CURRENT TRUSTEES (8)
Professor Peter J. Goadsby (Chairman and Patron) BMedSc, MB, BS, MD, PhD, DSc, FRACP, FRCP, F Med Sci
Chairman and Patron of OUCH (UK). World authority on Cluster Headache and chair of the International Headache Society (IHS) Classification Group. Currently conducting research at Kings College Hospital into use of CGRP [calcitonin gene related peptides] for the prevention of Cluster Headache.
Colin Allen (Vice Chairman)
Colin is an Episodic Cluster Headache sufferer. His long service in the charity as Advice Line Manager and now as Vice Chairman brings considerable knowledge to the board. Colin is 'retired' and lives in Liverpool.
Dale Nolan (Treasurer)
Dale Nolan joined OUCH (UK) in 2021 after his son Oscar's diagnosis of Cluster Headache at age 17. Dale is keen to help the organisation move forward in any way he can. He became a Trustee in 2022.
Dorothy Chapman
Dorothy has been an Episodic Cluster Headache sufferer for more years than a lady should admit to. She has been a member of OUCH (UK) since the early days of the charity and became a Trustee in 2014. Dorothy enjoys liaising with our fabulous fundraisers and promoting their very varied and exciting events.
Elizabeth Kelly
Liz is the charity's Advice Line Manager. She joined OUCH (UK) in 2006 and has worked as a volunteer on the Advice Line since 2007. She has helped hundreds of people during that time and brings considerable experience to the role.
Valerie Hobbs
Val is a Chronic Cluster Headache sufferer who joined OUCH (UK) in 2002 and in 2003 became an Advice Line volunteer, taking over the running of the Advice Line when the original manager retired. In 2006 Val became a Trustee, but stepped down in 2010 to take on the administration of the charity and Liz Kelly took on running the Advice Line. Val has now become a Trustee again, with oxygen for CH in the UK as her remit.
Anne Turner
Anne first joined OUCH (UK) as supporter of a Chronic Cluster Headache sufferer and went on to become a Trustee in 2019. She now carries out some administrative work for OUCH (UK) and manages the online shop.
Dr. Nicholas Silver, MBBS, FRCP, PhD
Consultant Neurologist, The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool. Dr. Silver established the Headache Service at the Walton Centre in 2004. His interests are in the management of severe and refractory headache disorders, non-headache symptoms and presentations of headache disorders, chronic migraine and trigeminal autonomic cephalgias, especially cluster headache and hemicrania continua. He has been a Principal and UK Chief Investigator for many clinical research studies in headache. He became a trustee of OUCH (UK) in 2023.
Dr Anish Bahra
Dr Bahra is a consultant neurologist with a specialist interest in headache. Dr Bahra is part of the general neurology team at Whipps Cross Hospital and headache and facial pain services at the National Hospital Neurology and Neurosurgery and, the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. Dr Bahra’s research was in cluster headache at the Institute of Neurology, UCL. She is a Life Member of OUCH. She is part of the BASH Headache Guideline Group which published the updated national headache guidelines in 2019.
The Charlton Family
OUCH (UK) owes a great deal to the Charlton Family and to Les in particular. Les, a former chairman of OUCH (UK) and a Cluster Headache sufferer, who died in 2011, was a staunch supporter of the charity and brought judgement, empathy and understanding to his role as Chairman. He guided the charity through some difficult times and made OUCH (UK) the respected charity and expert patient group that it is today. Joan, his wife, was our membership secretary and another staunch supporter of OUCH (UK), attending OUCH (UK) events, helping with organisation and sending out our information packs and CHit CHat magazines. Daughter Karen produced and edited our CHit CHat magazine when it was in hard copy. Over the ten years from 2002 to 2012, Karen organised Team OUCH in the annual London 10k, and through her unstinting efforts raised over £50,000 for the charity. OUCH (UK) would not be where it is today without the Charlton family. Thank you, Karen and Joan.
CURRENT OFFICERS (8)
All the present Officers are sufferers or supporters of sufferers, and provide full support and help to the trustees, sufferers and their families.
