About Us

Veterans at Ease is a UK-registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.  It is governed by a Board of Trustees made up of a range of professionals who have an interest in the work of the charity.  Their experience covers the public, private and voluntary sectors.

The Board is responsible for the development, implementation and management of the organisation’s strategy.  They also appoint working groups and sub-committees to manage specific activities where necessary and appropriate.

Veterans at Ease is also supported by our Patrons.

Our Board of Trustees

John Dale – Chairman

 John has been a Trustee since 2013 and the Chairman since 2014. Now retired, he has had a distinguished career at Senior Management level in International Trade and Customs and Supply Chain Management.

He started his working life as a Police Constable for 2½ years with West Midlands Constabulary, but soon moved into the private sector where he remained until his retirement in 2012.  Starting in Cost Accounting with a local brewery, he then moved to Cheshire to work as the Export Clerk and Commercial Assistant for Rolls Royce.

It was during this time he became a member of the 2^nd Battalion of the Mercian Volunteers (Cheshire Regiment), to which he has remained a loyal member of its Association ever since.

Over the next 30 years John held various positions across the UK and worldwide with Normalair Garrett, Unisys, Grosvenor, Vastera, Ford and finally Renault-Nissan. 

For more than 20 years, John also served as a Director of the Automated Customs and International Trade Association (ACITA).  He was a professional musician, varying from soul and jazz through to heavy rock.  This included playing for Percy Sledge and BB King, jazz clubs in London and rock gigs in Germany.

A keen living military historian, John also provides lectures, talks and re-enactments.  He is the son of a Colonel of the Signals Regiment and the Chairman of the Sedgefield Village Veterans.

Paul Atkinson – Treasurer

Paul has been a Trustee of the organisation since 2012 and Treasurer since 2012.  He has a wide range of experience within the accounting industry across several sectors.

He is currently a Practice Manager at Netherfield House Surgery in Northumberland.  Prior to this he spent 16 years working for the North East Ambulance Service and the Great North Air Ambulance.

His key experience relates to Business Services, Accountancy and VAT in both private and public sectors.

He joined the Board of Trustees after having seen a family member suffer from PTSD and receive support through Veterans at Ease.

John Heaps – Secretary

John joined the Board of Trustees as Secretary in 2012, having been a beneficiary of the charity when he received therapy support in 2011.

He is currently working for Power Generation as a Service Engineer, prior to which he served for 23 years in the British Army’s Queens Royal Lancers Tank Regiment.  During this time he served on committees for Corporals Mess and Sergeants Mess and as the Regimental Welfare Sergeant.  He has a Long Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal for meritorious service.

John Harrison – Trustee

John Harrison is our newest Trustee, having joined the Board in 2015.  He is a proven business manager with 20+ years’ leadership experience in the technology sector which he acquired within major corporations.  Although no military connections, he brings specialist skills and experience in strategic marketing and business development, with board level experience across a range verticals and sectors.

His key role is to help with developing the vision of the organisation, working closely with the Senior Management Team to generate profitable revenue streams and strengthen the brand image and awareness.

John is a non-Executive Director of Gentoo, a Trustee of Age UK Gateshead, a STEM ambassador and a mentor at the Cranfield Trust.

Our Staff

Garreth Murrell
CEO and Senior Therapist

Garreth served with the Cheshire Regiment for 10 years. Amongst the places he served were Northern Ireland (South Armagh and Londonderry), the Falkland Islands, Germany and as part of the Recce Platoon he was one of the first British soldiers into Bosnia in 1992.  During this tour he became Acting Platoon Sergeant.

He left the Army in late 1994 and became a CSI (Crime Scene Investigator) with Thames Valley Police where it was common place to attend murder scenes and post mortem examinations.  For over 14 years after leaving Bosnia he suffered with symptoms of PTSD, including nightmares, flashbacks and marriage / relationship breakdowns.  In 2008 he finally sought help for what had become a major issue for him.

In 2010 as a CSI instructor based in the North East, Garreth took voluntary redundancy to set up Veterans at Ease and help other members of the armed forces and veterans.  He is now a trained NLP Psychotherapist and the organisation’s Senior Therapist. He is also an advisor for the Headway Trust in Darlington, a Life-Fellow of the Churchill Memorial Trust and a Rotarian at Durham Bede.

Christina Murrell
Head of Donor Care

Christina joined Veterans at Ease in June 2015 having spent more than 10 years with County Durham Community Foundation.

As part of the Senior Management Team, she is responsible for the financial income of the organisation, liaising with donors and corporates and overseeing the marketing and merchandise strategy.

Her background has always been in grant management or contracting and procurement, having spent time in London with International Distillers and Vintners and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as well as more than four years in the former Yugoslavia with Oxfam GB (based in Bosnia and Kosovo), the Bosnia Delegation Office of the European Commission and the International Commission on Missing Persons from the Former Yugoslavia.

Christina has an NVQ L5 in Leadership and Management.  She has a passion for languages, speaking fluent French and Italian and basic Bosnian Serbo Croat and Spanish, as well as being a volunteer member of the Grants Committee for the Sunshine Fund.

Clair Johnston
NLP Practitioner

Clair is the organisation’s first female therapist.  She joined us in June 2015 having sought support from the organisation in 2011. Clair’s military career spanned seven years, first as part of the Royal Logistics Corps and then as a dog handler with the Army Dog Unit in Northern Ireland.

Clair works out of our Newton Aycliffe office, supporting veterans and family members.  Outside of the organisation, she is a member of the Royal British Legion Riders’ Branch, owns Woof Cutts dog grooming centre in Sedgefield and is a keen flyballer and cyclist.

Tony Chambers
NLP Practitioner, Events & Veterans Sports Coordinator

Tony has been with the organisation since August 2016 and is Veterans at Ease latest Therapist.  Tony served in the Royal Air Force for twelve years before injury ended his service prematurely. He then worked for North East Ambulance Service for almost three years and sought support from the charity in 2014. His secondary role outside of therapy is arranging, organising and coordinating fund raising events and creating opportunities for Veterans and their families to participate in various sporting activities such as Football and Boxing.

He is also currently in his second year of his BSc in Psychology and Counselling with the Open University.