Lecturers
Nina Cahill MA
Nina is an art historian with a museum and university background. She has worked in museum education for several years as well as gaining curatorial and research experience at the renowned art museum Hamburger Kunsthalle in Germany. She went on to work at the University of Kassel, Germany, where she taught European Art History spanning a period from 1200 – 1800. Since moving to London in 2014 Nina has combined two of her passions, art and teaching, by working in adult education.
Andrew Beharrell BSc (Economics), RYA Ocean Yachtmaster
Andy Beharrell taught economics for many years at various schools in London, Dorset, Bristol and Australia later becoming a Chief Examiner for the International Baccalaureate (IB). He then went on to set up an online learning business training IB teachers. He has been a passionate sailor for all his life and in retirement (and lockdown) has spent a lot of time researching a range of topics around sailing and maritime history. He is a qualified RYA Ocean Yachtmaster.
Frances Boardman BA, Cert Ed
Frances spent several years working and travelling throughout the Middle East having studied Egyptology with Coptic Studies at Durham University. Since retiring from mainstream teaching she has continued to lecture to both adult classes and Cruise audiences.
Nick Dobson BA, MA
Nick was a career Librarian becoming Principal Librarian for Redbridge. Since 2012 he has worked as a freelance events organiser and as a speaker covering a wide range of topics from Shakespeare to Horticulture and from the First World War to Gilbert and Sullivan. Nick is a former National Fuchsia Champion and he has performed in semi-professional productions of light opera throughout London and the south east. Nick’s family is related by marriage to Charles Dickens, but it is a very tenuous link, but Librarians do try to be interesting!
Julian Whybra BA (Hons), M.I.A.H.E.
Julian Whybra is a history graduate of the University of East Anglia and has carried out post-graduate research as a Research Fellow at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and as a Fellow Commoner at Girton College, Cambridge. He is a past winner of the Browne Medal for Original Historical Research and lectured part-time in history in the Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Essex until 2005. In 2002 he was elected a Member of the International Academy for the Humanization of Education. He is currently a freelance lecturer and author.
Dr Lydia Goodson PhD, BA, MA
Lydia is an art historian, specialising in the art and material culture of the Italian Renaissance. Lydia holds a BA in Renaissance History from the University of Warwick and an MA in Art History from the University of Sussex. She was awarded her PhD from The Warburg Institute at the University of London for her thesis "The Dynamics of Artistic Patronage in Perugia 1488-1540. Her research interests include painting in the Renaissance workshop and the production and trade of the decorative arts such as textiles, tableware and home furnishings as well as the lived experience in the Italian Renaissance. Lydia is passionate about the benefits of life-long learning.
Margaret Mills BA, MA
Margaret has taught History and English Literature in Further, Higher and Adult Education for many years, including teaching for the Workers' Education Association. She has a BA (Hons) Degree in Humanities with History and an MA in Education. Her articles have been published by the Brontë and Jane Austin Societies. She gives history and literature-based talks to many organisations and participates in book reviews and "Essex Tales" slots for Phoenix Community Radio. Her teaching includes change and development of Essex country houses, the lives and times of famous 19th century historical and literary figures, 18th/19th century history in art and 19th century novels.
Ian Mercer
Ian Mercer worked for the Geological Survey from 1965, working for a spell in the Libyan Sahara. With a Diploma in Gemmology, he transferred to the Geological Museum where he enjoyed the challenge of explaining complex subjects in simple ways. He gained a degree in Geology with Crystallography at the time of the Plate Tectonics revolution and worked on the first major modern geology exhibition Story of the Earth. Other exhibitions and books culminated in management of the Treasures of the Earth exhibition in which Ian introduced optical media and computers, with a full-size cut-open house illustrating the uses of Earth materials. Ian finished the Crystals book after he was made redundant on the NHM take-over of the Museum. He joined the Gemmological Association as Director of Education in 1990, developing world teaching and exams. This took him to areas such as Jade markets in China and mineral shows in Arizona. Now retired, he enjoys explaining landscapes, rocks, pebbles, crystals and gems. With his geologist wife Ros, Ian wrote Essex Rock in 2022.
Dr Adrian Eckersley MA (Cantab), PhD (London)
Dr Adrian Eckersley was educated at Brentwood School, Cambridge and London Universities. He has taught literature and cultural history to adults in further and higher education for over 35 years. His teaching is founded on a strong belief that reading is as much a creative act as writing, and deserves our closest attention. As well as teaching, Adrian has had a career as dramatist and essayist and, more recently, as a landscape and cityscape painter, with six solo shows around Essex and London.
