Meet our Board of Trustees!
The trust is governed by a Trust Board with the following composition:
6 Community / Independent Trustees
1 Trustee representing People Express
1 Trustee representing Magic Attic
South Derbyshire District Council also have a representative on the Trust Board who is not a Trustee.
The Trust is supported by employed staff and a wide and active range of volunteers.
A Service Level Agreement with South Derbyshire District Council is in place to ensure that the Trust continues to support a number of Council strategies including economic and environmental regeneration, town centre development, lifelong learning, e-government and, of course, leisure (including heritage).
As with all charities the Sharpe’s Pottery Heritage and Arts Trust has governing documents in place that set out the charity’s aims and purpose, and rules for how we must operate, these can be obtained on the charities register.
Our governing documents inform our plans, decisions and the policies we have in place to maintain the safety of our building, collections, staff, volunteers and visitors and manage the site.
If you would like more information please contact us.
We are currently looking for new Trust Board members! Click here for further information!
Our Trustees
Peter Tunnicliffe (Chair)
Peter is a retired university lecturer who started his career as a PE teacher in a couple of Derby secondary schools devising and delivering structured educational activities in a range of informal settings. This helped lead Peter to be based in Swadlincote to manage Adult and Community Education activities across South Derbyshire and later in Amber Valley and Oakham, Rutland.
Having lived and worked in Derbyshire most of his life Peter hopes to draw on his knowledge of the area and people while overseeing the programme and work of Sharpe’s Museum and Pottery in order to promote collaborative and interactive activities which engage as wide a range of participants as possible.
Peter became a trustee at Sharpe’s in 2022 and is also a trustee for another local interest group, Melbourne Civic Society.
Martin Wroughton
Retired teacher and trustee of the “Magic Attic” with a keen interest in local history, especially the domestic potteries. Martin has been a long-standing valued volunteer at Sharpe’s Pottery Museum since 2005. He has used his passion for pots and local heritage to undertake all sorts of tasks, from meeting and greeting visitors, to helping to research and maintain the collections and building. Back in 2015 Martin was particularly enthused by a large Bretby pottery object that was bought in. He and a couple of other volunteers took each piece washed it and took photos prior to auctioning off surplus items.
As a trustee of the “Magic Attic” and respected volunteer he decided to take up the mantle of becoming a trustee of Sharpe’s Pottery Heritage and Arts Trust in March 2020, to apply his research skills and transfer his wealth of knowledge of domestic potteries, to preserve the past of Sharpe’s Pottery along with South Derbyshire’s wider industrial heritage.
Chris Beech
Chris trained as a visual artist and photographer, he was self-employed for 25 years, working on varied commissioned work for the BBC, BMW, The Arts Council and The National Forest Company. His work was both commercial and practice based, focussing on heritage and culture, he has also combined business interests with teaching since 1994. He has experience of curating major exhibitions, extensive experience of participatory arts including management boards, and has since concentrated on full-time education. Chris’s photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally, and he has delivered a diverse range of workshops and community-based programmes, he is currently Assistant Principal and Dean at Burton and South Derbyshire College, responsible for Higher Education with associated wider roles.
Chris moved from being an outsider observing to an enthusiastic ambassador and active trustee in 2019, where he has continually sought to address both new audiences and engage with its existing proud heritage. He is humbled to work with a team of like-minded individuals working towards a common goal.
Luke Samson
Luke is an ACA exam-qualified accountant with four years’ experience at PwC in audit, and now runs Chapter, a careers education platform for students and schools that makes ‘what do you want to do with your life?’ a bit more fun.
Having taught himself software and app development from scratch, he brings a digital perspective alongside a finance and governance background.
Based in South Derbyshire, Luke became a trustee at Sharpe’s in 2026, drawn by a chance to support local heritage and a willingness to learn as much as possible. He reads widely, with a soft spot for history, and regularly trains in mixed martial arts
Christine Hampton (Trust Treasurer)
More information coming soon…
Cllr. Steve Taylor (Non-Trustee attendee)
More information coming soon…
Richard Haywood (Trust Secretary)
More information coming soon…
Julie Goodwin
More information coming soon…
Interested in joining our board? Click HERE for more information!