Archives: Tutors

Photo of Brian Creese

Brian Creese

Brian Creese has been a teacher, video producer, medievalist and academic. He has previously given lectures at The Guildford Institute and ran a course at UCL on Misrepresentation of Data. Brian is a local political activist, keen musician, and Chair of the Board of Trustees at The Guildford Institute.

Much of Brian’s career has been focused on education; his first job was as a primary school teacher before spending ten years at UCL Institute of Education working at the National Centre for Adult Numeracy and Literacy. He also spent many years working in TV and video as a writer, producer and sound engineer. His qualifications span the arts and sciences, having both a Physics degree and a Masters in Medieval History.

Photo of Chris Holley

Chris Holley

Coming from a dance/choreographic background and with music in her DNA, Chris is an abstract/figurative painter working mainly from memory and imagination. She exhibits regularly in London and south England, her art also adorning walls in collections in the USA and Spain. Her specialist subject is the impact of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on visual art. Her writings on this absorbing subject now residing in the V&A’s National Library of Art, and with major arts bodies in the UK and overseas.

Chris has lectured both in person and online. Her inspirational illustrated art talks aim to share great art in a non-didactic style. They are informative, fun and topical, usually in delivered in parallel with current UK exhibitions, to encourage audiences to attend. She has delivered children’s art workshops, all for Berkshire Libraries.

Photo of Debby Thurston

Debby Thurston

An Honours graduate of KLC School of Design (now owned by West Dean College) with an MSc in Construction Refurbishment Management, Debby has over 30 years experience in interior design. She has a diverse portfolio of work, covering all types of projects, with expertise in project management. An experienced interior designer, she wishes help everybody benefit from understanding the fundamentals of interior design and to get to know the process of renovating or refurbishing. Debbie has previously delivered courses for KLC of Interior Design, as well as one-off lectures and day workshops.

Debby is also a former competitive ballroom dancer , previously ranked 8th in the UK and Europe with her husband.

Julie Barham

Julie works in education as a language trainer. Her principal second language is German, and she also speaks French and some Spanish. She enjoys working with others and helping people improve their skills and confidence, and has delivered Language classes at the University of Surrey. She also enjoys analysing and translating texts, using the knowledge she has gained through working with people from different cultures.

Photo of Vittoria Telo

Vittoria Telo

Vittoria is a native speaker of Italian and a qualified teacher with 40 years of experience, both as teacher in Italy and in the UK. She is experienced in teaching adults at all levels, from Beginners to Advanced. Vittoria has also run her own la

Vittoria has taught Italian for Adult Education Colleges in the past but in the South London area. She currently teaches Italian for GCSE and A Level to bilingual students, Italian to Adults, as well as Italian for Business. 

Christine Noel

Christine’s yoga journey started over 15 years ago when she regularly started to attend all all types of yoga classes. Yoga really helped me to control my ongoing lower back pain and enabled me to manage my stress and anxiety.  Yoga, breath work, mindfulness and meditation has made a significant difference to my overall physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and has become an important part of her daily life.  

Christine completed a 200 hour Anusara® Immersion and Teaching Training  in 2018-2019.   In 2022, she finished my 300 hour Advanced Teacher Training. Christine is also a qualified Yin yoga teacher and also teaches meditation.  She is also Certified Prenatal/Pregnancy Yoga Teacher and Certified Postnatal/Postpartum Yoga Teacher with Poppy Perinatal Yoga.  Christine has also gained qualifications to teach yoga for the pelvic floor. Most recently, She have become a Forrest Yoga Inspired Teacher.

Christine teaches in the greater Guildford area, in and around Cheltenham and elsewhere by arrangement as well as online, indoors and outdoors.. She specialises in  Vinyasa (flow) Yoga, Hatha (Static) Yoga, Anusara® Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Chair Yoga, Perinatal Yoga, Forrest-Inspired Yoga and Yin.  She is also a qualified to teach Pranayama (breath exercises), Meditation, Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques.

Christine is passionate about anything related to yoga and sharing the joyous benefits of yoga with others in a safe, friendly and relaxing environment.  Her dharma (passion) is to hold space and empower individuals to practice embodied yoga, meditation, mindfulness and pranayama (breath work) with compassion, awareness and joy. Christine’s vision is to make yoga accessible, inclusive and workable for all bodies by offering versatile alignment options; delivering uplifting meaningful creative classes with heart and soul in a nourishing calm space that will impart a sense of overall wellbeing, community, serenity, and inspiration.  

