Chairman

Pastor Keith Day

Keith has been a Pastor in the Apostolic Church since 1982. He has served in various locations as diverse as Shetland, Yorkshire and Manchester before moving to the Rhondda in 1999.

Keith has responsibility for three churches, in Cardiff , Rhondda and Trecynon. Each church has its own unique identity, and equally each has its own problems.

An Englishman by birth, he has a great love for the people and the church in South Wales . He has a passion to see the valleys come alive again with the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Married to a Scottish lady for the past 34 years, Keith and Maureen have three sons and were delighted to become grandparents a few months ago upon the birth of Grace.

His hope and prayer for Gweini is to see churches working together in harmony, tackling the issues that modern society is presenting, and building a platform upon which a contemporary expression of Christ and His church can be clearly seen.

Vice-Chairman

Rev David Brownnutt

David is a Baptist minister and have been working in the Rhondda for almost six years. I am married to Jane and we have three grown up children. I serve on the board of the Treherbert Community First Project and am a school Governor. Prior to coming to South Wales I was a Theological student then minister in East London for a total of 20 years. During that time I was a member of the Tower Hamlets Community Health Council, the Board of Governors of Mildmay Hospital (the first in Britain to provide a specialist centre for the care of people living with AIDS), Trustee of the Hanbury Project (working with the single homeless) and Chair of Governors of both an Infant and Junior School.

Representing / Yn Cynrychioli Councillor

Ann Whitmore

Ann is a Rhondda girl who crossed the mountain to live in Aberdare in the Cynon Valley in 1988. She has been married to Russell for 34 years and they have a son and daughter and two grand children. Ann comes from a Welsh speaking family and was educated at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen.

Ann’s background is working with the elderly and she has a very caring nature. In 1996 Russell and Ann became the leaders of Cornerstone Church Cwmbach. During their time in leadership they have established the Cornerstone Community Project. They have renovated the church building to provide the community with a venue that delivers education/training courses, children’s clubs, parents & toddlers group. They network and partner with local groups, the local authority, colleges and university and the community mental health team all of who use the building on a regular basis. She has gained the Cache Level 3 qualification in Early Years and has set up Little Cherubs Parents & Toddler Group.

Ann has worked full time as a volunteer taking responsibility for funding applications and Networking / Yn rhwydweithio with outside agencies however, she is now employed by the church as the Project Development Manager. Ann has been invited to sit on local authority Area Regeneration Group representing the voluntary sector. She is also the Chair person for the RCT committee for the Wales Pre-school Playgroups Association and is also the RCT national Council Representative.

In her spare time Ann enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, reading and listening to music.

Networking / Yn rhwydweithio Councillor

Maggie Hughes

Maggie was born and brought up in Liverpool and studied Psychology at Bangor University where she met her husband Dewi. They moved to Pontypridd in 1975 and Maggie got involved with Tearfund as a volunteer and a seller of Tearcraft while bringing up their 5 children.

They are members of Temple Baptist church in Pontypridd where Maggie is a deacon responsible for discipleship and small groups.

She works as a volunteer counsellor with Life the national pregnancy counselling organisation and also Cardiff Concern a Christian counselling organisation.

She is also part of Pontypridd Christian Concern a local interchurch group that has been involved in various projects like setting up Harvest Books & Crafts a local Christian bookshop/fair-trade shop. Their latest project has been to encourage the twinning of Pontypridd and Rhondda Cynon Taf with Mbale a town and district in Uganda .

Maggie represents Pontypridd Christian Concern on the local regeneration partnership. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, walking and reading.

Informing / Yn hysbysu Councillor

Carol Upton

Carol has been married to Ralph for 33years and has lived in The Rhondda since October 2002. They have two daughters, one married with two children and are looking forward to their youngest daughter’s wedding next July.

Carol works part time for the Valley of Hope Project , looking after the admin, bookwork and website. She is also treasurer of Oasis Church , a role that she previously held at the church she attended whilst living in Kent .

In her spare time Carol enjoys learning Welsh, reading, walking and gardening.

Treasurer/Funding Councillor

Ralph Upton

Ralph is a Church Army Officer who worked at HMP Liverpool for 6 years after commissioning. Then for 4 years as the Homelessness Officer for Liverpool Diocese.

In October 2002 Ralph, together with his wife, Carol, moved to the Rhondda Valley to set up the Valley of Hope project supporting ex-offenders and other vulnerable people in settling back into the community. He is the Project Manager and has experience in setting up projects and seeking funding.

Ralph has preached and taught widely in the UK and is also involved in developing prison ministry in Ethiopia and is a director of Greenstones Christian Trust.

Local Gweini Councillor

Jeff Evans

Jeff was born in Maerdy Rhondda in 1958. He became a Christian while at Cardiff University in 1980. Sensing a call to Christian ministry, he trained at Moorlands College between 1985 - 87. He and Susan were married in 1986 and they have two children, David and Corinna (now aged 17 and 14). Since Bible College Jeff has pastored two churches, one with the Assemblies of God in Essex and the present one with the Elim Pentecostal Church in Upper Rhondda. In between those two appointments, Jeff has served on a leadership team in an AOG church in Tonypandy, Rhondda, and also spent four years in full-time secondary school teaching. The passion of his heart is to see the Church in the Rhondda Valleys once again become a thriving and dynamic presence in the area's post-industrial communities.