At last month’s AGM, three Trustees retire from WHUK. Gill Clarke, Jane Masters and Don Gobbett all stepped down and we thank them all for their hard work.
A number of candidates put their names forward as new Trustees and following an online election, these new Trustees have now joined the WHUK Board.
Prof. Teresa Anderson MBE, Jodrell Bank WHS
Teresa Anderson is Founder and Director of The University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement. She has a BSc in Physics, a PhD in Electrical Engineering, and a Master’s degree in Fine Art.
The Centre first opened in 2011 and (pre-COVID) attracted over 150,000 visitors each year, including 25,000 school children, who participate in a curriculum-linked Education programme. The Centre takes innovative approaches to increasing diversity and engaging new audiences with science, including events (such as ‘Girls Night Out’) that create welcoming and non-intimidating spaces for women/girls and others who may feel that STEM ‘isn’t for them’.
In 2016, Teresa, together with Tim O’Brien, co-founded the bluedot festival at Jodrell Bank, which brings together science, music, art and culture to celebrate human creativity and break down the barriers between these sectors. The festival typically attracts 25,000 people to Jodrell Bank over the festival weekend.
Teresa led, together with Tim O’Brien, the ten-year project that resulted in Jodrell Bank being awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2019.
She also led the 8 year long project that resulted in the opening of the £21million ‘First Light Pavilion’ at Jodrell Bank in June 2022.
In 2013 Teresa was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to Astrophysics. In 2014 she was awarded the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal for Public Engagement with Physics and in 2015 she was made Professor in the University of Manchester’s School of Physics and Astronomy.
Dr. Amanda Chadburn FSA
Amanda has worked all her life in local and central government bodies as an archaeologist and historic environment adviser. She left Historic England (previously English Heritage) in August 2022 after 35 years to concentrate on her own research, teaching, consultancy and voluntary work. During her time there, she held a variety of roles including Inspector of Ancient Monuments; Team Leader in the SW Region; Senior WHS Policy Adviser; and Lead Adviser for the Stonehenge and Avebury WHS when she managed the WHS Curatorial Unit and the WHS Co-ordination Unit. Most recently, she was seconded to the DCMS’s Heritage Team in 2021-22 working on a variety of policy issues.
Amanda is an elected member of the Executive Board of the European Association of Archaeologists and has taught World Heritage on a variety of courses at the Universities of Bristol and Oxford. She currently teaches world heritage management on the MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology at Oxford. She is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Bournemouth and a Member of Kellogg College, University of Oxford. She is passionate about World Heritage, taking the opportunity to visit WHSs whenever she can (most recently the amazing Vizcaya Bridge in Bilbao, Spain). Her book with Clive Ruggles on Stonehenge and related sites is near completion.
Ashleigh Taylor MSc, MA, AMA, Blaenavon WHS
Ashleigh has worked in the heritage sector for the last 18 years, as an archaeologist, Egyptologist, in various museum posts, and county culture and heritage manager and now, as a director of a charity. She has been involved in Blaenavon Industrial Landscape WHS for the last 10 years, sitting on the steering group as the lead on learning and engagement.
While Ashleigh may be best known for her youth and community work, over her career she has developed a wide range of key skills which will be beneficial in helping WHUK support the wider sector. She has been responsible for a wide range of heritage and cultural sites, and therefore has an excellent working knowledge of development, funding, advocacy, regeneration, planning, building conservation, commercial and business planning, capital refurbishments and governance.
Ashleigh has lived and worked in Blaenavon WHS for the last 10 years and her passion is in utilising the inspirational power of World Heritage to support, and engage with local communities, and in particular our young stakeholders. She will always be a champion for helping people understand, and care for, heritage in new and inspiring ways which empower positive lived experiences.
In addition, existing Trustees Tony Crouch and Steve Ratcliffe were re-elected as Trustees.