Arts & Crafts
Andrea Burden
Andrea studied Photography at the University of Derby, graduating in 1994. She has worked as a professional photographer and photographic printer.
Andrea started teaching photography 25 years ago and currently tutors for Open College of the Arts. She made her first book during her degree and has never stopped experimenting with folding paper.
Amy Wilson
Amy has over 25 years’ experience in fabric design and has been weaving for the past 16 years. After graduating from embroidered textiles for Fashion degree at the London College of Fashion in 2003, she went on to establish her own design practice.
She returned to education in 2008 to complete a woven textile design BA (hons) degree at Norwich University of the Arts. She has since completed a five year fellowship with the Digswell Arts Trust based in Hertfordshire.
Amy has been running Textile courses, classes and workshops in Colleges, Arts centres, at Digswell Arts and for local groups since 2012 as well as working on woven sample designs and her own ranges of hand woven cloth. She regularly exhibits her work in galleries and at events across Hertfordshire and beyond.
Callum Abbott
Callum Abbott works primarily in the field of abstract drawing but is not tied down to this medium exclusively. The artist frequently creates collages, performances and sculptures in addition to his drawing practice.
Callum graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2012 and continues to make work and develop his practice from his home in Baldock.
Chantelle Stephenson
Chantelle is a practising artist and educator that graduated from the Cambridge School of Art in 2007. Since then she has tutored Fine Art on the Foundation Art and Design course at Hitchin College, Hertfordshire.
In 2016 she was invited to run workshops at the Camden Arts Centre and The South London Gallery, London. She is currently running courses in Sculpture and Oil Painting at Milton Keynes Arts Centre. Chantelle has a diverse range of technical disciplines including Oil painting, Abstract Painting, Alternative Photography, Printmaking and Sculpture.
In 2016 she was commissioned to make an art piece in response to the early Letchworth Garden City which was displayed at the Broadway Gallery. Chantelle has taught at The Settlement since 2014.
Carly Simmons
Carly is an award-winning textile artist with a BA (Hons) in Textile Design. She has exhibited at THOS, the James Hockey & Foyer Galleries as well as The Mall Gallery, London.
She recently won the Applied Arts Award at Letchworth Broadway Gallery at their Summer Open Exhibition. Threads / Instagram
@imcarlyann
Collette Hoefkens
Collette is a professional artist and gallery proprietor. She was taught Fine Art to Foundation level and qualified from the Hertfordshire college of Art and Design in 1985. She later qualified as a Further Education Tutor at North Herts College.
Collette has been a professional artist for over twenty-five years and is most known for her animal-based work in oils, watercolours and graphite pencil.
She has taught life drawing, from observation, for twenty years. Collette exhibits with the Wren Gallery, Burford, Marylebone Fine Arts, London and in her own gallery, Norton Way Gallery, Letchworth Garden City.
www.nortonwaygallery.com
Donna Davies
Donna is a passionate creative and the driving force behind Make Your Own Happy. With over 20 years of teaching experience as a primary school, Donna has always cherished the power of creativity in both her professional and personal life. Recognising the profound impact that creative expression has on well-being, she uses crafting as a method of self-care and mindfulness.
Donna’s workshops are a sanctuary for those looking to unwind, de-stress, and connect with others through creativity. By fostering a community centered on artistic expression, Donna continues to share her love of crafting, helping others discover the therapeutic benefits of creating with their own hands.
Hazel Godfrey
Hazel is a contemporary basket-maker and willow artist, her inspiration comes from nature and the human condition. Graduating in 2004 with a degree in Applied Arts 3D Media she began working professionally in 2008.
Hazel works with willow and various other natural materials. She has made commissioned works for a variety of settings including community outdoor spaces, public buildings, TV, and private clients.
She has also exhibited work on a Gold Award winning stand at Chelsea Flower Show. For over 16 years, Hazel has taught in Herts and Bucks, as well as from her studio near Hitchin.
