Members of the John Spedan Lewis Trust
Alan Wilson
Alan is a Waitrose partner with 44 years of service. Starting on the retail side, Alan moved to buying and then technology and agriculture. Within Waitrose, he has been closely associated to organic farming, fresh produce growing, sustainability, research, training and personal development. He has been a campaigner for potato variety awareness with two published books a regular at the leading potato day events. He places a high importance on local food and runs a small potato in Hampshire. He has been a trustee for 15 years. Alan has a long association with Leckford Estate and places collaboration with the Estate and the community at the heart of the trust work. From November 2018 Alan becomes chair of The John Lewis Trust for Advancement of Natural Sciences
Andrew Ferguson
Andrew has spent his whole life in agriculture, with over 25 years in farm and estate management. He gained a degree and PhD in agricultural science from the University of Aberdeen before working for Wye College (University of London) and then Imperial College, managing their diverse farming estate in Kent. Andrew then spent 4 years managing an organic farming estate in Kent before joining Leckford Estate in 2011 as Farming Manager. His current responsibilities include a 550 cow dairy, 2,000 acres of arable crops, apple and pear orchards, vineyards and environmental conservation.
Megan
Megan studied zoology at University College of Dublin, and then went onto do her master’s at Leeds University. Her master’s research project compared land use change and bee and wasp communities using historical data. This was when her fascination with pollination and ecosystem services started. This then lead into her PhD on pollination and pest management in apple orchards, focusing on bees, hoverflies and natural enemies of aphids. She now works for Worldwide Fruit, who part funded her PhD as a technical manager where she manages R&D projects focusing on CI. She is a strong advocate of sustainable agriculture and passion is to bring ideas and people together to pursue economically, environmentally and socially resilient and sustainable food supply chains.
Nick Sotherton
Nick Sotherton has a degree in Agricultural Zoology from Newcastle University and a PhD in Agricultural Entomology from the University of Southampton.
In 2005 he was awarded the RASE Research Medal and the British Crop Protection Council Medal for his contribution to agricultural science. In 2010 he was appointed as an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Exeter.
Although trained as an entomologist and working on farmland, his research interests now extend to woodland, moorland, the river and anywhere where the application of science can resolve wildlife declines and bring about recovery.
Glynne Evans
Glynne has had a life-long amateur interest in the natural world. He has been participating in national bird surveys for over fifty years, and for the past thirty years has organised these surveys for the whole of Hampshire. He also contributes to national butterfly monitoring schemes, and during the past ten years has also become increasingly focused on moth recording. He believes that the natural world is essential to people, and that monitoring and recording of the natural world’s species and numbers are important means of influencing society and reducing the risk of destruction through ignorance.
In Glynne’s professional life, after training as a Civil Engineer he recognised the opportunities offered by developments in the computer industry, and switched to becoming an IT professional. He was employed by several local authorities, and at the time of his retirement was manager of Corporate IT systems at Hampshire County Council. He is married with two grown-up children, and lives with his wife at Chilbolton.
