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 ‘hundredweight’, abbreviated cwt and equal to 112 pounds, is the traditional unit of measurement for the weight of tower bells; 1 cwt is approximately 50 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.