Helen Allen
Helen started her journey in cut flowers by feeling that there had to be a better way to put beautiful flowers in a vase, over the years learning many ways to achieve this! With her commercial event floristry, Helen always try to create pieces with love and a personal flair.
Teaching allows her to share the love of flowers with many different people who often catch the flower bug. She has published articles in ‘Floral Design’ magazine.
www.verdila.co.uk
Jane Ducarreaux
Jane’s passion for glass has been a lifelong one, having been surrounded by glass since birth. Both parents worked in the glass industry – her father as a master glass blower, her mother as a glass finisher.
Having tried many crafts before finally finding fused or kiln-formed glass, Jane is passionate about the versatility of glass and the uplifting nature of what can be produced.
Janet Capstick
Janet Capstick lives in Letchworth and runs her own upholstery business (Highcroft Interiors Ltd) which she set up at the end of 2018. She started her upholstery journey at the Settlement in 2013, attending leisure classes and worked on a range of projects for her own home.
After 5 years Janet decided to take the plunge and set up her own business and undertook a 3-year AMUSF accredited professional upholstery skills training programme. Janet is experienced in both modern and traditional upholstery techniques, and also chair caning and rush weaving.
Jane Neesam
Jane graduated with a degree in Fashion and Textiles from Leicester Polytechnic, specialising in Contour Fashion (corsetry, lingerie and swimwear).
Working as a bra designer and later as a garment technologist in the lingerie industry, Jane relished the challenges and new skills that manufacturing presented. Whilst training and qualifying as a tutor in the volunteer sector, Jane realised she could transfer those skills to share her passion and knowledge of making clothes with others.
Her goal is to facilitate a sewing session where students can learn and develop at their own pace and where everyone feels valued and at ease. For more information, please contact Jane on 07742 292405 or [email protected]
Jill Winch
Jill is a Fellow of The Society of Botanical Artists and has written two books on how to achieve success with drawing and working with colour.
Jill has been teaching the subject of Botanicals for over 15 years and is happy to teach all levels from beginners through to the more experienced.
www.jillwinch.com
Kate Burgess
After studying applied arts, she has enjoyed introducing her love of colour, and themes of travel, landscape and the coast, to small groups and classes.
Kate often uses an artists work for creative inspiration, so that we can explore a particular way of working, usually using acrylic and mixed media.
Kim Raymont
Kim is a printmaker, specialising in reduction linocut and letterpress. She developed her practice inspired by both the accessibility and fun of printmaking, and the beauty of travel posters which incorporate lettering with imagery.
Kim completed an MA in Illustration and Book Arts at Cambridge School of Art in 2020 and has over seven years of teaching experience.
Komathy Cumarasamy
Komathy is Sri Lankan born and studied art up to degree level in my Jaffna, Sri Lanka. She now specialises in portraiture, figures, and modern/contemporary styles. She loves experimenting and is experienced at handling a variety of mediums, having formally studied colour mixing and skin-tone techniques at City Lit College, London.
Komathy has undertaken several portrait commissions, and has developed her skills with other local projects. Komathy finds her art workshops at the MS Therapy Centre in Bedford particularly rewarding.
She has been invited to exhibit at various private exhibitions within our local community and in 2021, one of her oil paintings was selected for inclusion in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. It was sold before the event opened to the public.
Lucy Sugden
Lucy is a woven tapestry artist from Letchworth Garden City, who graduated from Middlesex University with a Constructed Textiles degree specialising in tapestry weaving.
After spending most of her career developing and delivering art education to the community, schools, and colleges, she fully returned to tapestry weaving in 2017.
A member of The British Tapestry Group, The Wynd Gallery and various textiles associations, Lucy regularly exhibits locally and nationally, and delivers talks, workshops, and courses.
www.lucysugden.co.uk
Mike Rollins
Mike is an award-winning artist living in Hitchin. His expressive style of painting has its origins in the stark landscapes of West Yorkshire, where he grew up, and in subsequent years as an attraction designer.
