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Allan holds a first class architecture degree from Edinburgh University and was a partner in architecture firm Robbie + Wellwood between 1979-1975; Bain Swan Architects 1975-2019. Both practices work mainly in Berwickshire and north Northumberland including regeneration projects in Eyemouth and Berwick-upon-Tweed; restoration and conversion of historic buildings Gunsgreen House, Eyemouth, and Dewars Lane Granary, Berwick-upon-Tweed. Projects at Paxton House include rebuilding of Estate Boathouse 1974 and re-erection in 2020 of The Edinburgh Window in The Appleyard.
Allan has also been a Trustee of Gunsgreen House since 2013.
We are thrilled to welcome Rachael Rowley to our Board of Trustees.
Rachael joins the Trust at a pivotal and exciting time. She brings with her a wealth of experience in transformational change and operational resilience, along with boundless enthusiasm and positivity, which will support the Trust as we move forward with our new developments.
Will was educated at Eton College and Newcastle University. He served in The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards for eight years. Will is the Founder and CEO of Ramsay Fairs, which runs 19 events a year attracting 250,000 visitors globally, namely the Affordable Art Fair, VOLTA and British Art Fair. Alongside this he runs Bughtrig Farms. He is Chair of Admiral Ramsay Museum, Chair of Berwickshire Races, on the Committee of Berwickshire Civic Society and on the Board of Scotland in Union. He is married to Natasha; they have four daughters. Will plays the bagpipes and is a recently retired amateur jockey.
Paxton House
Will’s great-great-great-grandfather was William Foreman Home, owner of Paxton House from 1820 to 1852. Will was raised in Berwickshire at Bughtrig House near Leitholm, where he now lives; it had been bought by his grandparents, Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay and his wife Margaret (nee Menzies of Kames, Duns, Berwickshire) who met while he was visiting his Home relations at Paxton (He was descended from Georgina Hay Home). Will and his wife Natasha have opened an Admiral Ramsay Museum at Bughtrig.
Louise is a social historian and university teacher, with 25 years’ experience of academic leadership, project management and public engagement. She is currently Professor of Modern Social History at the University of Edinburgh, which she joined in 2005.
Louise is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Registered Practitioner of the Higher Education Academy. She is a member of the Steering Committee of Women’s History Scotland, co-editor of the academic journal Social History, and author/co-author of five academic books on modern British and Scottish social history topics. In 2018 she was a winner of the Royal Historical Society’s Public History Prize for Public Policy and Debate. She lives within walking distance of Paxton House and is an enthusiastic supporter of the arts, cultural heritage, and the social and educational mission of the Paxton Trust.
Educated at Ampleforth College and West of Scotland Agricultural College, John farmed at Paxton between 1970 and 1978. He was elected to Berwickshire District Council in 1974 and served first as Labour MP for Berwickshire & East Lothian and then from 1983 to 2001 for East Lothian. During this time John Home Robertson served on the Select Committees on Scotland and Defence; was the Opposition spokesman on Scotland and Agriculture; Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jack Cunningham at the Ministry of Agriculture then the Cabinet Office. Between 1999 and 2007, he served as MSP for East Lothian. During this time John Home Robertson was: Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs, then Convener of the Holyrood [Parliament Building] Progress Group). He was a member of the Press Complaints Commission 2008-11.
John married his wife, Catherine in 1977. He undertakes regular voluntary work with Edinburgh Direct Aid in Bosnia, Kosovo, Palestine, Pakistan, Kenya, Lebanon, Poland and the Ukraine.
Paxton House
John Home Robertson inherited Paxton House from his mother in 1987, then established the Paxton Trust in 1988. He has been a Paxton trustee since that date, taking the role of managing trustee from 2010-11.
Since retirement, has been continuing voluntary work for Edinburgh Direct Aid and for the Paxton Trust (including the waterwheel restoration project). Also running local house conversion and construction projects and volunteering on archaeology sites around the Borders and an active trustee for the Friends of the Union Chain Bridge.
Dr Afiya Holder is a Tourism and Events Lecturer and Strategic Partnerships Lead of the Tourism Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU). Afiya is internationally recognised for her professional experience and research that intersects tourism, events and social sustainability and holds a Senior Fellow of Advance HEA (SFHEA). Afiya’s research pathways cover topical areas including Heritage, Museums and Memory, socio-cultural and environmental impacts of tourism and events, Island tourism, Indigenous tourism, tourism resilience and adaptation in SIDS, as well as tourism marketing and digital transformation for social good. Afiya is also an active associate editor and podcaster for Tourism Geographies and Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism.
Dr Holder also actively contributes to Scottish society and charities and is a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland and the British Academy Early Career Network. She is Scotland’s representative member for the Global Young Academy (GYA), Young Academies Science Advice Structure (YASAS) and European Young Academies (ENYA).
Eric has been a soldier, businessman, charity leader, international sportsman and author.
He served in in the Army for 15 years; his final military job was spent on secondment to the Cabinet Office. He started a small picture framing business in 1978, which grew into a multi-layered arts operation which owned galleries and managed art projects for offices, banks and hotels in Europe, North America and South Arabia. They restored pictures and frames, and sold the raw materials (timber, paper products, paints, glass and mirror, and tools) to competitors.
He entered the Voluntary Sector in 1987. He has worked for some 400 charities and has been the Director of National Appeals for Marie Curie Cancer Care, the Director of Fundraising, and the Director of International Development for Sue Ryder Care. He has also served as interim CEO of two charities and has been a trustee of three others. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.
Nick was born in Newcastle and grew up in the North East. He was educated at Sedbergh and Bristol University, following which he trained as a chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse. He then spent 30 years working for Reed Elsevier, mainly as Commercial Director of their trade exhibition division. Since retirement he has served as a director and consultant to various companies in the exhibition industry. In addition he has been a trustee of Just a Drop, a water charity principally in Africa and South East Asia.
He and his wife Jane split their time between their houses in London, Northumberland and their two daughters in California.
Always working in the cultural sector, Lucy is motivated by enabling people and projects to maximise their potential through the creation and delivery of successful business models, marketing and fundraising strategies, and project management.
As a founding Director of the Glasshouse, International Centre for Music (previously Sage Gateshead) – the multimillion Lord Foster designed music centre – Lucy devised and implemented a ground breaking fundraising strategy centred on an endowment fund of £12 million delivering more than 5% annual return in revenue – and was responsible too for the structure and delivery of all aspects of customer care, promotion and sales.
As Chief Executive of the Sunderland Music Arts and Culture Trust, Lucy delivered the new auditorium at the Fire Station in Sunderland which opened in December 2021.
Freelance from 2014 – 2021, clients included Opera North, Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake, the Stuart Halbert Foundation, the Alnwick Garden, North East Theatre Trust Ltd (Live Theatre), and Sunderland Music Arts and Culture Trust. Before setting up on her own, Lucy worked as a consultant with Tarnside Consulting.
She has also acted as a trustee of Richmond’s Georgian Theatre Royal, the Grade 1 oldest surviving theatre in England, and as a steering group member, trustee or governor of various other organisations or charities including North East Tourism Advisory Board, Arts & Business Scotland, and Royal Grammar School Newcastle.
