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EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE MEMBERS |
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Maureen Jobbins |
The late Mrs. Maureen Jobbins was the founder of The Newbury Society. This photograph was taken in March 1973 and shows Maureen at West Mills Wharf, Newbury with the site of the demolished Town Mill in the background. Please click HERE to read an article published in the "Newbury Weekly News" at the time. |
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Peter J. M. Davies |
Former Joint Vice-President and Chairman Peter Davies passed away on Friday, 7 February 2003. His well attended funeral service was held at St Nicolas Church, Newbury on Tuesday, 18 February at 1:30 pm. |
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Mike James |
President, former Chairman and Hon. Secretary |
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Garry Poulson |
Chairman |
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Ernest Paul |
The late Ernest Paul, a retired architect, who for over two decades was our Buildings Representative. |
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John Gould |
The late John Gould, MBE, was our Waterways representative. John was well-known in the inland waterways world as a campaigner for the restoration of the Kennet and Avon Canal. |
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Former Trees Representative
Please click HERE to read the articles in the Autumn 1998 Newsletter. |
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Committee Member and Former Chairman |
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Graham V. Smith |
Waterways Representative (1998 - present) At the 1998 AGM we were very pleased to welcome Graham Smith to the Executive Committee to serve along John Gould, MBE as our Waterways Representative. To introduce himself I asked Graham to write this potted biography: I WAS born at Chilton in the early 50's - in the part of Berkshire that was annexed by Oxfordshire in 1974. My parents met at Harwell, where my father worked until he retired in 1975. Graham Smith |
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Joyce Paul |
Committee Member and former Hon. Minutes Secretary |
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Bernard Eggleton |
Committee Member |
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Jeremy Holden-Bell |
Hon. Treasurer & Vice-Chairman I come from Peterborough, on the edge of the Fens and the East Midlands. Now five times bigger, it has changed beyond recognition. Only its famous Norman Cathedral stands unchanged. At the University of Nottingham, and later working in Logistics in Peterborough, I saw the enormous changes as ironstone quarries, iron works and collieries vanished without trace from the landscape, and their towns and villages either flourished or died. In 1968 I transferred to Head Office in Richmond-upon-Thames to help set up their new computer department. Richmond has a wealth of historic buildings and views. But it suffered from "protester's blight" - a conflict between so many ardent conservationists and unsympathetic developers. So the famous riverside was semi derelict for 15 years. We relocated to Newbury in 1983, when it had just started to expand and have seen all the changes since. And the impact of new technology on the design of new offices. Now the Vice-Chairman, I represent the Society on the Newbury Town Centre Steering Group, Newbury Town Council Town Trail Working Party, planning workshops, and submit The Society's comments on planning proposals. |
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Elke Holden-Bell |
Public Relations Officer and former Hon. Membership Sec. I am coming from Hamburg Blankenese, Hamburg is a major port on the River Elbe in North Germany. Coming in to Hamburg by boat you will see impressive houses, thatched cottages and lots of green - English style parks and gardens overlooking the river - that is Blankenese. I met my husband Jeremy in Rumania when I went to study the monastery paintings. Two years later we married in historical Richmond-upon-Thames and were lucky enough to live in a very special part - Kew Gardens - until we moved to Speen in 1983 for business reasons. We joined the Newbury Society and I was invited to serve on the Committee. I have been Public Relations Officer and Membership Secretary ever since. I consider it a privilege as there is so much to learn in this unique old market town. My special interests are the arts. I studied Art History and Graphic Design at Hochschule für Bildende Künste. I love music, languages, travel and people, and nature. Just now I am busy with teaching and translating German at all levels, as well as Society matters including next year's program. That leaves little time for the paint box. Looking forward to spring as I consider the beauty of the English countryside almost like paradise! Elke Holden- Bell February 2001 |
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Howard Bristow |
Former Committee Member |
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Anthony Pick |
Committee Member Anthony Pick has lived in
Woodridge, Newbury, with his late wife Irene since 1981. Now retired, he spent
his career as a management consultant in the IT industry. He has a degree in
History. Since 1994, he has been Secretary of the residents association of
Woodridge, which is an unadopted road and has to be maintained by its
residents. Through this work, he became interested in planning and the
effects of planning on the current and future well-being of Newbury. He is
also Chairman and lecture organiser of the Newbury National Trust
Association. Autumn 2007 |
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Yolande Fothergill |
Former Committee Member and Hon. Minutes Secretary |
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Jack Smith |
Former Transport Representative Career railwayman for 42 years in a range of departments including Operating, Traffic Costing, Freight and Passenger marketing, and Long term business planning. Retired as Chief Passenger Manager. Thereafter eight years as senior Consultant to United States Federal Government on high speed passenger trains, and to Alaska Railroad. Also worked as Consultant to World Bank on railway redevelopment in Third World Countries. |
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Robert F. Willis |
Former Hon. Secretary, Hon. Editor
and Hon. Membership Administrator. Bob attended Speenhamland as a pupil from 1952 to 1959. He has lived in and around Newbury all his life. From birth Bob has suffered from mild cerebral palsy and sacrificed much of his schooling by needing to attend physiotherapy three time a week at Newbury Hospital and speech therapy once a week at Greenham House. After Speenhamland he attended Park House (1959-1964) where he gained four GCE 'O' levels and day-release at Newbury College where he gained ONC in Sciences. He attempted a BSc in Applied Physics at Portsmouth Polytechnic and HNC at Reading College but found his handicap prevented him from keeping apace with the volume of work. After a period of unemployment and an assessment at the Egham Industrial Rehabilitation Unit he joined the UKAEA as a Scientific Assistant specializing in electronics in 1969. As technology advances meant that thermionic valves were replaced by transistors and then transistors by integrated circuits he switched from electronics to computing in the mid-70s - his hands could just about cope with trays of punched cars and rolls of paper tape. He welcomed the transition to remote access terminals and magnetic tape which followed and became an accomplished programmer and later computer system manager including hardware and software procurement. In 1994, having risen to the grade of Senior Scientific Officer, he volunteered for early retirement in order to act as a carer for his widowed mother and to pursue his other interests. Despite stammering, Bob is able to sing and was a member of Speenhamland School Choir. He is currently sings bass in St. Nicolas Church Choir and in the Cromwell Singers. Also, despite his stammer, Bob enjoys reading and speaking in public. The ethos learnt at Speenhamland of being encourage to "have a go" and "do your best" despite the odds has helped him on numerous occasions through the ups and downs of life. In fact, Bob has been known to become quite cross when others give up at the first hurdle and fail to achieve their full potential. Bob is a governor at Speenhamland and in a small way perpetuate the ethos which equipped him for life in secondary school, further education, work and play. Much has improved in the last 50 years although there remains much to do. |