Everyone is welcome at Christine’s yoga classes.  She always weaves a meaningful relevant theme into each of my classes and include breathwork, meditation, the full range of yoga poses, relaxation and selective readings, quotations or poems. She hopes that you walk off your yoga mat feeling recharged, rejuvenated and happier!

Christine is fully insured through Yoga Alliance Professionals. 

Photo of Sarah Jones

Sarah E. Jones

Artist Sarah E. Jones works in acrylic, mixed media and multi-media. Thematically she is drawn to landscape, seascape, nature and spirit. Elements of the natural world fuse with spiritual themes, reflecting the way that nature and spirit can be perceived as interconnected. She enjoys creating other realms in her work; mixing elements to make innovative portals to other worlds. Sarah also has a keen interest in the spiritual, and this comes through in her creative practice. Being an intuitive herself (psychic, medium, clairvoyant, claircognisant, clairaudient, clairsentient, healer & animal communicator), she has for many years spent time in that arena. She is also a certified Spiritual Life Coach and holds a Certificate in Psychic Awareness and Healing.

Alongside creating and exhibiting her work, Sarah spends much of her time teaching Art for Skill and Art for Wellbeing classes and workshops. She specialises in teaching adults, and her courses and workshops offer a unique blend of art, nature, mindfulness, neuroscience, and writing/journaling.

Sarah’s additional studies in Cognitive Psychology, NLP, Mindfulness, Stress Management and Meditation help her to create engaging bespoke classes and workshops for specific groups of students. She works within local community settings throughout Hampshire and Surrey, UK, delivering content for Colourwheel, Activate Learning and Learning in Libraries. She is also available to deliver bespoke content, one to one or in groups, online or in person.

Guy de Ferrer

Guy has taught undergraduate seminars, adult education classes for Surrey Adult Learning and The Guildford Institute. Today he teaches mainly online to small groups and individually. All genres of fiction are welcome as well as life-writing (memoirs, travel, self-help). Guy is also very supportive of neurodivergent writers.

Stella Stocker

Stella has taught creative writing since 1982, for the Guildford Institute, the University of Surrey, the WEA, and various other bodies, including Richmond Adult and Community College at accredited level and writing for pleasure. Her classes emphasise individual development and the channelling of writing ability. She includes all forms of writing, short stories, novels, poetry, memoirs, travel writing and plays. Stella’s courses are for all levels, and beginners are always welcome. Various aspects of writing are included, e.g. shaping short stories, beginning a novel, dialogue, creating characters, writing modern poetry, creating atmosphere. Imagination and craftsmanship are both important. A significant amount of time is spent in reading and discussing members’ work in friendly and constructive atmosphere. There are writing projects and reference to the effectiveness of published works.

Julie Kerlan

Having a qualification as a personal assistant in France, Julie started to show interest in teaching French after a few years spent in the UK where she has been living for the past 17 years.

After getting a PTTLs certificate in 2010, she have acquired experience in teaching French to both children and adults in Guildford and the surrounding areas. Julie teaches people of all ages and abilities for educational institutions as well as privately. Julie prides herself on cultural awareness, sensitivity and flexibility.

Julie is patient and actively listens to her students. She enjoys helping others to learn, using the strengths of each individual. She will challenge her learners but will try to bring out the best of their potential to make sure that together, we work towards achieving their goals, their needs, and their requirements.

Andrew Newton

Andrew Newton is an award winning fine artist from Fleet, Hampshire, United Kingdom. 

He received his 1st class BA (hons) Fine Art degree in 2008, where after he continued his practice as a hyper-realist portrait/abstract painter. Exhibiting all around the country and abroad, whilst winning notable awards such as the 1st prize ROI award at the mall galleries. 

Since 2013 Andrew has taught technical painting and drawing skills to students of mixed ages, also working as an art instructor for Arthouse Unlimited in Godalming, Surrey. 

In recent years, Andrew’s art practice consists of different subject matter including portraits, expressive landscapes, distorted figures and interior spaces. His current painting style experiments from abstracted realism, expressionism to technical representation.

