Six new appointments have been made to The Leach Pottery Trust, including one of the organisation’s former apprentices.

Callum Trudgeon
Callum Trudgeon, a former Leach Pottery apprentice, will become an observer member of the trust board for 12 months

The Leach Pottery is managed by the Bernard Leach (St Ives) Trust Ltd, a registered charity founded in 2005. The trust has a board of trustees whose role is to ensure the pottery meets its primary objectives.

The trustees will support the strategic development of the Leach Pottery and its staff during a time of major change. The site will be transformed over the next two years.

The trust was originally looking to appoint three new trustees, but was overwhelmed by the quality of applications and has appointed five new members to the board, plus an observer.

“Our new board members offer a diverse and amazing set of skills and knowledge that will support us through our next few years as the pottery undergoes unprecedented change to safeguard it for future generations,” said Leach Pottery director Libby Buckley.

“It’s particularly encouraging to be able to appoint a former Leach Pottery apprentice. Since leaving us in 2022, Callum Trudgeon has gone on to set up his own pottery in New Zealand. Increasing training opportunities and apprenticeships like Callum’s is central to the ongoing transformation project.”

The new trustees

Lara Goodband
Lara is a creative director and visual art curator at gallery spaces and city-wide outdoor projects. She is currently contemporary art curator and programmer at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, in Exeter, where she leads on contemporary art curating and commissioning new work inspired by the museum’s collections.

Simon Harrison
Simon has spent more than 20 years in fundraising and campaigning for a range of organisations. He was head of international campaign development at Comic Relief and the director of Edinburgh International Television Festival. He is currently head of product development and fundraising campaigns at Cancer Research UK.

Matthew Whittell
Matthew has recently retired from a career in finance in order to spend more time as a potter. His experience lies in raising money for businesses to develop and grow, with a focus in recent years on delivering good, and environmental benefits in particular, for communities and society at the same time as financial returns.

Nik Ramsay-Trease
Nik was the director of strategy and transformation for a multi-national IT company. She has more than 25 years of leadership experience and a track record of delivering complex organisational programmes and fostering cultural change. She also holds a Masters degree in neuroscience.

Tamzyn Smith
Tamzyn has more than 20 years of collaborative leadership with the cultural, social enterprise, local authority, and third sectors, locally, regionally, and nationally. Her previous roles include chief executive of Cornwall Museums Partnership, overseeing the collective efforts of the team, ensuring its mission of creating positive social change with museums.

Callum Trudgeon
Callum will become an observer member of the trust board for 12 months. He was the first apprentice at Leach Pottery in 2014, graduating in 2017 with a BA Hons in contemporary creative practice from Plymouth University. Following graduation from the Leach Pottery, he continued working in the studio until 2022, during which time he undertook a number of international residencies, before setting up a production pottery in New Zealand. He is special advisor to Ceramics New Zealand 2024.

Chair of trustees, Gary Topp, said: “We are delighted to welcome our new trustees. We were overwhelmed by the expertise of the applications we received.

“This is an exciting time for the Leach Pottery as it undergoes unprecedented change to safeguard it for future generations. The new appointments add an incredible array of talent to the trust board.”

The trustees were ratified at the Bernard Leach Trust meeting in September and will now serve three years.