Abi Estelle (1992 – 1999)

Abi is a consultant surgeon specialising in the face and jaws. She lives in New Zealand with her husband
Kenny and son Owen. Abi spent much of her early training years in and around London (medical and dental school at Guy's Hospital) but 'escaped' whenever time allowed to Africa where she has worked with various charities such as Mercy Ships, Project Harare and Medical Centres of West Africa (MCWA). Abi's love for international health and passion for bridging gaps in healthcare saw her join the Samaritan's Purse UK Medical Disaster Response Team and it was during her time in Haiti that she met Kenny (who was there with the USA branch). This took Abi to Florida for 5 years of Maxillofacial Speciality training prior to relocating to New Zealand.

Neil Thorpe CBE (1983-1990).

Neil joined the British Army in 1993 and was commissioned into the Royal Electrical and Mechanical
Engineers. He then spent his first 10 years supporting armoured, engineer and infantry units. He has
commanded at Company, Battalion and Brigade level including operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In staff appointments Neil has specialised in global logistics and engineering, and financial and capability planning.
Neil was awarded an OBE in 2013 for operational services in Afghanistan whilst in command of 4 Close
Support Battalion REME and was further awarded a CBE in 2019 for military service whilst in command of 104 Logistic Support Brigade. His current role is Deputy Chief of Staff for the Field Army. This is a 2* (Major General) appointment charged with delivering personnel, medical, logistic and engineering support to some 80,000 people (Regular and Reserves). Neil would be happy to have a conversation with any current Manwoodians whom might be reflecting on a career in the Armed Forces.

Mel Clewlow (1987-1994)

Mel was a member of the Canterbury, England and Great Britain hockey squads. She made her international debut in 1996, and has represented England Hockey at three Commonwealth games with podium finishes in the 1998 (silver), 2002 (silver) and 2006 (bronze) games as well as competing twice for Great Britain at the 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympics. She has played for Canterbury Ladies for over 30 years. In 2008 she joined the University of Kent as a Sports Development Manager working her way to Director of Sport.

Robin Knowles (1971-1978)

Sir Robin Knowles is a High Court Judge. After leaving Manwood’s he went on to read Law at Cambridge.
He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel or KC) in 1999. A KC is a solicitor who is seen as a leader in their area of law and generally takes on more complex cases that require a higher level of legal expertise. Robin’s work focuses on ruling on disputes in international business. Robin has also worked hard to ensure that people who wouldn’t be able to afford legal advice can get access to it (what’s called ‘pro bono’ legal work – which is done for free) and was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for that work. He also chairs a charity that supports children who are living with terminal illnesses.

Gini Sharvill (1999-2006)

After a gap year doing a ski season and a South America backpacking trip, Gini went to Oxford University to study English and French at Wadham College. Over the four years of university, she continued playing netball earning a Blue in 2007, was Editor of the university paper The Cherwell, and spent her year abroad working first as a teacher and then as an advertising intern. The latter was so enjoyable, that after graduating in 2011, she joined Procter and Gamble as a Brand Manager in 2012. Since then, Gini has worked across brands as varied as Oral-B, Duracell, L'Oreal and - since 2016 - Haagen-Dazs. For the past 6 years, Gini has been the Global Marketing Director for Haagen-Dazs (and yes that does mean she gets free ice cream whenever she wants!). She is in charge of the creative strategy and advertising campaigns for the brand across 90 countries. She is a member of various industry bodies aimed at providing mentoring and networking, with a particular focus on promoting women within the industry.

Rufus Hack (1993-2000)

Rufus is the CEO of Sony Sports. The businesses under his remit include Hawk-Eye, Beyond Sports and
Pulselive. Within his role he works with 23 of the world's top 25 sports leagues including the NFL (American Football), ICC (World Cricket), NBA, FIFA and World Rugby. Previously he was Chief Operating Officer at the PGA European Tour and The Ryder Cup (despite being a very modest golfer!). In his spare time he loves to do solo endurance challenges including the Marathon Des Sables (the marathons that happen across the Sahara) and a solo swim of the English Channel.

Laura Westcott (1991-1998). Singer, journalist and humanitarian

Laura is a classically trained musician with first-hand experience of stage fright and
anxiety. She shied away from a career as an opera singer and retrained as a journalist
instead. She joined the London Philharmonic Choir as a Soprano and worked for The
Times newspaper as a tech reviewer and PR manager. She overcame her fear of public
singing /speaking with mental health coaching and founded non-profit Music for Mental
Wealth to help improve mental health in the music industry. She organises concerts with
performers sharing the personal meaning behind their music to open conversations
around mental health, build communities and help musicians connect with record labels
and managers in attendance. Laura is also a professional singer and storyteller under the
guise Aura and her fans include Stephen Fry: "Beautifully somniferous!" and Joanna
Lumley: "Aura is literally hypnotic. I emerged fresher and calmer than ever before".