William Davies BA MA PhD

William Davies is a writer and researcher based in the southeast of England. He works on twentieth-century British and Irish literature and has written extensively on various authors and poets including Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and T. S. Eliot. He was awarded his PhD by the University of Reading in 2018, where he also worked as a lecturer until 2021. He is now a University of Reading Research Fellow and a freelance writer. His most recent book is the essay collection Samuel Beckett’s Poetry, edited with James Brophy and published in 2022 by Cambridge University Press. He has published three other books, including the monograph Samuel Beckett and the Second World (Bloomsbury, 2020), written for various academic journals and magazines, including the Radio Times, and worked on two BBC documentaries, ‘Beckett’s Last Tapes’ and ‘The Battle of the Brows’, both of which are available on iPlayer. He is also a General Editor of LONGITŪDINĒS, an arts and translation magazine.

Anna Saverimuttu

Guildford resident, Anna Saverimuttu, has been a professional photographer for over 25 years, working across genres including corporate portraiture, families, events and PR. She also runs beginners’ photography workshops, helping students to easily master their cameras.


When engaged in personal work, Anna’s inspiration comes from photographing the natural world, especially flowers and plants. Her approach involves creatively capturing their shapes, colours and textures through the precise use of light and composition, combined with an understanding of the camera controls that will yield the best results.


For Anna, her camera is a means of connecting with nature on a more meaningful level by conveying mood and atmosphere and what Aristotle described as “inward significance” rather than merely showing “the outward appearance of things.”


She believes that photography should be taught simply and clearly so students can get past the technical barriers and fully immerse themselves in the creative process.

Dr Lucy Ella Rose

Lucy Ella completed her PhD at the University of Surrey in 2015, before joining the School of Literature and Languages as Teaching Fellow in 2016 and Lecturer in Victorian Literature in 2017. Her doctoral studentship, awarded by the University of Surrey and Watts Gallery (Surrey) in their first collaboration, supported her research on women in nineteenth-century creative partnerships. These included Christina and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Mary and George Frederic Watts, and Evelyn and William De Morgan. Lucy Ella has worked extensively on the Mary Watts archive at Watts Gallery and assisted the transcription of her diaries for publication.

Lucy Ella specialises in Victorian literature, art, culture and feminism (their connections and intersections), with an interest in late-Victorian creative partnerships, focusing on neglected female figures. Her publications include a monograph, Suffragist Artists in Partnership: Gender, Word and Image (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), and book chapters and articles on Victorian women’s life writing, visual culture, artistic marriages, creative circles and early feminist networks.

Laura Ribatallada

Laura is an Spanish artist and fashion photographer based in Surrey. She is the founder and director of Espasa Studio, Shere. Laura knew she wanted to be an artist from an early age; she studied Fine Arts at university in Barcelona, where she hails from, before going on to study Photography and Fashion. Laura sees art as a social expression: it is a representation of our society, of a social movements, it is a way to express your emotions and your feelings. She believes that art should be available to everyone because it is a source of inspiration that can make us feel so much, and it is a great activity to heal your mind and soul.

Karim Esmail

Dr. Karim Esmail was educated at London, Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard. He was awarded a British Academy Studentship and the Gregg Bury Prize at Cambridge. He was formerly, a Research Fellow at Oxford and Burney Student at Cambridge and a Visiting Fellow at Harvard and he lectures at both Cambridge and Oxford. Alongside international articles, he is the author of three volumes of an original philosophical work on the nature and existence of God. Classes with Karim consist of clearly structured lectures and an encouragement to ask questions and to make comments.  Students are assisted in their understanding of the subject and in their critical engagement with it.

Kathy Atherton

Kathy is an ex-city lawyer who wrote H and I for the Oxford English Dictionary in a past life. She now writes history, and has written the Museum Guide to Dorking as well as books on the history of the Holmwoods, the Pethick-Lawrences and the fight for the vote in the Surrey Hills, the First World War in Dorking and the Dorking Mayflower travellers. Kathy has also lead battlefield tours in France and Belgium.She is now working on a book about Mary Neal, the Esperance Dancers and the Morris Dance Revival. Kathy is Chair of Dorking Museum & Heritage Centre and is also responsible for permanent and temporary exhibitions. She also runs the Museum’s guided walks team which offers guided walks in Dorking, on the Deepdene Trail and at Betchworth Castle. Kathy recently campaigned for the installation of two blue plaques in Dorking and Holmwood to mark the area’s contribution to the campaign for the vote for women and speaks regularly at events and on radio.

