FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Ian Gurnhill (treasurer), Derek Cohen (chair), John Pendal (secretary), John Lovatt (legal officer)

Ian Gurnhill has been an out gay kinky fetish action player for a long time. He became more experienced in serious SM whilst living in the US in the early 1990s when he became an Associate member of Chicago Hellfire Club. On returning home after the Spanner case he realised the negative impact of the Spanner decision on SM play in the UK and became a trustee in order to help change the law here.

Derek Cohen has been involved in SM activism for 25 years, having founded SM Gays in 1981 and been one of the initial members of Countdown on Spanner. He's made numerous TV and radio appearances, fearlessly defending the right of adults to engage in consensual SM sex without interference from the law.

John Pendal became a trustee in May 2004 - a year after winning the 25th International Mr Leather contest in Chicago. He spent his title year travelling to leather events around the world giving speeches about the Spanner Trust. He also raffled part of his IML prize, a 100th anniversary special edition Harley Davidson, raising $22,000 which was split equally between the Leather Archives and Museum and the Spanner Trust.

John Lovatt is a solicitor who first supported the Countdown on Spanner Campaign in the early 1990s when the Spanner Men were prosecuted. He was horrified at men being sent to prison and having their lives wrecked just for having SM sex with each other.After he was invited to attend a Meeting of the Board of Trustees in July 2000 to give legal advice specifically about the Crown Prosecution Guidelines he was invited to become a Trustee.