Lara Ruffle Coles

Trustee (designate). Director (Companies House).

Lara lives in Shooters Hill, close to the Rotunda, and has watched the building deteriorate. She was one of the first people to support the campaign to save it, stemming from a great personal interest in architecture and history. She is a QA engineer in the technology industry with over a decade of experience in software testing across web, mobile and desktop applications. Before moving into technology she spent eight years in project, technical and account management within home entertainment and international distribution. She holds a BA (Hons) in Popular and World Musics from the University of Leeds, where she ran live music nights as President of BandSoc and sang as part of her degree. She currently sings with Lewisham Choral Society, where she is also a trustee, and runs the choir's website and social media channels. She is also the PTA chair for the primary school that two of her children attend, where she runs fundraising events to enhance the school's educational experience.

Dr Nigel Fletcher

Trustee (designate)

Nigel is a political historian and writer, and was a councillor in the Royal Borough of Greenwich from 2005, serving for many years as the opposition spokesman for culture, and ending as Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2022. During this time he spent four years on the board of Firepower, the Royal Artillery Museum, which was then based in Woolwich and whose collection had been housed in the Rotunda for almost two centuries. Nigel holds a PhD in political history from King's College London, where he subsequently taught on the Politics and Contemporary History MA for seven years, and where he remains a visiting fellow. He is co-founder of the Centre for Opposition Studies, a cross-party research body dedicated to the study of political opposition, and the Ken Young Memorial Research Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London. He has published several books and chapters on British post-war political history and the evolving UK constitution, and sits on charity trustee boards in the fields of heritage and culture. He is a member of the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives, the statutory body advising the government on official records, and serves on its Forum for Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research.

Lakshan Saldin

Trustee (designate)

Lakshan has lived in Charlton for over twenty-five years and represents Charlton Hornfair ward on Greenwich Council. He is a trustee of the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust and of the Greenwich Homeless Project. He is a chartered chemical engineer with over thirty years of international experience in engineering, project management and technical advisory work across the energy and infrastructure sectors. He holds a BEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Bath and a Master's in Project Management from the University of Manchester. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, a Fellow of the RSA, and a chartered engineer. He is a director of Knova Ltd, providing independent technical and strategic advisory services, and of Agilis Services Ltd, a project process consultancy. He also serves as a subject matter and testifying expert with Hanscomb Intercontinental, a global expert witness services provider to the construction, engineering and shipbuilding industries. Earlier in his career he held senior engineering and project management positions at AMEC, WorleyParsons and Xodus Group.

Mick Essex

Trustee (designate)

Mick is a civil servant at the Department for Business and Trade, and previously spent over fifteen years at UK Trade and Investment. He has a background in historical research and holds a BA in History from the University of Leicester and an MA in European History from Birkbeck, University of London. He has lived in Woolwich for over twenty years and is a member of the Friends of the Royal Artillery Collection.