Chair - Sue Sargeant

Sue’s introduction to the CSJ was using help from the friendly volunteers in the London office and attending an amazing Practical Pilgrim day. Since then she has walked the Camino Francés, both Camino Portugués routes, Finisterre and Muxia, along with sections of the Del Norte. She is, along with her husband and friends, currently walking sections of the Walsingham route and the St. James Way. She has been a speaker at Practical Pilgrim Days and Webinars, is a volunteer and Trustee, and was voted in as Chair in May 2024. Her career experience spans finance, education, compliance, and events. 

Vice Chair - Priscilla White

Priscilla joined the CSJ in 1992 before walking the Camino Francés from Le Puy-en-Velay to Santiago. Subsequently, she has walked along the Camino del Norte, the Via de la Plata and the Camino Inglés combined with St Augustine’s Way from Ramsgate to Canterbury. She is the Chair of the Miraz Committee, having volunteered as hospitalera for many years. She has also been involved with the organisation of the AGM, and the Camino, Miraz, and the CSJ are a huge part of her life. 

Mark Cavanagh

Mark completed the Camino Francés from St Jean Pied-de-Port and Finisterre in 2022, the Portugués da Costa in 2023, the Inglés in 2024 and hopes to do others in the future. He is a regular volunteer at the CSJ Open Office Days and has been a speaker at the Practical Pilgrim Days. He has been a co-opted Trustee since April 2024. 

Arthur Chapman

Arthur has been a member of CSJ since 2011 and has walked the Camino Frances from Burgos, the Camino del Norte, the Camino Inglés, the Camino Portugués (from Lisbon) and the Primitivo. He has volunteered as hospitalero at Miraz for most years (since 2013). He hopes to help promote the CSJ in Scotland and encourage people to walk the caminos.

Paul Wilkinson

Paul lives in West Sussex. His career was in human resources, and he is a Chartered FCIPD. Since retiring he has been active in the charity sector, with Citizens Advice, and then at Friends of the South Downs. Paul has been a CSJ member since 2014, and a Trustee (leading on UK Routes Development) since 2026. He has walked 3½ Caminos: Francés (from Saint Jean to Finisterre), Portugués (from Porto), Inglés (from Finchale), and half the Primitivo (hoping to complete that in 2026). Paul is especially pleased his term of office will include the Jacobean Holy Year of 2027.

Graham Cobb

Prior to retirement, Graham delivered charitable services in shared community buildings, working with trustees, volunteers and paid staff. When he retired in 2023 he rode his bike from St Jean to Santiago, to give himself the direction, physical fitness and mental challenge that had once come from work. Things grew from there. He has followed up by learning basic Spanish, developing long standing interests in art and in history, and by volunteering as an hospitalero at Miraz in 2025/26 

Our History

The CSJ was first started by six men and women in 1983, all of whom shared a passion for the Camino de Santiago and took it upon themselves to educate the British public about the extraordinary but little-known Way of St James. 

Rob, Mary, Jocelyn, Ian, Pat and Peter quickly began to recruit others to their cause and link up with academics and pilgrimage experts across Europe to bring more attention to the Camino in the UK. 

Similar in both mission and operation to the French Confrèries de Saint-Jacques and the Spanish Cofradías de Santiago, we were named the Confraternity of St James. 

At that time, the CSJ was the only UK body offering either practical or educational information on the various pilgrim roads to Santiago. Our volunteers wrote guidebooks, published research papers, held talks and conferences and began to create a small community of British Camino pilgrims. We also became the only place in the UK where Camino pilgrims could get an accredited pilgrim credencial - an accolade that's still the case today.

In 1991, the members of the CSJ UK opened our first pilgrim hostel (albergue) in Rabanal del Camino on the Camino Francés. In 2005, we opened our second albergue in Miraz on the Camino del Norte. Every year since, we have have sent volunteers to provide welcome and hospitality to pilgrims currently on their caminos.

Refugio Gaucelmo at Rabanal del Camino

Albergue San Martín, Miraz

Nowadays, the CSJ is a registered charity with an office, bookshop and library, a small staff, a fresh generation of volunteers and around 1,500 members around the world, continuing in the original mission of the founding six!