Richard Taylor-Jones (1990-1993). Wildlife filmmaker, cameraman, presenter and
photographer

Richard has spent his whole career with a camera, telling stories about the natural world.
He is one of the UK’s best known BBC wildlife cameramen having presented for BBC
Springwatch, Countryfile and The One Show. For the last 10 years he has also been
photographing the sea obsessively from his home on the Kent coast in the UK. The fine
art photographs he produces have sold to collectors around the world. In recent years he
has taken his expert knowledge of British wildlife and started to work with house builders
to make their developments more wildlife friendly though his Nature Box scheme.

Tammy Beaumont (2002-2009). Cricketer

Tammy is a world class cricketer who currently plays for Kent, Lightning, Welsh Fire,
Sydney Thunder and England. In 2017 Tammy was a Women’s Cricket World Cup winner
and was consequently awarded the MBE that year. She plays primarily as an opening bat
and occasional wicket-keeper. She has previously played for Surrey Stars, Adelaide
Strikers, Southern Vipers, Melbourne Renegades and London Spirit. On 23 June 2023,
she scored her first Test century in the only Test of the 2023 Women’s Ashes series. She
broke several records, including becoming just the second woman in history and the 25th
player overall to score a century in all three international formats. The following day, in the
same innings, she finished with a score of 208, setting the highest ever score by an
English female cricketer in Test history and becoming the first to score a double century.
This eclipsed Betty Snowball’s 189, a record that had stood since 1935.Her score of 208
became the fifth highest score in Women's Tests.

Fiona Galbraith (1984-1991). Army

Fiona served as a military intelligence officer in the British Army for 25 years attaining the
rank of Lt Col, moving from regular to reserve service in 2018. She served in many
operational campaigns around the globe, leading the military intelligence campaign in
several. Fiona joined Buckinghamshire New University in 2020. She holds a BA (Hons) in
Contemporary East European Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European
Studies, University of London and an MA in Defence Studies from Kings College London.
She studied land management, gaining an MSc from the Royal Agricultural University.
She is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and was awarded a Churchill
Fellowship in 2020 to undertake an international research project, which was delayed by
the global pandemic.

Jonathon Akeroyd (1979-1984). Business

Jonathan is an experienced leader with a strong track record of building luxury brands
and driving profitable growth. He has extensive experience across the fashion and luxury
goods sector, with a focus on brand and product elevation, strategic development and
global expansion. Prior to joining Burberry as Chief Executive Officer in March 2022,
Jonathan was Chief Executive of Gianni Versace SpA where he reorganised and
accelerated growth at the Italian fashion house, building on the brand’s rich heritage to
elevate product, communications and the customer experience. As President and Chief
Executive Officer of Alexander McQueen between 2004 and 2016, he led a turnaround of
the British luxury brand, successfully steering the company’s growth and strategic
development into a luxury powerhouse. Jonathan’s earlier career included a number of
senior roles at London-based luxury department store Harrods. Outside of work Jonathan
lives in South West London with his wife, Julie, and two daughters. In his spare time, he
enjoys playing golf and watching cricket at Lords. He is also a food enthusiast and has
interests in some restaurants in London.

Nick Wilton (1970-1975). Actor and Script Writer

Nick made his first professional appearance in 1979 as a blue coat entertainer at Pontins.
After Manwoods Nick read Drama & English at Kent University. He then spent two years
working in Stage Management before making his professional acting debut in the 1980
revival of the Whitehall farce Simple Spymen, directed by Brian Rix, and later went on to
play opposite Brian in Dry Rot in the West End. In 1982 he won the Perrier award at
Edinburgh with the revue group, Writers Inc. He has appeared in numerous West End and
provincial stage productions. He has also appeared in television and film productions
including Mr Lister in the BBC soap opera EastEnders as a recurring character; and
Carrott’s Live and Jackanory. He is also widely remembered for his Specsavers advert
and has been a pantomime dame every Christmas since 2000. In 2023 Nick can be seen
in Sky’s new comedy/drama Dreamland and the film Samaria, part of the Hakkan Nesser
Intrigo trilogy. On Radio Nick has made hundreds of recordings and was in three series of
Son of Clliche and In One Ear, which both won Sony awards for best comedy. His wife,
Lynette, sadly had a stroke in 2008 so he needed to stay at home for a while to look after
her (she has now fully recovered) so he wasn’t able to take acting work away from home.
As a result he started selling ice cream (scooped) from a bike. He loved it so much that he
kept doing it and now has the concession along the prom at Tankerton (Whitstable) where
you’ll find him every Summer.