Mike is also an art tutor, demonstrating and holding workshops for regional art societies. He has featured in various publications, including Leisure Painter magazine, where he regular contributes articles on how to paint in acrylics.
Mike has exhibited in London, Nottingham (Patchings Festival) and throughout Hertfordshire. He is a member of Herts Visual Arts, the Wynd Gallery, and a Professional Associate of the Society of All Artists. In 2022, Mike was a finalist in the British Art Prize run by Artists & Illustrators magazine.
Marion Dearlove
Marion Dearlove has a master’s degree in adult education, a City and Guilds adult teaching diploma, and has an undergraduate diploma in art and design. She started Chinese brush painting in 2001 and has studied with Chinese tutors in both the UK and in China.
She began teaching Chinese Brush Painting in 2006 and has taught ad hoc classes throughout the UK. Marion is currently Secretary of the National Society for Chinese Brush Painting and Secretary and teacher of one of the regional divisions.
Nade Simmons
Nade is an award winning contemporary textile artist who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Arts. In 2020 Nade won a bursary with The School of Stitched Textiles studying Hand Embroidery and was accepted into the prestigious Society for Embroidered Work.
Her work has been featured by Mr X Stitch, Hand & Lock and toured the UK with Madeira Threads. She is also a current Fellow at Digswell Arts Trust, is the chairman and artist of the Wynd Gallery and an exhibiting member of the Eastern Region Textiles Forum.
Shree Desai
Shree (Shraddha) Desai is a Textile Designer & Textile Art Workshop leader. After studying for MA in Textile Design from the National Institute of Design in India, She established her own textile production business, Kalarshi, creating bespoke art pieces for a range of clients as well as hosting independent exhibitions.
She experiments with the construction of fabric to create unique artworks achieved by altering the fabric texture, colours and designs. Working with textured yarn, unconventional materials and various dying and weaving techniques, she creates fabrics that are truly innovative.
Shree is now an active member of the Herts Visual Arts forum in Hertfordshire and is passionate about teaching, running a variety of textile based workshops for adults and children including Tie & dye, Silk painting, Batik, Weaving, and Block printing.
Sally Taylor
Sally graduated from the Central School of Art & Design in 1979 with a BA (Hons) in Textile Design, initially working as a knitwear designer and then a designer and marketer, becoming a freelance artist and illustrator in 2017.
Recently, Sally graduated from the University of Hertfordshire with a Master of Arts in Children’s Book Illustration and created a picture book for children featuring critically endangered animals incorporating AI technology. This can be purchased directly from Sally or Amazon.
Sally’s work can be viewed at exhibitions around Hertfordshire including Open Studios and the Big Art Fair showing her paintings of the countryside with realistic representations of animals and birds.
Sally works closely with other artists as the Chair of Herts Visual Arts Forum, the Animal Alphabets illustration team, and is a member of SG1 Business Club, Herts Visual Arts and the Society of Art for All Artists.
Sheena Roberts
Sheena holds a B.Ed., as well as the City & Guilds Certificate and Diploma in Patchwork and Quilting. She is a member of the Quilters’ Guild of Britain and Ireland, and their Modern and Contemporary Special Interest Groups, and a member of the Modern Quilt Guild.
Sheena Roberts has been sewing since she was tiny and creating patchwork quilts for almost as long. She didn’t start off being a confident seamstress, as all but thrown out of class at school, but she had someone who did not give up on her – and that has influenced her to “pass that forward”.
Her passion is sharing skills, and she has been doing that through Green Man Quilts since 2013.
www.greenmanquilts.co.uk
Suzy Drake
Drawing has always been part of Suzy’s life from childhood onwards. The natural world and drawing has enabled her to really see the world around her. All of which has led to a degree in Scientific Illustration which has given Suzy the skills to accurately describe this world.
Suzy has always wanted to share these skills which led her to teaching whilst continuing with her art. Suzy has taught in adult education, adults with addiction, adults with learning difficulties, family learning and children.
