Elva Ainsworth
Elva has been ringing since she was taught by her father at 12. She has rung in Amersham, London, Hertfordshire and Boston, MA, is a member of the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths and enjoyed peals until prevented by injury. Elva has been running her own IT and HR consultancy business “Talent Innovations Ltd” for twenty years and has lived in York with her family since 2018. She brings a commercial and market-focused perspective and five years’ experience of being on the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers.
Robert Crighton
Bob learned to ring 55 yrs ago in North Yorkshire. Service in the Royal Navy followed by a career in the law led to his ringing with a number of bands around the country, from a Devon call change band to Guildford Cathedral, where he and his wife rang for 26 yrs. Five years ago he rusticated to North Dorset and led a project to get “new” bells for the village church. An Ocean Yachtmaster, Bob is also a keen sailor with his own boat, and undertakes yacht deliveries.
Bob joined the Board in September 2020 and brings with him fourteen years of Board experience, having served as Secretary and General Counsel to the Port of London Authority and latterly as a Non-Executive Director of Harwich Haven Authority.
Paul Jopp (Chairman)
Paul lives in Little Eaton, Derbyshire and is the owner of the light ring of 12 at St Oulton Campanile. Originally from Worcestershire where he learnt to ring, Paul rang his first peal at age 8 and has gone on to ring over 1200 peals including almost 400 in hand. He is a member of the Ancient Society of College Youths and has been Ringing Master at a number of towers including Derby Cathedral. Paul has recently retired having spent most of his working life in the IT industry as a Service Delivery Manager for Royal Mail, a Global Programme Director for CSC and a Regional Engineering Manager for proAV Limited.
Graham Lay
Graham has been ringing for 45 years and for most of that time has been part of the band at Tewin in Hertfordshire. He spent 35 years working in the IT Services industry, where he ultimately had responsibility for millions of pounds of revenue occupying thousands of people around the world. Since retiring in 2014 he has been able to pick up with peal ringing again. Both of his sons participated in Young@Herts teams which competed in the Ringing World National Youth Contest before they went to university. Apart from ringing Graham is frequently found backstage managing sound or lighting for the Hertford Dramatic and Operatic Society, and is also their Chairman of Trustees. He enjoys gardening and DIY tasks. Graham has read The Ringing World throughout his ringing career and appreciates how it has provided insights and commentary into the various issues that have cropped up from time to time.
Graham Bradshaw
Graham learnt to ring in Cheshire in the mid 1980s and graduated from Leicester University with a degree in Economics. He subsequently qualified as Chartered Accountant and spent 14 years with EY in both Birmingham and London. Since then he has worked with Sportingbet on its £500m sale to William Hill and Addison Lee following their £450m purchase by US private equity firm Carlyle.
Graham is a member of the Ancient Society of College Youths and was Master in 2013. He joined the Board of The Ringing World in 2022.
Mary Bone (Company Secretary, non-Director)
Mary learnt to ring as a teenager at Blackmoor, Hants. She rang with the Surrey Association at Battersea after university and has been ringing in Essex since 1980. She served as Essex secretary for ten years, Essex Ringing Course organiser for nine years and as Central Council secretary for thirteen years. Mary has supported past Central Council education courses and Sparsholt / Bradfield courses as a helper for many years. She currently rings at Sawbridgeworth, Herts.
Mary spent her career at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, where she was Slavonic specialist in the libraries. She was instrumental in setting up a digitisation project with Cengage.