hampson, Micah has been involved with Epiphany since the start, from travelling to Romania with the early aid trips as an eleven year old to overseeing our schools project in the Karen State.
He now deals with much of Epiphany’s administration and since 2011 has primarily worked on our Chrysalis Holidays project.
He became a Director of our business subsidiary Epiphany Trading in 2017 and a trustee of our charity in 2026.
Micah Hampson
After studying History and French at Magdalen College, Oxford, he began his career in Bahrain with Gray Mackenzie before establishing business ventures linking the UK and Gulf, including a public relations and advertising company that helped revive the fortunes of Collingwood, the Royal Jewellers. Alongside his business work he has been widely involved in Christian ministry, social initiatives, and public policy, founding The Well coffee bar ministry in London in 1979 and co-founding CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) in 1983, which later launched several influential family and social programmes. His later initiatives included the Ethics Development Initiative, co-founding the Doha International Family Institute in Qatar, and establishing the Office of International Diplomacy to promote peace and reconciliation through family-focused diplomacy. He lives in West Sussex with his wife Serena; they have six children and two grandchildren.
Charles Colchester
Patrons
Lord David Alton
Andy Burnham
Baroness Cox
John Kennedy
Terry Wynn
Graham Gooch
Fiona Bruce
An MP for 18 years, David Alton today is an Independent Crossbench Life Peer. He was elected in 1972 in Liverpool Britain’s youngest City Councillor. He became the youngest member of the House of Commons in 1979.
He has campaigned tirelessly for human rights around the world and has worked with Epiphany on several issues including the rights of Christian women in Pakistan; bonded labour in India and anti-trafficking.
David visited and reported back on some of Epiphany’s projects in Burma
Roshan Abeysinghe
David Lloyd
Jo Platt MP
Terry is a former MEP for North West England where he chaired the European Parliament’s Budget Committee overseeing the Euro 110 billion budget where he led delegations to Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Lithuania.
A Methodist local preacher; he is also Vice Chairman of Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes and a Member of the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church.
He is also currently a member of European Commission’s Ethics Committee; a Board Member of European Parliament’s Pension Fund and a Board Member of Action for Children.
Andy Burnham was MP for Leigh from 2001-17. He became Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017 since when he has championed the homeless in Manchester. He became a Patron of Epiphany Trust in 2018. Andy has held Ministerial positions at the Home Office, Department of Health and the Treasury. In 2008 he became Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, before returning to Health as Secretary of State in 2009.
Andy lives in Golborne, close to Epiphany’s office, with his wife and three children. He is a keen supporter of Everton FC.
Graham Alan Gooch is a former cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time with 67,057 runs.
He is the leading Test run scorer for England, and is one of only twenty-five players to have scored over 100 first-class centuries. He has the most runs in a career in List A cricket which totals 22,211 runs. In 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He is currently the batting coach for the England cricket team, a role he has performed since November 2009.
Baroness Cox is a cross-bench member of the House of Lords and founder of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), as well as a founding trustee of MERLIN (Medical Emergency Relief International). She has long campaigned on global humanitarian issues, particularly disability and modern slavery, and has undertaken missions to conflict and post-conflict regions throughout the world. She has also helped influence reforms in the former Soviet Union, promoting foster family care for orphaned children. Baroness Cox has received numerous honours, including the Wilberforce Award and the International Mother Teresa Award.
‘The voice of Sri Lankan cricket’, covering every Test on TV or radio since the year 2000.
A committed Christian, he is quick to “thank God for his grace and opportunity” to follow so closely the sport that he loves.
“Winning that World Cup put Sri Lanka on the world cricket map. We weren’t Ceylon anymore.”
A supporter of the Epiphany Trust for many years, he has been known to describe the work of the Trust during his cricket commentaries. He is also founder of the charity Right to opportunity supporting disadvantaged children in Sri Lanka.