Rev Gail Thompson

DipMin, BTh (Hons), MTh

Founder / CEO

Revd. Gail Thompson is the Disability Chaplain at SOAS University., Ambassador for World Vision children's charity and Digital Poverty Alliance, and is a long-time member and ordained Christian minister of C.I.C. International (Churches in Communities). She also serves on the Lambeth VCS Property Panel & Southwark inclusivity panel.

Gail spent 20 years as a professional and world class conductor, saxophonist, clarinetist and flautist. As well as touring, composing and conducting her own 23-strong big band, she has world tours, concerts and countless solo appearances under her creative belt. She has played iconic venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre and the Royal Festival Hall, and alongside such luminaries as Art Blakey, Charlie Watts and the Jazz Warriors. Gail achieved all of the above before she turned 30 – her future was incredibly bright and she was making great strides in her music career. At the desperately young age of 29 she was diagnosed with Secondary-Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (SPMS) – however this did not dampen her motivation.

Music is part of who Gail is, and after her diagnosis she founded and established Musicworks, one of Lambeth's most prominent community music schools. Based in Brixton, Musicworks boasted over 3,000 students. Gail also organised many jazz festivals through her promotion company Frontline Productions. She was later Managing Director of the Mick Jagger project National Music Day, where 1,500 musical events were registered and took place throughout Britain for one day each year. Gail also started arranging and scoring music for big bands and writing scores for television, she also made TV appearances and presented shows for the BBC, Jazz Week and BBC’s Black London. At the age of 43 she was called into ministry and studied at both Ambassadors College and Spurgeon's College in London. She obtained her ministerial qualifications of Diploma in Theology for Ministry, Bachelor (Hons) and Masters Degree in Theology and Fine Arts (DipMin, BTh (Hons), MTh). She is now studying for her PhD, and will be releasing her autobiography Black Foot Forward in late 2026.

The call to serve her community is evident in everything Gail has put her mind to. She established Millennium Community Solutions CIC for that very reason, having in the past served as a Governor of St Thomas's and Guy's Hospital, a member of the Arts Council of Great Britain and various other funding bodies and local borough councils for many years. Gail is currently an ambassador for international children's charity World Vision UK, and has run many community projects in Lambeth such as sheltered housing schemes, disability day care centres, nursery schools reading programmes and much more. Gail continues to be a tireless committed individual who is well equipped to deal with the day-to-day running of and fundraising for any community endeavour.