She teaches different art subjects, not just drawing, to different ages and abilities throughout Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
Vanessa Bryson
Vanessa was born in England and went to Art College where she obtained a degree in Fine Art. She moved to the U.S. in the mid-70s and to Miami in 1996 joining an artists community as a studio artist at ArtSouth in 2003.
Vanessa has exhibited throughout the southern United States, including solo shows in the Capitol Bldg., in Tallahassee, Florida, and Biscayne National Park. In November 2010 she returned to England permanently in order to be closer to her family.
She is a member of the Wynd Gallery in Letchworth and has exhibited in the UK at Mill Green Museum, The Brunel Museum in London and Moorfields Eye Hospital. Her work is both in water colour, oil, pastel, lino cut, and batik.
Vanessa Stone
Vanessa Stone is an artist and illustrator that celebrates the iconic buildings and the natural landscape around her using – collage, papercutting and en plein air drawing.
Her work uses strong compositions and vibrant colour to really capture the essence of a place.
Vanessa lived in Letchworth Garden City for over 24 years and has made distinctive cut paper collages of many of her favourite buildings and views, which have been exhibited in several solo shows and she has published her work as greetings cards and prints.
Now based in the East Midlands, she has worked professionally as a papercutting and collage artist for over 30 years, exhibiting her work in solo and group shows in the UK and across the world.
Humanities
Adrian Poynton
Adrian Poynton is an award-winning writer. His work has covered all mediums from fiction and non-fiction, television, theatre, radio and live performance and his passion to transfer his knowledge of storytelling to new writers is unmatched.
Much of Adrian’s work now involves him working with new writers (of all ages) and helping them get their ideas out of their heads and onto the page using the skills and techniques he has learned over his 20 years being a professional writer.
He is very excited to be joining The Settlement to continue doing just that.
@mradrianpoynton
Anne Rowe
Anne is a freelance landscape historian who has coordinated the research work of the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust since 1998 and lectures in landscape and garden history.
She has written two books about Hertfordshire’s deer parks – one on parks in the Medieval period and the other about Tudor and Early Stuart Parks. She has also co-authored books on the county’s landscape history, on the 1766 county map by Dury and Andrews and on Hertfordshire’s garden history as well as contributing to the Historical Atlas of Hertfordshire. She was thrilled to be awarded a PhD in 2020.
Anna McNay
Anna McNay is a writer, editor and international curator, who contributes regularly to art and photography journals, including Studio International, Art Quarterly and The Flux Review.
She writes catalogue essays, hosts panels and in conversation events, and has judged numerous art prizes, both nationally and internationally.
McNay originally worked in academia as an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow in linguistics at the Humboldt University in Berlin and a Heath Harrison Teaching Fellow at the University of Oxford, where she lectured and gave tutorials and seminars in undergraduate and postgraduate linguistics and German translation.
annamcnay.art @annamcnay #TheCriticWithTheDog
Andrew Bamford
Andrew Bamford read History at Selwyn College Cambridge, graduating in 1983.
He taught a variety of historical periods during his time at Kimbolton School, Cambridgeshire where he was Head of History from 1990-2021 and Head of Sixth Form 2005-2019, as well as teaching A level Politics.
Since retirement, Andrew has lectured at the Rothsay Education Centre in Bedford on a wide range of subjects from the Unification of Italy to the English Civil War. He is Curator of Kimbolton Castle and a keen Crystal Palace fan!
Christopher Woolston
Dr Christopher Woolston, PhD, CSci, CChem, FRSC, is passionate about all aspects of science and its history. For most of his career he has been a teacher and lecturer, his main specialisms being Chemistry and Physics. He did his Doctorate (in organic chemistry and cancer research) over a six-year period whilst teaching full-time.
In addition, he has worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a medicinal chemist, carried out technical reviews of new science books for the publishers Harper-Collins, and served on the council of the Geologists’ Association.
His interests include classical music and opera, the Victorian exploration of Africa and, of course, all aspects of science and natural history, and he is keen on hill walking, swimming, and cycling.