Audrey Leng (Advice Line & Membership)
Audrey was diagnosed with Episodic Cluster Headache in 2009 and has been a member of OUCH (UK) since 2011. Over a decade ago, Audrey made a call to the OUCH (UK) Advice Line and through that one call and subsequent emails, she was able to get the right treatment to manage her Cluster Headache effectively. She has been volunteering on the Advice Line since September 2020 and more recently has been dealing with membership administration.
Liz Eden (Advice Line)
Liz is the mother of a Chronic Cluster Headache sufferer. She called the Advice Line once when she was at her wits' end and says she learned more about Cluster Headache from that 40 minute call than she had for the previous two years. Now retired after being a long-term manager at BA, she wants to give something back and help sufferers and their families the same way she was helped.
Vicky Ricketts (Advice LIne)
Vicky has suffered with Cluster Headache and also Hemicrania Continua for many years. She says OUCH (UK) has been a lifeline for her and she is very happy indeed to be able to give something back.
Gary Brampton (Advice Line)
Gary suffered his first Cluster Headache attack at the age of 18. His daughter is also a sufferer now.
John Poore (Editor of CHit CHat)
John is a Chronic Cluster Headache sufferer who joined OUCH (UK) in 2018 and took on the role of CHit CHat Editor in 2019. As well as helping with OUCH (UK), he enjoys building and competing with his radio controlled model boats, playing croquet and generally keeping fit.
Rachael Wood (Support for children and young people with Cluster Headache)
Rachael joined OUCH (UK) in March 2020 after her son Frederick's diagnosis of Chronic Cluster Headache at age 11. She is keen to help other parents and children navigate their way through a Cluster Headache diagnosis and to assist with practical advice and support for families living with Cluster Headache.
Jamie Charteris (Artwork, design and humour)
Jamie has been an Episodic Cluster Headache sufferer since the late 1980s and was diagnosed as such in 2014. He considers himself very lucky, as usually he has eighteen months to two years 'off' then has a bout of a few months. Jamie has been a cartoonist, predominantly for the greetings card industry, for over forty years. He also illustrates and writes fiction.
HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS:
Professor Anne MacGregor MB, BS, MD, MFSRH, MICR, DIPM, Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Research Centre for Neuroscience within the Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London.
Dr Juana Marin, Research Fellow to Professor Peter Goadsby, Royal Free Hospital, London.
Dr Alex Nesbit, BM, Bch, MA, MRCP (UK), Surrey Sleep Research Centre, University of Surrey.
Lena Eijvergard, Turtlereality Web Design Ltd, long-term supplier of web and database services to OUCH (UK). Honoured for services far above and beyond the call of duty.
Dr Anish Bahra, MBChB, MD, FRCP, Consultant Neurologist, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London; Cleveland Clinic, London.
CREDITS
Cluster Headache sufferers in the UK must give thanks to Mr Simon Bower for founding the original UKCH website. This enabled UK Cluster Headache sufferers to first come together and share experiences with one another. Through this medium, a small group of like minded people decided that they wanted to do more for UK sufferers and brought about the founding of OUCH (UK), the Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headache.
The founding Trustees were Mo and John Graham, Chris Willis, Michael O'Brien, Susi Nerici and Brenda Woodcock, who was also Treasurer. Without these people, OUCH (UK) would not be what it is today. We owe all these people an enormous debt of gratitude for their tireless efforts in achieving what we have now, a well respected patient support group dedicated to offering help and guidance to sufferers and their supporters.
OUCH (UK) is a member of Headache UK, an umbrella organisation of headache charities. Headache UK raise awareness of all severe headache conditions and add their voices to ours in the All Party Parliamentary Group on Headache Disorders.
Simon Fern and his Board of Directors at QDK for hosting our first site and all the services and back-up provided to us free of charge.
Peter May for his invaluable help in rewriting and amending much of the content within this website.
Scott Bruce, former trustee, for his technical support, ideas and initiatives.
