Damian Roche
The biography is the qualification.
Ex-British Army, Queen's Guards. The discipline from that career shapes how this one operates. No waffle, no vanity, clear objectives and accountable outcomes.
Twenty years building for the web. Fifteen of those focused on how to make what I build rank, convert and compound. Self-taught throughout. That is not a limitation. It is how I understand the full stack from first principles rather than from someone else's curriculum.
I founded Churchtown Media as a vehicle for advisory work. Not to compete on price with generalist agencies, but to work with a small number of organisations at a level that a generalist agency cannot reach.
The name comes from Churchtown in Southport, where this started. I have lived there most of my life.
Primary case study
SIBA Digital
SIBA Digital is a public interest investigation platform I built and operate. It uses structured data, OSINT methodology and Next.js architecture to publish accountability investigations from public records.
The first investigation series produced nine published reports. Formal complaints to regulatory bodies cited the findings. Solicitors acting for named parties made contact.
The significance for Churchtown Media is this: SIBA demonstrates the intersection of technical architecture, structured data, investigative methodology and publication strategy simultaneously. No agency in the north-west has a comparable credential.
It was built from a phone over Easter weekend. The methodology, not the tooling, is what matters.
Reports published
9
Regulatory impact
Formal complaints. Solicitor contact.
Technology
Next.js, OSINT
Built in
One Easter weekend
How I work
No vanity metrics. No open-ended retainers for things that do not matter.
Every engagement starts with a clear question: what does this organisation need to be able to do that it cannot do now? The answer determines everything that follows.
I work on Next.js for everything. Not because it is fashionable. Because static generation, App Router and TypeScript give organisations a technical foundation that compounds over time rather than accumulating technical debt.
SEO is structured data, crawl architecture, content that answers real questions, and links from places that actually matter. It is not a monthly report of impressions that has no connection to revenue.
I work with a small number of clients because the alternative is being spread thin and average. Every engagement is the same: agree the scope, deliver the work, measure the result. That is it.
Stack
Outside work
Walking Marshside with the kids. Badly playing golf, including once at Royal Birkdale. The Sefton Coast Network started as genuine personal interest in the places I grew up around, which is part of why it works editorially.
If you have a challenge that fits, we should talk.
Tell us about your organisation and the problem. We will respond directly and tell you honestly whether this is the right fit.