EVMA Trustees
Meet The Trustees
Tim Peake
(Pictured 3rd from right)
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.
Matthew Bennett
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.
Lulu Bowerman
Lulu Bowerman grew up locally and after travelling and living abroad she returned to her roots in the Havant area. After working in estate agency for 7 years, Lulu transferred to a career in training and spent over 20 years coaching and supporting students and professionals to reach their full potential in various qualifications.
At the same time Lulu was involved with organising local events such as the Emsworth Food Festival and the Hampshire Water Festival. She has also organised Christmas lights in Emsworth and the Lobsterpot Christmas tree for many years.
Lulu is county councillor for Emsworth and St Faiths at Hampshire County Council since 2021 and was a local councillor at Havant Borough Council between 2016 and 2024, having taken over from Brendan Gibb Gray when he retired in 2016.
Lulu has been a keen gardener for most of her life and she values all aspects of the countryside through the seasons, especially trees. She is delighted to have joined the trustees of the Emsworth Valley Memorial Arboretum to help continue their great work.
Nigel Brown
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.
Frank Campbell
Frank is a resident of Westbourne where he has lived since 2001. He is originally from Liverpool, graduated from Manchester University and became a qualified Town Planner. He is now retired, following a career in local government where he was a corporate director with experience of planning, regeneration and development projects and the management of a wide range of local government services.
He currently serves as a co-opted member of Westbourne Parish Council Planning Committee. He is also a founding member and Chair of Westbourne Community Trust which during the last 7 years has been responsible for preparing a scheme of social rent affordable housing for local people who cannot afford to rent or buy housing on the open market. The scheme was completed in November 2025 providing 12 new homes as well as major improvements to a local park adjoining the housing. He enjoys walking cycling and seeing his grandchildren and the wider family as often as time permits.
Yvonne Copeland
Retiring to Emsworth in 2005, Yvonne became involved in local community organisations including the Emsworth Residents Association and U3A. She has been a trustee of a charitable trust since 2006 and Tree Warden since 2013, which included carrying out local research into Foraging for a Tree Council project.
Yvonne was born in Scotland and brought up in Staffordshire and Shropshire. She graduated from Trinity College, Dublin with a MA in French, Economics and Pure Maths. Her professional career was in charity work (England, Ireland, USA and Australia) before consultancy and senior management in Personnel related work.
In 1985 her job with the John Lewis Partnership brought her to Southsea for seven years, where her role encompassed retailing and a large agricultural estate, before moving to one of their factories in Cumbria and further retailing in Sheffield.
She has travelled widely with interests in different cultures, nature, sport and the arts. Her family is scattered but very important to her. At home her garden is her sanctuary while her involvement with the Arboretum is a personal commitment and passion.
Eva Mikuska
(Pictured far left)
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 Portsmouth as a senior lecturer and researcher, member for several professional organisations, and fulfils a number of editorial roles for professional journals.
Kate O’Rourke
(Pictured far right)
Kate has lived in Emsworth with her family since 1997. She qualified from Southampton Medical School in 1989, and practised as a GP in Waterlooville and Drayton until 2024.
An inspiring outdoor childhood, including helping her father in his ornithological 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 happy childhood holidays in this area.
She is a keen gardener with many trees in her garden, and is 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 is part of the team of local Tree Wardens.
Caroline Richards
(Pictured 2nd from right)
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 Taliban.
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 six small grandchildren - three of whom live in the Cayman Islands.
Guy Schofield
(Pictured 4th from right)
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.
We are indebted to the following founder trustees who are no longer with us
Brendan Gibb-Gray (1942 - 2023)
(Pictured 4th from left)
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.
Richard Galloway (1943 - 2025)
(Pictured 2nd from left)
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, eaching director level in their property company.
Following retirement he was 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 was 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 (1950 - 2024)
(Pictured 3rd from left)
Originally from Surrey, Richard was a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Portsmouth. He was 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 of the local environment group ‘Greening Westbourne’, which established and now maintains the community orchard at Hampshire Farm Meadows (HFM), where he also volunteered with Friends of HFM.
He sang with and chaired the Emsworth choir ‘Village Voices’. His interest in environmental issues and working together with others to achieve benefits for the local community explained his involvement in this project.