Christopher Budd
Christopher is a writer, teacher, and musician, with a specialism in music for film. His interests range from silent cinema to electronic music via Hollywood from the studio system to the experimental ’70s, and British and European film and music of the 1960s and 70s.
He has written for publications including Music Teacher and Classical Music on diverse topics and contributes regularly to music magazine Shindig!. He also teaches private instrumental lessons and records as a session musician.
Derek Blyth
Derek was born near Edinburgh and was educated there and at the Universities of Aberdeen and Durham. As well as teaching music, he is also a performer, lecturer and keen audience member of a wide range of musical styles.
He regularly lectures for SKAG, U3A, The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, The Manchester Wagner Society, of which he is president and many other educational and learned organisations.
Elizabeth Barber
Elizabeth trained as a primary school teacher in the 1970s. After a long gap doing voluntary work, she returned to teaching as a supply teacher. She has always loved writing and has found going on writing courses a valuable way of learning about the craft.
After some success writing stories for a comic, she moved on to writing fiction and non-fiction for county and national magazines. Since 2006 she has run ’Get Writing!’ at Letchworth Settlement.
Elizabeth holds the Undergraduate Certificate in Creative Writing Part I (Fiction) and Part II (Non fiction) awarded by Cambridge Institute for Continuing Education. She is delighted that her latest book, ‘Stone Arrows’, has been shortlisted for the Historical Association’s Young Quills, 2024.
James Willis
James is a highly motivated artist and arts educator with over 20 years of teaching and management experience. He has taught fine art and art history at all levels from GNVQ1 to final year BA degree.
He founded the Letchworth Arts Centre and is currently Resident Artist and adult learning consultant and tutor at Sir John Soane’s Museum.
His areas of special interest and study include Fine Art and the Academic Tradition, Painting techniques and concepts, Georgian Architectural Drawing and its Historical Context, the Development of British Art in the 18th Century and the Art and Social Context of Renaissance Venice as well as contemporary approaches to traditional subject matter.
Justine Lister
Justine Lister is a qualified English teacher, passionate about inspiring a love of reading in her students.
She runs ReadWriteIgnite offering Secondary English tutoring, educational services and CPD sessions for schools, reading and writing groups online and in person, adult literacy and professional writing services.
www.readwriteignite.co.uk
Katherine Alcock
Katherine is a historian and London Blue Badge Tourist Guide who lectures on a wide variety of topics, in particular the history and architecture of London. She graduated from Queens’ College, Cambridge University, in 2011, before turning her back on the world of academia to train as an actor at the Oxford School of Drama.
Soon however she discovered her love of the past was luring her back, and she found herself entering the world of professional tourist guiding. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and sits on the Membership Committee of the Institute of Tourist Guides.
She is a regular contributor to the Travel Channel’s ‘Mysteries at the Museum’ and ‘Beyond the Unknown’ and also runs a tour company specialising in the history of London’s lavatories! www.katherinealcock.com
Kathryn Brooks
Kathryn Brooks Hughes is an historian of the American 1960s, and a doctoral candidate at the University of Edinburgh. She specialises in Vietnam War-era protest, and its intersection with the counterculture movement of the late 1960s, and the nascent feminism of the early 1970s. After completing degrees at the University of St Andrews, Kathryn worked in the third sector in Scotland and the Middle East, before beginning her doctorate. Kathryn’s thesis is titled all Girls Say Yes to Boys Who Say No: anti-Vietnam War activism on the Seven Sisters campuses, 1965-1970.
Lesley Ayres
Lesley studied Psychology at the University of Wolverhampton and then went on to gain her MSc in Occupational and Organisational Psychology from the University of East London.
Later she gained her PGCE and is passionate about teaching Psychology as a subject for general interest. She has worked as a trainer and assessor and brings her experience in these areas to her courses at the Letchworth Settlement.
Margaret Norwich
Margaret Norwich studied liberal arts at Vassar College, New York and read English at Girton College, Cambridge. She has worked in publishing, higher education and the voluntary sector.
