Meet The Trustees

(from left to right)

 

Eva Mikuska

Eva is originally from former Yugoslavia where she studied geology and geography.   She was a member of the ornithology and young speleology group helping various voluntary organisations that had a close relationship with nature.  Her passion for preserving nature grew with the rapid urbanisation which caused untold environmental damage.  The idea of preserving this wonderful world for future generations inspired and motivated her to join Emsworth Tree Wardens when she moved to the village in 2015.  Currently she works at the University of Chichester as a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Education, Social and Life Sciences Department.

She gained MA LTHE in 2012 and EdD in 2021, and became a Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) in 2021. Her research interest focuses on exploring the role of emotion in professional practices in addition to examining the gender discourses in the Early Childhood Education Care field. She is a member of Greenpeace and is passionate about sustainable environment.

 

Richard Galloway

Richard was born in Surrey, educated at Oxted Grammar School and subsequently qualified as a Chartered Surveyor. His specialism was commercial property valuation, employed as a fund manager initially by Legal and General for 3 years and for the rest of his career by Sun Life, reaching director level in their property company. Since retirement he has been a Councillor with Havant Borough Council for 4 years, Trustee and Chair of Trustees at Ems Valley U3A, 3 years as Chair, total as Trustee 6 years and a Tree Warden in Emsworth for over 10 years, acting as Treasurer. He has been involved with the development of Hampshire Farm Meadows both as Councillor and Tree Warden since it was transferred to Havant Borough Council’s ownership.

 

Richard Hitchcock

Originally from Surrey, Richard was, until his recent retirement, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Portsmouth.  He is very involved with the local community, having been a Westbourne parish councillor for 15 years, the last seven as Chair . He was a founding member, and now chairs, the local environment group ‘Greening Westbourne’, which established and now maintains the community orchard at Hampshire Farm Meadows (HFM), where he also volunteers with Friends of HFM. 

He sings with and chairs the Emsworth choir ‘Village Voices’. His interest in environmental issues and working together with others to achieve benefits for the local community explain his involvement in the current project.

 

Brendan Gibb-Gray (1942 - 2023)

Brendan was born and educated in this part of Hampshire and left to join the Metropolitan Police when he was 19 years old.
He eventually became a detective chief superintendent investigating terrorism, murders and rape as part of a specialist detective unit at New Scotland Yard, returning to Emsworth in 1997.  He then worked in South Africa, Botswana and Sierra Leone as an anti-corruption investigator on behalf of the respective governments.

Once again settled in Emsworth he stood as a candidate in the local borough elections in 2004 and served continuously until 2016, being elected an honorary alderman upon retiring as a councillor.   He was awarded the BEM for “service to the community” in 2014.

With a deep and long lasting interest in the environment, especially trees, he was a member of The Men of the Trees in the early 1960s and has been a Tree Warden since 1997. It has been a personal desire to have a memorial arboretum in Emsworth and the creation and gift of Hampshire Farm Meadows is allowing this to become a reality.

 

Guy Schofield

Guy qualified as a pharmacist in 1987 but instead of practising he joined his father in the family medical engineering business and has been Managing Director since 1993.

He has had a lifelong passion for trees, initially indulged in his parents’ ¾ acre garden in Havant and continued on the 2 acre factory site. Over the last 20 years he has been planting extensively in the land around his home in Westbourne and has, over the last year, established a 1 acre arboretum.

Recently he has become a tree warden for Westbourne and is involved in the “Friends of the Ems” campaign to stop Portsmouth Water’s damaging abstraction from the River Ems.

 

Tim Peake

Whilst not a trustee, we are proud to have the astronaut Major Timothy Peake as Patron of EVMA. Tim Peake grew up in Westbourne, and planted the first tree in the arboretum.

 

Caroline Richards  

Caroline was born in Hampshire. She has a BA Hons in Fine Art and was working as a Medical Illustrator before marrying David and becoming an army wife. They have two daughters and for many years lived in Germany.  When her husband was serving in Afghanistan, she founded a small charity called the Afghan Appeal Fund. The charity has built 6 schools in Afghanistan and refurbished 5 more enabling approximately 8,000 children to attend school. The charity has also funded teacher training projects: most recently 3 female teachers. Their largest school for 2,000 boys and girls in Helmand province is still thriving and has the support of the Taleban. Caroline closed the charity two years ago but remains in touch with the school in Helmand province. Her philosophy has always been to work through local people: an important issue for the security of the school.

Caroline is a keen gardener, bird and tree lover and is passionate about 'wilding'. She is particularly interested in swifts and swallows and how we can help these birds.

Above all, Caroline is a busy grandmother to their four small grandchildren - two of whom live in the Cayman Islands.

 

Kate O’Rourke

Kate has lived in Emsworth with her family since 1997.  She qualified from Southampton Medical School in 1989, and trained as a GP in Portsmouth, practising as a partner in Waterlooville until 2017, now working at the Drayton Surgery, Portsmouth. 

She comes from a scientific background – both her father and brother are professional ornithologists and her mother was a biology teacher. An inspiring outdoor childhood, including helping her father in his bird ringing research and conservation work for the Hawk and Owl Trust has instilled a lifelong love of nature, and the role of trees in our landscape and ecosystem. She also spent many childhood holidays in this area, walking the south downs and staying with a family friend who was a noted plantswoman and gardener.

She is the proud custodian of one of the largest oak trees in Emsworth, one of 14 trees in her garden, and is a keen gardener and a regular forager for local hedgerow bounty for the kitchen. 

Having served on the St James’ School Parents' Association and a local parish council, she is a member of many wildlife and conservation charities and has recently joined the team of local Tree Wardens.

 

Nigel Brown (not pictured)

Nigel is a retired IT executive, former chairman of Funtington Parish Council, and a West Sussex Tree Warden since the local scheme started. He has been an Emsworth Tree Warden since moving here 6 years ago and is a trustee of two other small charities.

 

Matthew Bennett (not pictured)

Matthew was born and educated in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. He chaired two governing boards in local education there, along with various charitable involvements. He studied in London and became a Chartered Surveyor in 1992, going on to work in a number of publicly quoted property companies, and finally with Citigroup. He began working in Emsworth in 2004 alongside his father, and moved here full time in 2019.

Matthew was fortunate to know Brendan Gibb-Gray for the last 20 years of his life and gained much from his friendship. It was through him that he became involved with the Arboretum project and a promise was made to continue in Brendan’s outstanding dedication to it before he sadly passed away.

A keen love of rambling and the outdoors, Matthew has four grown children that love to visit and enjoy Emsworth, a truly special place to live.