I joined the Society when I moved to Faversham in 2016, and quickly became involved as a volunteer - taking Board minutes and helping out with the Society’s campaigns, including our opposition to the proposed Cleve Hill solar power station. I became a Board member in June 2019, and as well as continuing to take minutes, I am getting more actively involved in the Society’s work. My particular areas of interest are our campaigns, promoting the cultural heritage of Faversham to residents and visitors alike, and ensuring the Society is in a sustainable position to continue its vital work for the future. 

Jonathan is a conservation architect and leads on the maintenance of Faversham's historic buildings.

Matthew is an independent consultant, chair of the Advisory Board of the Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent, and a trustee of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.  As former Director of Conservation at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), he was responsible for driving ZSL’s field conservation programmes in more than 50 countries worldwide.  Matthew joined ZSL following a 30-year career with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), where he served as Chief Executive for WCS Europe, having previously overseen in-country teams in Madagascar – where he helped to create Masoala and Sahamalaza/Iles Radama National Parks – and Congo, where he helped to establish Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park and co-managed a capacity-building programme for protected area staff.

I have lived in Faversham since 1977, in the same half square mile. When I graduated the only work I could find in adult education was in Kent. If I had not found, and fallen in love with, Faversham, I would have moved back north. I did move to Leeds and Manchester, but only for work, commuting weekly by rail. In 2014 Arthur Percival asked me to consider joining the Board, and after 37 years of having enjoyed the benefits of the Faversham Society’s work conserving the best of Faversham I could not see how I could reasonably decline. I was elected to the Board in April 2014 and to the Chair in June 2016. With close to 1,000 members and 250 volunteers there is much to do to keep the many activities of the Society going. Faversham is facing as much change now as it did with the coming of the railway and we are heavily involved with the planning of infrastructure, housing and traffic management. 

Find out more about my activities in Faversham and internationally ....

I am a Chartered Accountant and have maintained a Faversham Practice for the last 30 years. I have acted as the Faversham Society’s Hon. Treasurer for over 10 years.

I joined the Society as a volunteer in 2017 and since this time have been overseeing our use of social media, and looking at ways we can use this most effectively.  I joined the Board in June 2019 and, with a background in the charitable sector, am excited to now have more involvement.  I will be part of the Publications, Education, Talks and Events Committee whilst continuing to work with all committees on any publicity needs that could be supported through social media.

I am keenly interested in supporting the work of the Society in conserving our heritage and making it accessible to both local people (especially our children) and to visitors to the town. However we live in turbulent times, and I would like to help the Society ensure that the special character of the town and the people who live here are sustained in the face of unprecedented change.

I bring to the Board a comprehensive working knowledge of strategy and policy development in local and central government and most particularly in the NHS. In consultancy roles I have direct experience of managing large scale (and often contentious) change through the engagement of public and private stakeholders and the alignment of their interests.

In addition, I have been a visiting professor at Cass Business School for eight years, I am a Non-Executive Director of the South East Coast Ambulance Trust (SECAmb), Vice Chair of the Horsebridge Arts Centre in Whitstable and was a founding trustee of the Pubic Management Foundation.

More recently I have been an active member of the Faversham Society’s Environment Committee and have been one of the small group of local people behind the recently formed Faversham Community Land Trust.

I am currently Chair of Pearson Education Ltd and a Board Member of Policy Connect. Most of my career has been in Higher Education as a Professor of Physics and most recently as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent. I have lived in Faversham since 2011 and been a Trustee of the Faversham Society since 2018. I am proud to be involved with such a vibrant amenity society at the heart of a town with a strong sense of identity and community. I am passionate about the importance of educational opportunities at all levels from schools to universities and for ensuring there are leisure and employment opportunities for young people in Faversham. I am particularly interested in the future of Faversham Creek and am a Patron of the Faversham Creek Trust, Chair of the Faversham and Oare Heritage Harbour Group and a member of the Faversham Future Forum.

As a retired civil engineer and specialist in transport research, he has a particular interest in how Faversham will cope with the growing pressure of housing development, and in the highway authority’s strategy for protecting and enhancing the Town’s heritage in the face of the travel demand that it will generate.  In pursuing this and other related themes, he has co-organized and presented material at four members’ meetings on transport matters in the area, is managing a project for measuring traffic pollution at various sites around the Town, and continues to engage with our local authorities at a technical level to ensure the Society is well placed to make its case.  He also supports collaboration with the Creek Trust to promote replacement of the swing bridge as the key step towards renewing the Town’s waterway as a commercial, recreational and environmental resource.