CHARIS SYKESUD

Charis Sykesud is a London-based musician, whose number one love is playing the violin.  As a freelance, she performs both orchestrally and in chamber ensembles.  When she’s not playing the violin, Charis is often found writing programme notes or on a tennis court.  She enjoys learning languages and reading, particularly early 20th Century fiction.  Charis is known amongst her friends as something of a pedant for well-spoken and written English.

Joseph Francis

I grew up in Lincoln and served for four years in the Grenadier Guards, participating in royal ceremonial occasions such as Trooping the Colour in 2007. Following my military service, I worked for several London-based charities, where I developed expertise in community support, public service, and organisational management.

After completing my charitable work in London, I returned to Lincoln to pursue a career in engineering. I am currently in my final year of an English and Spanish degree at The Open University and have served on the Board of Education for Linguistics and Languages as a student representative. In addition to my studies, I hold a TEFL qualification and have taught English as a freelancer and through charitable organisations, supporting learners from diverse backgrounds.

Beyond my professional and academic pursuits, I am a dedicated bibliophile who values libraries and strongly advocates for universal access to education and knowledge.

Susan McKenna

Susan McKenna has a background in teaching English and French, sales, marketing, business development and management. She was Sales & Marketing Director with prestigious companies supplying consumer goods to retail in the UK and abroad from 2001 to 2016, then owner of her own consulting company.

Language has always been of paramount importance and delectation to her, both personally and professionally, not only in its rigour but also in its flexibility and infinite variety.

Susan describes herself as 'a purist-iconoclast'.

Peter Tompkins

Peter Tompkins was born in Liverpool in 1959 but has lived in the South-East since 1982, these days splitting his time between London and Cambridge and occasional trips to the Lake District.

Peter is a consulting actuary with Callund Consulting and spends his time consulting to overseas governments and international agencies on pension plans and their reform. Prior to that, he was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and before that a partner at Lane Clark & Peacock.

His other interests include beekeeping, sundials, chamber music, rowing and hill walking. He is a trustee of the City Music Foundation and of the New Music Players and he is a Court Member of two liveries, the Wax Chandlers (of which he is a Past Master) and the Actuaries.

Bernard Lamb

Dr Bernard Lamb joined the Society as a life member in 1981 and has been President since 2007.

He is the author of three of the Society's research books based on national surveys, and of "The QES Practical Guide to Punctuation". "The Queen's English and How to Use It" is his latest publication.

For 40 years he taught and conducted research in genetics at Imperial College London where he studied and tried to improve his students' use of English. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and of the Royal Society of Medicine, holds a BSc, a PhD and a DSc, and has written more than 100 scientific papers and books including "The Applied Genetics of Humans, Animals, Plants and Fungi" and "Human Diversity: Its Nature, Extent, Causes and Effects on People".

He has made more than 160 broadcasts about English on radio and TV. He has also been Chairman of the Society's London Branch since 1992.

Ray Ward

Ray Ward was born in Sheffield in 1947 and is retired after a career in libraries of many kinds in Sheffield, London, South Wales, Bristol, Leeds, Hastings, Brighton and, briefly, Saudi Arabia.

He is a Chartered Librarian and has a BA (Hons.) in Politics from the University of Hull. The English language is one of his main interests and he has been a member of the Society since 1989. He has been on the Committee since 2004.

His many other interests include space flight, astronomy, aviation, politics and quizzes. He has twice been on Mastermind and his subjects reflect his broad interests: Manned Space Flight in 1978 (though there had been a lot less of it then!), and The Life and Times of Anne Frank in 2006. He was on University Challenge (his team were finalists), and was the BBC Radio 4 Brain of Britain 2012.