She lectured on English Language & Literature for many years at Bedford College/De Montfort University and was Tutor/Organiser for the WEA in Bedfordshire.
Her interests include the poetry of Sylvia Plath, the novels of Hilary Mantel, the plays of Tom Stoppard, and the redemptive power of art, music and literature.
Michael Williams
Michael Williams has an undergraduate degree in History and an MSc in Politics. For 21 years he worked as a ministerial adviser in Whitehall before leaving for academic life in 1995. He spent another 26 years teaching a great variety of courses in different universities until retiring in 2021.
He’s been teaching courses on politics and history at the Settlement for several years. He published a book on Britain since 1867 in 2000 and a family memoir in 2022. Michael is currently working on a sequel.
Rosemary Hayes
Rosemary has written over fifty books, mainly for children and young adults. Many of these have won or been shortlisted for awards and several translated into different languages.
She has worked in publishing, been a reader for a well-known authors and advisory service and runs creative writing workshops for both adults and children.
Sarah Neale
Sarah is a Yoga Teacher, Personal Trainer, Massage Therapist and a Group Fitness Instructor, teaching classes at various gyms in the north Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire area and online.
She combines these skills in addition to a wealth of life experience to bring together a holistic approach to wellness. “My goal is to guide my clients as they find their way on their journey to a positive, healthy and sustainable lifestyle.”
Sarah Burles
Sarah studied History of Art at Cambridge University before doing a masters degree at University College London. She went on to have a career in museum and gallery education, establishing new services in three different museums before working at the Fitzwilliam Museum for many years.
Sarah is the founder of Cambridge Art Tours, which runs tours and courses in and around East Anglia and an accredited Arts Society lecturer. She is also a Tour Director for ACE Cultural Tours for whom she leads tours to Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and America and a Lay Canon at Ely Cathedral.
www.cambridgearttours.co.uk
Sue Woollard
Sue studied Psychology at Swansea University and went on to gain an MSc in Psychology. For over 35 years Sue has been teaching Psychology in colleges and schools.
Sue started work in the further education sector but joined St Christopher School in Letchworth Garden City in 2000 as Head of Psychology, completing 20 years teaching at the school. Now retired from full time teaching, Sue still enjoys passing on her knowledge of psychology to others through tutoring and adult classes.
Steven Pollard
Brought up in Hampshire, Steven read English Literature at Oxford University where he was heavily involved in drama, including producing the World Premiere of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Lessness’.
On graduation he embarked on a career in teaching, working in places as disparate as Sudan, Ethiopia and East Sussex before spending 22 years as Head of English at Kimbolton School.
When he retired from school teaching he moved to teaching adults as well as chairing a Riding for the Disabled group. More importantly he also was able to get a season ticket at Portsmouth FC!
Sharon Priestley
Sharon has taught a number of literature and writing courses at The Settlement, The Rothsay Education Centre, at Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education and elsewhere.
Her background is in Eighteenth-Century British literature and she has presented numerous papers on Boswell and Johnson at literary conferences. Her discussion-based courses in American and English literature range from biography, nature writing and prize-winning novels to classic and modern fairy tales. Contemporary women’s writing is one of Sharon’s special interests.
Stephen Barnard
Stephen spent 21 years as a specialist writer with Reader’s Digest before going freelance in 1999. He has been writing and lecturing on broadcasting, film and popular music on a part-time basis for over 30 years.
He has run courses for the WEA, De Montfort University, the City University and a number of Hertfordshire arts groups, and his five books include Studying Radio, the standard academic textbook on the subject.
Stephen Lyall
Steve Lyall taught Tai Chi and Qigong as leader of the Luton Tai Chi Club from 2007 to 2020.
He belongs to The Tai Chi & Qigong Union for Great Britain (Advanced Instructor membership), The British Council for Chinese Martial Arts (Level 2 coaching) and The Longfei Taijiquan Association of Great Britain (Instructor).
