Amber Shepherd.

A former PACA student, Amber is in her third year of a PHD in Quantum Physics at the University of Sussex . Her project is using lasers, which are highly accurate tools made from beams of light. She is using these lasers to search for dark matter.

Amber has lectured at various events, but you may recognise her voice from our Portslade history trail, where she assisted with the voiceovers.

Dr Cara Gathern.

Cara  is a literary and art historian, with a keen interest in local history. She works as a research assistant for UK Parliament’s art collection, which dates from the medieval period to today. Cara previously interned with Historic Royal Palaces and has been involved with several local history projects.

Locally, Cara's knowledge and drive helped inform us on the detail to re-create a scale model of how Portslade's manor house once looked. This manor model will be on display at the event.

Graeme Clark. 

Graeme has lived and breathed the Emmaus experience for over 20 years. He became street homeless in 1999 over Christmas. He’s been spreading the world of Emmaus for 15 years.

John Funnell.

John Funnell is a past President of the Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society, working with the BHAS Field Unit excavating sites all over Sussex, conducting field walking and geophysical surveys. John is a well-known lecturer on Sussex history, and edits and creates a regular weekly newsletter.

John has spoken regularly at our Portslade history events for the last five years. He also led the archaeological dig at Portslade manor house, and has been a great help to our Portslade project.

John Shepherd.

A life-long Portslade resident, John and his wife, Clare, founded the Fresh Start Portslade charity in 2010. The charity - which includes the Easthill Park Community Cafe and the medieval manor ruins - offers various activities, training and heritage projects to celebrate Portslade's fantastic community.

Kevin Wilsher. 

Kevin  is a local history researcher based at the Regency Town House in Brunswick Square. He’s also a member of the Regency Society and looks after the society’s collections of historic photos and prints of Brighton and Hove. Away from heritage, he is a keen supporter of BHAFC.

Kevin has been a friend of Portslade history, allowing us use of the Regency Society photo achieves, which have enhanced our history documentaries.

Liam O'Sullivan

Liam is passionate about Emmaus. He feels it is important to tell his personal story. The aim of his sharing his story is to raise awareness of homelessness and bring people closer together.

Trevor Povey. The Godfather of Portslade history research and a great influence and help on this Portslade project. Trevor grew up with local history, and developed a taste for Industrial History when it was in its infancy.

As a teacher his subject area was extensive: Water & Shoreham Port being his main interests

On leaving school, Trevor decided that an open air job would suit him. Farming - there was plenty of it - and it gave him a chance to go to College. Things didn’t always go to plan, and in hindsight it would not have been a particularly good career choice.

Zac Down. Zac is a passionate historian of both WW1 and WW2. He has been researching and collecting medals and militaria to Portslade soldiers for about 15 years. Portslade born and bred, he firmly believes the unique history of our village is something that should be highlighted. 

Zac was part of our 2023 series of Portslade history talks, and is back by popular demand after a fantastic and moving insight into Portslade's war heroes.