Our Trustees
Our Board of Trustees is responsible for shaping the strategy and direction of Abernethy. They guide, advise and support the Chief Executive and monitor the activities of the Trust to ensure we are meeting our charitable objectives and upholding our vision, mission and values.
Colin Reilly
Chair
Colin joined the Board of Trustees in November 2023. He has a background in residential outdoor education and an ongoing passion to provide excellence in mountaineering and mountain biking. Colin splits his time instructing, coaching and guiding and as the pastor of a thriving family church in Galloway.
Stepping away from a role as the managing director of an outdoor clothing company, Colin answered the call to pastoral ministry in 1994. He has been privileged to serve on the board of other companies to keep his business acumen keen.
Colin currently provides the technical advice to the instructional teams for mountaineering, roped activities and mountain biking.
He believes that quality outdoor education provides an effective vehicle to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and that the whole Abernethy team are at the forefront of this.
Sally Beveridge
Vice Chair
Sally was appointed to the Board of Trustees in March 2025. She’s a Chartered Accountant (CA) and member of the Association of Tax Technicians (ATT) with more than 20 years of experience in both practice and industry, in the UK and abroad.
She lives in Edinburgh and is part of Stenhouse Baptist Church, alongside her husband and two children. She loves serving young people and has volunteered in Christian youth work contexts in various capacities.
Sally’s Abernethy connection started in 2015 when she and her family moved to Nethy Bridge. Sally served as the Office Manager and as part of the Nethy Bridge Leadership Team. She has a passion to see the Trust develop its ministry in the outdoors, particularly to young people.
David McKillop
David joined the Board of Trustees in 2022. He is a primary school teacher currently specialising in science at The Glasgow Academy. He studied Education at Aberdeen University and then worked as a primary school teacher in Greater Glasgow.
In 2019, David returned to university to study for a Masters’ degree in Outdoor Education and Environmental Science at the University of Edinburgh). He originally came to Abernethy as a volunteer in 2009, before completing the Trainee Instructor course in 2012-13. He still holds qualifications in various outdoor sports and continues to instruct outdoor activity through school and as a freelancer. He is passionate about Abernethy’s work with schools and visits annually with his own school.
Kirsty Mitchell
Kirsty joined Abernethy as a Trustee in 2023, bringing 20 years of experience as a Chartered Marketer in the tech industry. She is part of the leadership team at FreeAgent, a leading accounting software company, and also serves as a trustee of the Scottish Bible Society.
Kirsty grew up at Abernethy, the daughter of previous CEO Lorimer and Moira Gray, and now lives in Dunfermline with her husband and teenage sons. The family worship at St Paul’s and St George’s church in Edinburgh and when not at a rugby or football match, love to spend their winters on the snow and their summers in the surf.
Eilidh Dennis
Eilidh joined the Abernethy Board in 2025. She is currently a Senior IT Manager working for a large international company, and promises it’s much more interesting than it sounds. She lives in Northumberland with her husband and son and they attend Alive Church Gateshead, where she has previously worked as Operations Manager and served on the Alpha, Youth and Welcome teams. While not working, Eilidh and her family can generally be found out running, cycling or enjoying the beautiful Northumberland coast and countryside.
Having attended Abernethy adventure and family camps from the age of 10, Eilidh’s connection with Abernethy was strengthened when she did the TI course in 2010, before joining staff team and ultimately becoming Operations Director at Barcaple. The impact of Abernethy as a guest and as a team member has led Eilidh to believe strongly in the unique opportunity that Abernethy offers guests to experience the love of Jesus through the outdoors and the incredible care and hospitality of the Abernethy teams.
Simon Cunningham
Simon joined the Abernethy Trust Finance, Property and Risk committee in 2023 and started as a Trustee in March 2024.
He is a retired Chartered Accountant and during his career specialised in internal audit and risk consulting. Since retiring in 2018 he now performs a range of non-executive board roles in the public and voluntary sector. He also sits on the board of Revenue Scotland and on the Investment and Pensions Committee of the Free Church of Scotland.
Simon’s history with Abernethy began around 1991 when he attended a ski leader course where he also met his wife Pam, who worked for Abernethy for around 10 years. Simon and Pam are timeshare owners at Nethy Bridge centre and their daughters have grown up attending summer holiday camps, the gap year programme and even working for Abernethy. It is Abernethy’s development of both staff and guests’ faith-related personal calling that Simon is passionate about particularly within their formative years.
Simon now lives in East Lothian and is a member of Haddington Community Church, part of the Free Church of Scotland.
Andrew Marrian
Andrew joined the Abernethy Board in 2024. Prior to this he served at Abernethy Nethy Bridge Centre for 20 years in various roles including as a ‘Gappie’ when he was 18, and latterly as Operations Director and Deputy CEO. He left Abernethy in 2021 to serve as the Operations Director at Ps & Gs Church in Edinburgh.
Andrew came to faith as a result of attending Abernethy adventure holidays as a teenager and continues to be passionate about the ministry of the Trust. He knows Abernethy well having experienced it as a guest and as a member of the team. He brings experience in leadership, operations and governance.
Richard Thomson
Richard was appointed to the Board of Trustees in March 2025. He is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer working in the energy industry most recently as Project Manager. He lives in Aberdeen with his wife and they worship at Deeside Christian Fellowship Church.
Richard first came to Abernethy to work as part of the Maintenance Team at Nethy Bridge for a year after university. He enjoys being in the outdoors and especially out on the water. He has a real passion to see young people have the opportunity to explore the bible and learn about Jesus.
