The Friends of St. Peter's Berkhamsted

Who’s Who

Peter Williamson

Trustee

Peter is a retired solicitor who practised in Central London and is currently Chair of the Trustees of the Slynn Foundation. Former roles include President of the Law Society of England and Wales, Chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Chair of the Board of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund Limited (SIF). He also served as a Recorder and Deputy District Judge, as Chair of the Board of the Independent Schools Inspectorate(ISI) and as a Tribunal Chair of the Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Peter has lived in the Chilterns for most of his life, in Berkhamsted from 1957 until 1974 and in Chesham Bois since 1976. He was educated at Berkhamsted School (1957-1966) and was Chairman of the Governors of the School between 1995 and 2012.

Steve Elliff FCA

Treasurer & Trustee

Steve is a Fellow of The Institute of the Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. After training with KPMG, which included a secondment to Kuala Lumpur, his career progressed through several senior financial management positions with Lex Service, Dexion, Mercedes- Benz, and Epson. Since 2016, Steve has been Financial Controller and Company Secretary of the Berkhamsted Schools Group one of Britain’s leading educational institutions providing teaching between the ages of 3 and 18.

Married with two children, Steve has lived in Berkhamsted since 1997 and is a keen runner and has completed several marathons in both the UK and abroad.

Cathy Imber BSc MSc CEng

Secretary

After graduating in Mathematics at London University, Cathy began her career as a Control Systems Engineer at the Rolls Royce research centre in Derby. She then returned to university where she wrote a thesis on the Analysis of Non-Stationary Data. Back out in the real world, she then switched to a career in IT where she progressed to become IT Director for a multi-national company. She was involved in the design, development and management of many large IT projects across a variety of applications. She is now retired. Cathy lives in Berkhamsted, is a regular worshipper at St Peter’s and does voluntary work at the Hospice of St Francis.

Christopher Green BA DPhil Oxon FSA FRGS FGS

Trustee

Christopher’s professional career (1965-99) was as a geographer on the academic staff of the University of London. Since retiring he has worked as a consultant geoarchaeologist involved in pre-development investigations. He has also developed an interest in medieval and post-medieval metalwork and has become involved in research in this field. He was formerly Chair of the Antique Metalware Society. He is a Trustee and founding member of the Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust and has been Treasurer and Chair of the Trust. Since 1999, he has been Chair of the St Albans Diocesan Advisory Committee and closer to home is a member, formerly Chair of the Buildings Committee of the Parochial Church Council of the Parish of Great Berkhamsted St Peter – a role in which he came to recognise the importance and potential of the Rectory Lane Cemetery.

Paul Crosland BSc. MRICS

Trustee, Chairman of the RLC Project Board & Convenor of the RLC Project Group

Paul trained as a Quantity Surveyor and has been with Gardiner & Theobald LLP since 1984, and a Partner since 2005. He has been involved from a commercial and cost management viewpoint on a number of medium- and large-scale construction projects in the retail, commercial, energy, transport and sports sectors. These have been both within the United Kingdom and overseas, in Indonesia, Dubai, Argentina and The Netherlands. Paul is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (1987).

He lives in Berkhamsted and is a committee member of the Berkhamsted Citizens Association, chairing the Town Amenities Sub-committee since 2011 and a member of Transition Town Berkhamsted.

Peter Matthews

Trustee

After spending 7 years as a science teacher in Comprehensive schools Peter changed careers and has now spent 36 years in the IT industry, starting with mainframe and COBOL, stopping off on the way to write commercial software for Apple computers on their entry into the UK market in the ‘eighties. He then worked in the nascent Unix and Database Industry and is a published author of technical books. He spent some time working with artificial intelligence and predictive technology and moved into technology research with a leading IT company, CA Technologies. He is now a Lead Research Scientist with CA Labs working on technology solutions of the future such as cyber-physical technology.

Married with a 20 year old daughter, Peter has wide interests including watercolour painting, golf and Freemasonry.

Peter's experience includes being a Governor at Thomas Coram school and a Town Councillor from 2007 -2019. He also served the town as a Dacorum Borough Councillor.

Rev Stuart Owen

Rector of St. Peter’s Church

Justin Apthorp

Trustee

Justin Apthrop was Buying Director at Majestic Wine for 10 years before retiring at the end of 2015. He remains on the Majestic Board as a Non-Executive Director. Justin was educated at Aldenham School before going to read Metallurgy at Manchester University. He then spent another two years there gaining an MBA, as well as captaining the Manchester University Ski Team. Justin has lived in Berkhamsted since 1996 and is married to a local dentist. He has three daughters who went to Berkhamsted School. Justin was a Governor of Berkhamsted School for twelve years.

James Moir

Trustee and Convenor of the Rectory Lane Cemetery Project Group

Dr. James Moir B.A., DipSurv, IHBC. James is a conservation professional with senior management experience drawn from across the private, public and third sectors. He has over 25 years experience in delivering regeneration projects and sustainable solutions for heritage assets, working on major historical sites across the UK. He was Director of Chiltern Open Air Museum between 1986-2000 and Director of the UK Association of Building Preservation Trusts from 2009 to 2014, He is currently undertaking Heritage and historic buildings consultancy work for English Heritage, National Trust, Chilterns AONB, Local Authorities.

Kate Campbell

Ranger, Rectory Lane Cemetery Project

Catriona (Kate) Campbell is the Community Engagement Officer (part-time). She delivers the ambitious Activity Plan which includes organising Heritage Open Day events, tours and sessions for groups and schools, volunteer training as well as developing the Project’s social media and website presence. Kate, who has lived in Berkhamsted for over 25 years, joined the Project following a career which included the roles of Client Relationship Manager and Project Coordinator with Ashridge Executive Education and Ashridge Consulting Ltd. Prior to this, she also worked with Oxfam and Amnesty International.