President, Vice Presidents, Trustees

Lord Egremont  President

Max Egremont has been a supporter and President of CPRE Sussex for nearly 40 years. To many, Max is a well-known landowner, whose name you will have doubtless heard mentioned if you have ever visited Petworth House his 17th-century ancestral home, now managed by the National Trust and immortalised in Turner’s paintings.

But to history buffs, he is Max Egremont, the acclaimed novelist and biographer, best known for his biography of the First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon. His latest book,  ‘Forgotten Land’, is an atmospheric work chronicling the changing fortunes of the region formerly known as East Prussia.

After reading Modern History at Christchurch College, Oxford, he worked in publishing and was planning a writing career when his father’s premature death called him home to live at Petworth and to manage the 700 acre estate. The National Trust is responsible for the immediate parkland, but Lord Egremont manages the rest of the estate where he has met the challenge of striking the balance between preserving the countryside and making a living from it.

He takes a very keen interest country life and along side his lasting commitment to CPRE Sussex he is also the President of Sussex Heritage Trust. He has always been engaged with the life of the town and is closely involved with his parish church, St Mary’s, as well as the annual Petworth Arts Festival.

Margaret Moore  Vice President

Margaret`s career was spent in the education of the deaf, in England and in India, ending with the Headship of Hamilton Lodge School for Deaf Children in Brighton.

Following retirement in 1995, Margaret took the three year Diploma in Landscape Studies in the Extra Mural Department of Sussex University. Here she met Dr Peter Brandon and Dr Geoffrey Mead, both leaders in all matters of the countryside and, under their inspiring influence, she gravitated to the CPRE, where she became the editor of the Sussex Review for nine years. Since then she has been privileged to be one of the judges in the CPRE Award Scheme.

Rodney Chambers  Vice President

Rodney Chambers spent his teenage years in rural Gloucestershire. He had a career in teaching (including a spell in Tanzania) and Community Education.

On early retirement in 1992, he fulfilled a long-held ambition to move to Chichester – a characteristic Sussex town with a close relationship with its surrounding countryside.

He joined CPRE in 2006 and was very soon appointed Vice Chairman for West Sussex. Then, when Roy Haycock was forced by ill-health to retire from the Chair, Rodney became acting Chair until confirmed in the post at the 2008 AGM.

During his time in office he did his best to guide the Branch through a period of considerable change, some of it internal but much of it as a result of changes in planning law and the advent of localism.

Unfortunately his eyesight eventually deteriorated to such an extent that he decided to step down from the Chair but continues to serve the Branch as Vice President.

Rodney is a member of the Executive Committee of the Chichester Society which works to protect the urban environment of Chichester.

Bill Freeman  Trustee

Bill’s background is in marketing and marketing communications. He worked with major international companies in various related roles. Starting out as industrial products advertising officer with Singer Sewing Machine Company, he went on to be Group Publicity manager for the Roneo Vickers Office Eqt Group, product manager for Gestetner the reprographics company, supplies manager for OEM the Triumph Adler distributor and latterly Dealer Channel marketing manager for Riso, the Japanese digital printer company.

Educated in London, he has lived in both Kent and Sussex, finally settling on the south coast where he is very actively involved with community work.

He established Adur Floodwatch Group to support the concerns there are across Adur around drainage and runs a residents’ network addressing local issues. He sits on the Adur Conservation Advisory Group, an independent committee for the community advising on planning matters in conservation areas and the West Sussex Flood Action Forum, which brings together all the flood action groups in the county under the stewardship of the National Flood Forum.

A passionate lover of the countryside, he has been an active member with CPRE Adur District for a number of years with a particular emphasis on preserving the green spaces proposed for development in the Adur Plan.

Stephen Hardy MBE  Trustee

Active in local politics and the community since moving to Robertsbridge in Rother, Stephen  has stood for Parliament four times, and was a district councillor from 1999 to 2003.  To improve village sustainability he set up the Robertsbridge Enterprise Group of local businesses and community interests in 2007. He also chaired the Salehurst and Robertsbridge Neighbourhood Plan, approved overwhelmingly at referendum in May 2018. He is a member of the management committee of the Helping Hands, a community friends organisation in Robertsbridge.

