Dr. Roy Wales
(Chairman and Festival Director)

Roy Wales is well known in Rottingdean for creating and directing the annual Spring Music Festival in March and also Rottingdean Arts that promotes various musical events on the Terraces Stage and in other village venues throughout the year. Roy Wales has directed more than 30 music and arts festivals in the past. His career has covered more than fifty years of extensive international experience as a conductor and in educational and arts management. He has been County Director of Music for Essex and East Sussex County Councils and has spent twenty years in universities and conservatoires, including being Director of Music at the University of Warwick, Director of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music (Brisbane, Australia) and Professor and Head of the Birmingham Conservatoire. He gained his doctorate in music from the University of Washington where he was a Fulbright Scholar and he also has an MA in Arts Management from the City University, London. Early in his career he sang at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with the English National Opera and for the BBC. He has been a guest conductor with many orchestras and choirs including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers. He is currently Music Director of the English Concert Orchestra, English Concert Singers and Chorus and The London Chorale. He has lived in Rottingdean for twenty-five years.

PROFESSOR PAUL PATTERSON – HONORARY PRESIDENT
Paul Patterson is one of the most versatile, successful and internationally-respected British composers of his generation. All of the major UK orchestras, and in numerous countries abroad, have performed his works, as have eminent ensembles and international soloists, and he has a substantial discography. He has been the featured composer at many festivals both in the UK and abroad, and has also been BBC Composer of the Week. Music-lovers worldwide enjoy his music as it never alienates – rather, creates an enriching experience that draws both audiences and performers in.

His substantial oeuvre, which includes several prestigious commissions, is stylistically varied; he is known for his sympathetic and often humorous writing for instruments, making a popular and successful name for himself in the choral, brass, organ, orchestral, concerti and children’s music. His composition style of challenging but idiomatic writing has resulted in many of his solo works being chosen as set pieces for international competitions in Europe, Australia, Israel, Thailand and the USA.

Patterson’s increasing international reputation as one of the foremost contemporary composers for the harp began with the popularity of Spiders . More works are being commissioned currently, and he has been invited to be the featured composer at the International Harp Congress in Hong Kong in 2017, his 70th birthday year.

Over the course of his career, Patterson has made significant contributions to many of the country’s leading musical institutions. At the Royal Academy of Music he initiated a pioneering series of annual Composer Festivals – an idea swiftly emulated elsewhere. He is a fellow of many of the UK’s leading music colleges and has received several awards in recognition of his services to music.

CHRISTINE WALES (ADMINISTRATOR)
A graduate and retired teacher of French and German, Christine has been the Administrator of the Rottingdean Spring Music Festival and Rottingdean Arts from the start. She is a keen singer and organises the national concerts and international tours of the English Concert Singers and Chorus and The London Chorale as well as many choral workshops in East and West Sussex.

DR. CHRIS DAVIDSON (VICE CHAIR)
Dr Chris Davidson has lived in Rottingdean for more than 20 years and is a (semi-retired) Cardiologist at the Royal Sussex County Hospital and Medical School. He is one of the founder members of Rottingdean Arts, having been Chairman of the Spring Music Festival for the first three years. He is the current Chairman of Rottingdean Preservation Society.

JOHN BUSTARD (TREASURER)
Although having only lived in Rottingdean for 10 years, family connections have meant regular visits for over 40 years. When he retired John was a Senior Manager with Unilever and since moving to Rottingdean he served on the Rottingdean Parish Council for 4 years. He and his wife have regularly attended and supported many of the events Rottingdean Arts have put on in the last few years.

GILL LAKE (BOARD MEMBER)
Gill has lived in Brighton for more than 40 years, moving from Leicestershire, although she was born in Birmingham. She joined Rottingdean Drama Society 35 years ago and was Chairman for 10 years, retiring in Sept 2009. She remains a member of the committee and is often involved in the Society as Director, Producer or cast member. She has lived in Chile, Argentina and Australia and was involved in amateur dramatics while resident there.

DAVID HUNT (BOARD MEMBER)
David joined the committee after having enjoyed Rottingdean Arts events for several years. A keen singer of an eclectic range of music, he gives thanks to a Roy Wales “Messiah ” workshop for his love of singing. Following careers in Cartographic Draughting and teaching, David moved into the recruitment field and identified a market need for medical technical recruitment expertise. His company used an empathetic rather than hard sell approach to sales, now widely used, and his consultants were trained to research thoroughly and to listen carefully to understand client needs. David has now retired and walks, swims and sings enthusiastically around Rottingdean.

BERNARD TURNBULL (BOARD MEMBER)
Bernard Turnbull was born in the North East of England in 1944. He was educated at Bygate School and the University of Warwick where he graduated as an Economist. His career began in marketing then moved to designing business processes. He retired as Managing Director of a software house in 1998. Bernard then founded a landscaping and maintenance business providing services to the building industry. He retired again in 2013 when he sold the business and he and his wife spend time at their houses in the Midlands and in Rottingdean. Bernard has had a lifelong passion for music. He aims to use his business skills to promote musical experience in the wider community. He is currently Chairman and Trustee of the Beacon Hub Brighton Charity, Director of a Residents Association and a committee member of Rottingdean Arts

TRISH ELLIS (BOARD MEMBER)
Having moved down from London 7 years ago she has enjoyed my new life by the sea immensely. As a lover of the arts she has enjoyed attending numerous events organised by Rottingdean Arts. Now semi-retired, having spent many years as a technical trainer, she now enjoy a quieter life by the sea singing with Ovingdean Choral Society or playing ukulele with various groups. She is eager to see the Arts flourish here in our village to provide entertainment for all.