Rosanna Eckersley BA, PhD
Rosanna is committed to communicating knowledge, understanding and enthusiasm for Art History. She has wide experience of teaching Art History, having taught this subject since graduating from Birkbeck in 1994. Her current teaching includes Birkbeck College, University of London, the WEA as well as freelance lecturing in a range of topics from the History of Art. Her teaching includes British art and design from the 19c to the present day, 19c French art, 20c American art (1900-1939) and 20c German art. New courses may include Scottish art and design and Italian Renaissance painting.
She has a particular interest in women’s art, and has taught courses focused on French and British women painters. Her published writing on women artists is: ‘An Awkward Fit? Winifred Knights’ Scenes from the Life of Saint Martin of Tours, Canterbury Cathedral’, in Visual Culture in Britain, Volume 18, issue 2, 2017; and the 'Foreword' to Christopher Campbell-Howes Evelyn Dunbar: A Life in Painting, 2016. Rosanna was awarded her PhD by the University of East Anglia in 2015, for a thesis titled ‘A Study of Winifred Knights, 1915-1933’.
Richard Pusey TD, MB, ChB, FRCS (Eng.)
Richard Pusey qualified in Medicine at Birmingham University and specialised in Surgery. He was appointed Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Orsett and Basildon Hospitals. After retirement he worked part time as Senior Lecturer in the Anatomy Department at UCL. He has a special interest in Medical History and works as a volunteer at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons giving gallery talks and tours. He has been President of the History of Medicine Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Dr Maria Razumovskaya PhD, FHEA, MMus, BMus
Described as a ‘virtuoso story-teller of the piano’ (Le Courrier), Dr Maria Razumovskaya performs internationally including live radio broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, and has released critically acclaimed recordings. Recent writings include a monograph on the legendary Russian pianist-pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus (Boydell & Brewer), book chapters and articles for academic journals as well as the wider press, including BBC Music Magazine. She is a Steinway Artist, professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and a lecturer at the City Literary Institute in London.
Denis Sheppard BA (Hons)
After retiring from the Police in 2004 as a Chief Superintendent, Denis retrained as a Secondary School Teacher of History. Having taught full time in Secondary Schools, he moved into Adult Education, teaching GCSE and A Level. In recent years, he has focused on developing and delivering short courses on a range of historical topics, supported by the use of multimedia, which he delivers to various groups across Essex. Denis is interested in history of all periods, from international, national and local perspectives, focusing particularly on how the past impacts on how we think and live today. His aim is to inform, entertain and to encourage lively debate.
Anne Stott PhD, BA
Anne Stott has a BA and a PhD in History from University College London. She has taught for the Open University, Birkbeck, University of London, and the Workers’ Educational Association. She is especially interested in the late Georgian period, and has published biographies of William Wilberforce and the Evangelical philanthropist, Hannah More. Her most recent book is on the life of the Prince Regent's daughter, Princess Charlotte. She has also published in academic journals and has broadcast with Melvyn Bragg and Moira Stewart. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, and has two grown-up daughters and three grandchildren.'
Tony Tuckwell MA, MBA, Dip Ed
Tony Tuckwell read history at Oxford University and after teaching in Portsmouth and Manchester became Head of King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford 1984-99. After Headship he worked as a consultant helping governors appoint head-teachers and working on head-teacher development in London, the south-east and East Anglia. In retirement he has written widely on local history (see his publications below). He was a trustee of the Chelmsford Cathedral Festival of Music and Arts (1999-2008) and served on the Essex Rural Commission (2008-9). He has been a governor of two schools. In his retirement he has walked the complete coastal and riverine boundaries of the county of Essex, the Essex Way, the Thames Path from estuary to source, the North Downs Way, the Capital Ring and London Loop and the Stour and Orwell Way.
That honourable and gentlemanlike house; the history of King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford 1551-2001 Free Range Publications: first edition 2001, second edition 2008
New Hall and its school; a true school of virtuous demeanour Free Range Publications, 2006
Coming of Age; the life and times of Chelmsford Cathedral 1914-2014 Xlibris 2013
Messing: the story of a village school New Hall Publications 2014
Life is for Living, the story of Acorn Village, Mistley Matthew James Publishing 2016