editor, School House Magazine
Annabel Heseltine, journalist, TV and radio presenter, is the editor of School House Magazine, written for the parents of children educated in the independent sector. As a mother of four teenagers, all of whom have learning differences, she has written and spoken at educational conferences on dyslexia in schools and amongst girls. Annabel has been a feature writer for The Sunday Times, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail, specialising on British social mores and on conservation and education in Africa. Prior to becoming a mother she regularly appeared on news, comment and TV shows including World at One, Panorama, BBC24 News and Esther Rantzen. She is a fellow of the RGS. Annabel represented Stowe on their debating team and is a member of the Durham Union (the only debating society to share membership with the Oxford Union).
freelance writer; co-producer, Hot Off the Press, Battle of Ideas Festival 2019; Living Freedom alumnus
After graduating with a first-class degree in Central and East European Studies/Economic and Social History from the University of Glasgow, Philippa has moved into freelance writing, providing online articles on a variety of topics including mental health and the debt crisis. Throughout her degree, she took a particular interest in Central Asia, but has also conducted research in Budapest and studied a wide range of topics across four years, from the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment to the Russian Language. In addition to this, she has lived and worked in South Korea for a year, written and conducted a guided tour of the Hunterian Museum (Glasgow), produced Hot Off the Press sessions for the Battle of Ideas Festival, and gained extensive experience in the field of digital marketing.
managing director & founder, Pathfinder Marksman Limited
Steve has led technology based innovation and transformation for many organisations across multiple industry sectors for nearly 40 years. Since 2005 he has been working in healthcare designing and delivering new models of urgent care for millions of people. Most recently he has worked with Babylon Health; the UK’s leading medtech company, to deliver a new AI led model of primary care in England.
He is an enthusiastic advocate of technology led disruptive innovation and transformation seeing it as the best hope for tackling the world’s most intractable problems, especially in healthcare.
Outside of work, Steve lives with his wife Lucy in nearby Charlton Horethorne, enjoying country pursuits, music, theatre and the arts. He is also an unreformed but apologetic petrol head.
www.pathfindermarksman.co.uk
author, The Moral Case for Abortion; former chief executive, BPAS
Ann is an author and commentator who spent more than two decades advocating for womens’ right to choose whether or not to have a child and running services to provide abortion.
Having completed an MA in philosophy at Sussex University, and been awarded a DSc by the University of Kent, she is now working for her PhD studying the insularity of the human species.
She is author of The Moral Case for Abortion: An Argument for Reproductive Choice..
copywriter, Word Bird
Chris Bird, aka Word Bird, is a creative writer for design and business, known for ‘making the complex simple.’ Chris set up Word Bird in 2001 after winning a contract with Orange. Her client list includes Microsoft, John Lewis and Zaha Hadid Architects, as well as leading UK and international design and branding agencies. From her home in Sherborne, she now works on projects ranging from tone of voice to writing training, on-pack copy to naming, web copy to book editing. In 2019 Chris was one of the organising team behind the inaugural TEDxSherborne, working closely with the speakers on the content and narrative arc of their talks. TEDxSherborne has since been recognised by the TED organisation as a world-class event.
director of events, World Sailing
Alastair is the director of events at World Sailing, the governing body for sailing. He was the technical delegate/event director for the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games and will have the same position at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Alastair has also delivered the Perth 2011, the Santander 2014 and Aarhus 2018 Sailing World Championships. Alastair oversees a wide range of World Sailing activities and works closely with a wide range of World Sailing and International Olympic Committee stakeholders around the world. He has worked for World Sailing since 2007 and before that organised sailing events in the UK and was a professional sailor. Alastair studied Environmental Earth Sciences as Royal Holloway, University of London and went to school at Bradfield College, Berkshire.
historical researcher
Alice Wordie is a self-employed historical researcher, who has done research work for numerous published authors. Previously, Alice has volunteered with multiple charities, including travelling to Africa to work with the Red Cross, and she is a trustee of a charity, which is involved with drug rehabilitation for teenage addicts. Alice has also worked in the field of journalism, liaising with war correspondents and freelance journalists, before she went on to work for various sectors in the government, including the North Africa and Middle East Department. Currently, Alice is living in Salisbury and a trustee of the Sherborne Girls foundation, which is presently fundraising for transformational bursaries.
producer, writer, director, Olive Independent Productions
Mona Deeley has written directed and produced 5 BBC documentaries and 250 episodes of BBC’s Alternative Cinema weekly series. She was responsible for theming, scripting, shooting and editing each episode and documentary, acquiring hundreds of international films and commissioning many interviews with leading and new talent, and forging curatorial collaborations with top international film festivals such as Cannes and Berlin. She presented some of the TV content that she produced, gave public talks, has been on film industry panels and film festival juries, mentored short filmmakers, and given media interviews in relation to culture and politics, including being a co-panellist with MPs in relation to cultural policy and diplomacy. She started her career as a lawyer as well as a curator over the same 10-year period, working with major UK TV, film, art and music organisations. Her first fiction feature film as writer/director is presently in development.
retired IT systems analyst, FE college lecturer & branch development organiser at UCU
Dave is a former IT systems analyst and FE college lecturer and now retired from UCU where he worked as an organiser. He has worked extensively with the Great Debate which has organised over 160 events on a wide range of subjects in Newcastle since 1998. Dave has a keen interest in the politics of the environmental movement and writes on the politics of climate alarmism. He blogs at Dave O’Toole
Follow Dave on Twitter @DavidJOToole
project and events manager, Council of Deans of Health
Nadia currently runs a leadership programme for student nurses, midwives and allied health professionals and was formerly the national coordinator of the Debating Matters Competition. Nadia is an alumnus of the competition, who participated in the very first Franklin College Debating Matters team back in 2010/11. She has a philosophy and political science degree from the University of Birmingham. In her spare time, she enjoys indulging in Pakistani mangoes and embarrassing herself at karaoke.
