Hobbies and Interests

Outside of academia, I have two main hobbies: the ringing of church (tower) bells, and the sport of archery.

Bell Ringing

I enjoy the (rather old-fashioned) English tradition of change ringing. I learnt to ring at, and was formerly Steeple Keeper and Deputy Tower Captain for, All Saints Church, Royal Leamington Spa, which houses a 13 cwt ring of eight bells. (In England, the ‘hundredweight’, abbreviated cwt and equal to 112 pounds, is the traditional unit of measurement for the weight of tower bells; 1 cwt is approximately 51 kg.) My home tower is currently All Saints Church, Long Ashton, which has the somewhat dubious honour of containing the 11th-heaviest ring of eight bells in the world, with the tenor coming in at just shy of 31 cwt. I am a full member of the Association of Ringing Teachers (ART). A few performances can be found on BellBoard.

Archery

I am heavily involved in the sport of archery, formerly as a competitor and now primarily as a coach. While competing in the junior age categories, I was selected to represent Surrey in county matches, England in Home Nations matches, and once represented Great Britain on the international stage. As a university student I represented the University of Warwick on numerous occasions, winning a handful of British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Championship medals. At the University of Warwick Archery Club, I also held a number of voluntary committee positions, including as Team Captain (2016/17), Equipment Officer (2019/20, 2020/21), and Club Secretary (2021/22). More recently, I have been Records Officer for Meriden Archery Club (2023/24) and have represented Warwickshire in county matches. I am a qualified Archery GB Level 2 coach.