Tim Parrott
Tim Parrott took his degree at Cambridge then worked as a schoolteacher before specialising in explaining Popular Science to general audiences.
In addition to Cosmology, Physics and Evolutionary Biology, he also teaches courses on architectural structure, always with a view to developing the knowledge and understanding of people without a background in Science who nonetheless want to know more.
Paul Green
Paul Green studied at Oxford (English Literature) and the University of British Columbia (Creative Writing).
He has worked as a freelance writer/broadcaster and his plays have been performed by BBC Radio 3, CBC Canada, Capital Radio, RTE Eire, Resonance FM, and by theatre groups in London and regionally.
Four of his speculative fiction novels have been published, in addition to two poetry collections. He also writes short stories – one of which won the Fiction Prize at the 2019 Hastings Literary Festival.
His parallel career has been in education, most recently as lecturer in media at the Royal National College for the Blind.
paulgreenwriter.co.uk
Paul Walker
Paul has had a varied career in several universities and running his own business. He had a number of academic works published but had never tried his hand at creative writing until he retired from full-time work and enrolled on a course at The Settlement.
So far he has published four books and he has received thousands of reviews on Amazon. He runs an online writers’ group and has given a number of one-off presentations and lectures.
Now, Paul shares his experience in a course aimed at assisting those who may have tried their hand at creative writing and decided to continue with a view to progressing their work. https://paulwalkerauthor.co.uk/
Wafa Tarnowska
Wafà was born and educated in Lebanon, but has worked and lived in Australia, India, Poland, Cyprus, the UAE, and the UK. In addition to being a French, Arabic and English as a Second Language teacher, Wafà is a writer, translator, and storyteller.
She has written seven children’s books and has translated children’s stories from English into Arabic in addition to TV documentaries from Arabic to English.
She loves travelling, visiting art galleries and museums, going to the opera and ballet, walking in nature, practicing yoga, swimming, and dancing.
www.wafatarnowska.co.uk
Languages
Abigail Huffer
A love of languages is what caused Abigail to become a teacher of Foreign Languages. Having lived in both Germany and Italy as part of her language degree, she completed a PGCE in Secondary Modern Language teaching at the Institute of Education, she made the switch to teaching adults 9 years ago.
She now has experience teaching individuals aged from 4 up to 84! Abigail’s passion for languages, history and culture is what motivates her most to teach others.
Ada Marini
Ada has been a passionate language tutor for over 20 years. She is Italian, from Rome, born in Abruzzo, and studied English and French languages, from the age of 11.
Qualifications include the Cambridge English Proficiency, Language Teaching to Adults from Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, and a degree in Town Planning and Tourism from the University of Westminster.
Ada has worked in a primary and secondary school in Queen’s Park, London, as Language Department officer, school governor, and committee advisor, whilst raising her two wonderful children. Ada loves travelling, music, reading, gardening, and much more.
Helena Hon
Helena previously taught art and English in both primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong following her teacher training. Helena loves languages; she speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin, has recently started to learn French, and has a degree in Japanese and Law from SOAS, University of London. She has over 10 years’ experience teaching both Cantonese and Mandarin in British private schools and weekend Chinese community schools, and she loves all things Japanese.
Maria Perez Luis
Maria Perez Luis is originally from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, where she grew up and attended school and university. After spending several years studying and working in the United States, she settled in England over twenty-five years ago.
She has taught a wide variety of courses in many different settings, ranging from Spanish for young children, to GCSE and A-Level Spanish at secondary schools, to Adult Education courses in various language schools, community colleges and corporate locations.
She lives in Bedfordshire with her husband and their two children.
Marine Boulter
Originally from France, Marine moved to England 25 years ago. Her two children are now grown up and both live in Manchester. Over the years although she has taught at Primary school level in after-school clubs, she have mostly been involved in adult education.
Marine started working at The Settlement nearly 6 years ago. As well as teaching French she enjoys organising different types of events around the language. Marine loves being part of the Settlement and looking towards the future, and is delighted to be part of its development.