Richard Halsey is chair of Jewish Heritage, an organisation that reserves the historic synagogues, cemeteries, historic architecture and material cultural heritage of Britain’s Jews. As a historian specialising in ecclesiastical architecture, Halsey joined the Department of the Environment as an assistant inspector of places of worship after finishing his doctoral studies in 1978. After six years there, he transferred to English Heritage where he became regional director in 1994. In this role, he set up the EH Cathedrals Team and worked with the Heritage Lottery Fund on ecclesiastical grants. Having retired in 2007, Halsey has worked with several charities (Jewish Heritage included) involved with preserving places of worship, such as the Friends of Friendless Churches on whose executive committee he sits.