Since 2001, he has been Chairman of an environmental trust set up under the Landfill Communities Scheme, which has distributed in excess of £8m and since 2014 has been trustee of Rother Environment Group. He has been a trustee of CPRE Sussex since 2012

Penny Hudd    Trustee

Brought up on a working farm in Norfolk Penny trained as a designer and landscape architect, working initially in the UK before moving to Asia and the USA where she worked on major projects for architects, hospitals, governments and blue chip companies.

On returning to the UK she continued to practice before moving into design education initially lecturing at Norwich School of Art. This was followed by a move to Scotland where she was Head of Communication Design at Glasgow School of Art and latterly to London as Head of the School of Design at Kingston University.

She has been an academic advisor and external examiner for many major institutions in the UK and Europe including the Royal College of Art, Central St Martins, the Austrian Education Department and the Universities of Creative Arts, Brighton and Lancashire.  Until recently she was a Governor of City College, Brighton & Hove.

Always a country lover, Penny has been an active member and trustee of CPRE Sussex since 2010.

Dr John Kay    Trustee

John is the planning lead for the CPRE Sussex Lewes District group. He is a long-standing Ringmer parish councillor, with spells as both chair and planning committee chair. He chaired the steering groups that produced a Village Plan in 2003, Employment and Housing Strategies in 2006 & 2009, and a Neighbourhood Plan in 2016.

Prior to retirement John was Associate Dean of the Brighton & Sussex Medical School and a Non-Executive Director of East Sussex Downs & Weald Primary Care Trust.

John is a Trustee of King’s Church, Lewes; of the Ringmer Parish Almshouse Charity; and of a parish charity that provides affordable housing for young families. He is a board member of the Ringmer area Community Land Trust, formed in 2018 and with its first planning application now submitted.

Sally Pavey    Trustee

Having moved to Warnham, West Sussex over a decade ago Sally and her family love their farm home and garden, walking the dogs and riding.

Active in her local community Sally is a Warnham Parish Councilor and writes for the local press. As a volunteer she organises the Cancer Research Pink Gift Fair and Wellbeing event each year in Horsham.  She also works with the local press to organise fundraising events and is a committee member of Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign.

Since 2014 Sally has been chair of the Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions group (CAGNE), The group was founded in response to Gatwick Airport’s new flight paths over parishes not previously affected by aircraft noise.  CAGNE regularly shares Gatwick information with residents across West Sussex, strongly opposes a second runway being built at Gatwick and changes to flight paths. CAGNE is supported by local and district parish councils, Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign and CPRE Sussex; the countryside charity.

With many years’ experience of international marketing, PR, event management Sally is currently employed as a consultant.

Dr Roger F Smith  Trustee

A Sussex-born activist Dr Roger Smith has campaigned since 1996 against inappropriate development, development that is destructive of communities, countryside and the natural environment.

Educated at Jesus College, Oxford (DPhil) and the University of Southampton he has been variously a professional archaeologist, Royal Air Force Officer, arctic explorer and expedition leader and planner, farm worker, conservation officer, company secretary and Trustee CPRE Sussex.

He is very concerned for the future of our precious countryside and landscapes.

Grainne Woodvine  Trustee

Having grown up on an equestrian farm in West Sussex, Grainne has always had a passion for agriculture, wildlife and the great outdoors. She balances her professional life in the City of London, working for a financial services firm, with time spent outside exploring her local area near Hayward’s Heath.

Grainne has worked in the Investment industry for almost a decade, where she specialises in leading large scale, strategic change programmes. She recognises how important it is to have access to the outdoors for positive mental wellbeing and believes strongly in championing the intrinsic value of all green spaces from a people, wildlife and ecosystem perspective.

She joined CPRE Sussex as a Trustee in 2020.