Andrew Blessley

Andrew Blessley

Andrew Blessley
Role
Committee Member for South East England
Andrew has lived in South East England all his life and has a passion for heritage and conservation.

A modern languages graduate, he worked in banking for most of his career in senior roles in NatWest in the UK and USA, including Vice-Chairman of NatWest USA, Director of Group Strategy and Director of Retail Marketing and Distribution.

From 2001 to 2015 he was Clerk to The Clothworkers' Company, an ancient City of London Livery Company, and Chief Executive of The Clothworkers' Foundation. The latter is a major grant-making charity whose activities include the support of heritage and conservation projects relating to textiles around the UK. Andrew was closely involved with the grant support provided to such major projects as The Clothworkers' Centre for the Study and Conservation of Fashion and Textiles at the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Clothworkers' Organics Conservation Studio at the British Museum and the Warner Textile Archive.

He has also been involved in supporting the preservation of endangered craft skills, including tapestry weaving and fine book binding. In addition, he was instrumental in setting up the Clothworkers' grants programme in conservation, which is one of the largest in the UK, and complements the HLF's support of internships in conservation disciplines which are at risk.

Andrew is a trustee of several charities, including BlindAid and The South Square Trust.