David Forbes

In 1973 I graduated in Spanish and French at Queens, Oxford. Originally from Greater Birmingham, I am a "churches" person, attempting to live out the social gospel in both the Anglican and the Quaker fellowships, and also having an affinity with the Catholic world through my languages. I developed interfaith awareness during a decade I spent in Glasgow, where I was befriended inter alia by a Sikh "Granthi". I returned to Birmingham and married my Scottish wife, Barbara, there. I became active in the Anglican initiative, "Faith in the City" and was a Community Worker at the time of the Handsworth riots. As a mixed heritage person, I aligned myself with the Caribbean protesters and - even more so -with their families and children. In the first half of the 1990s Barbara and I were the Joint Representatives of the Quaker Council for European Affairs in Brussels and we travelled extensively throughout post-Iron curtain Europe. Since 1998 I have been involved professionally in all matters relating to refugees to this country and the various conflicts in their areas of origin. In this field, Barbara and I set up the Community Interest Company, "Lifeline Options". Belatedly in October 2019 I was approved at the top level of asylum advisers (OISC 3) and became a fully recognised as a pro bono Tribunal presenter after years of activity as a MacKenzie Friend . Since October 2018 I have added an Irish passport to my British one. I also qualify for - but do not have - a Jamaican passport.