Dr Colin P. Summerhayes

Dr. Colin Summerhayes is a marine geologist and oceanographer with expertise in the role of climate in forming marine sediments of different types, especially seabed resources of phosphate and oil and gas, and in interpreting the history of climate from sedimentary records. He was educated at University and Imperial Colleges, London, at Oxford, and at Victoria University, Wellington, NZ, then worked at the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute, at Imperial College London, at the University of Cape Town and at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He then spent 12 years as a researcher in the oil and gas business, working first for Exxon and then for BP on new techniques for analysing basins and prospecting for oil rich source rocks, covering most of the world’s oil and gas basins from northern Norway to the Falklands Plateau. From 1986-88 he was a Branch Manager in the Exploration Division of the BP Research Centre, Sunbury-on-Thames, responsible for specialist research staff in Aberdeen, Houston, Holland and the UK. Leaving the oil business, from 1988-95 he was Director of the Natural Environment Research Council’s Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory, in Wormley, Surrey, managing some of the UK’s major research programmes on the role of the oceans in climate change. Having steered the institute through a major restructuring, he moved it to become the core of the new Southampton (now National) Oceanography Centre, of which he became Deputy Director. Leaving the UK in 1997 he served UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, in Paris, as Director of the Global Ocean Observing System (or GOOS), which provides the ocean component of the UN’s Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), which detects changes and trends in global climate and provides advice to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Dr Summerhayes was a member of the GCOS Steering Committee. From 2004 – 2010 he was Executive Director of the International Council for Science’s Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), based at the Scott Polar Research Institute of Cambridge University, where he is now an Emeritus Associate (from April 1, 2010).

Dr Louise Hardiman

Dr Louise Hardiman specialises in nineteenth and twentieth century Russian and Ukrainian art, the international Arts and Crafts movement, and the history of British-Russian cultural exchange. She is an independent consultant, writer, and lecturer who has taught undergraduate students and adult learners in various educational settings. Dr Hardiman is a firm believer in the benefits of lifelong learning. She knows well its opportunities and challenges, including the practicalities of how to fit study in alongside the multitude of other daily tasks.

Darren Harper

Darren holds a BA (Hons) English & Creative Writing (1st class), a PGCE in Lifelong Learning, and has been an adult education teacher for 10 years. Darren has a 1st class honours degree in English & Creative Writing in 2012 with the University of Cumbria. I then went on to do a PGCE and taught GCSE English and A Levels at Carlisle College before becoming a self-employed adult education teacher.

Darren has have been an adult education teacher for about 10 years. Having previously served in the Royal Navy, Darren now travels around the UK teaching Philosophy, Philosophy & Literature, Global Philosophy, Philosophy for Life and Stoicism, amongst other related subjects. Though based in Northumberland, he teaches regularly in Cumbria and Newcastle upon Tyne, London, Guildford, Bristol and Penzance. Additionally, Darren teaches residential courses in Cumbria, Northamptonshire, Perthshire, Wiltshire and Somerset.

More recently, as my interests develop, I tend to focus on Global Philosophy and Stoicism. My research into Global Philosophy has rekindled my interest in Meditation, and so in 2023 I qualified as a Meditation Teacher with the British School of Meditation, gaining a Distinction. I am also beginning to explore the Philosophy of Spirituality, and am building a range of courses offering a secular and philosophical approach to spiritual ways of thinking, and spiritual ways of being.

Darren’s first book, Encounters and Reflections: An Introduction to Philosophy, was published in 2022.

Dr Danielle Grover

Dr Danielle Grover has delivered fourteen courses on Jane Austen since 2014, after completing her doctoral thesis on Jane Austen and other eighteenth-century novelists. She was a Teaching Fellow in Romanticism at University College Dublin and has held a number of teaching positions in sixth-form colleges and universities. Currently, Danielle has had eight articles published on eighteenth-century writers and she has lectured on music’s role in the eighteenth-century novel at over ten international conferences in Australia, Ireland, the U.K and in the U.S. In 2008, Danielle spent two months as a visiting fellow at Chawton House Library in Chawton, which was the village where Jane Austen worked on her major novels. In her spare time, Danielle enjoys piano-playing, reading and ballet.

Ronnie Ireland

Ronnie’s life has always revolved around art and music. He has drawn and painted all his life and made music (mainly singing; from opera through to rock and jazz) during much of it.

He was born and educated in Glasgow, then moved to Edinburgh where he taught art and ran a company, organising and playing music. Ronnie moved to the south of England in 2011, realising he needed a fresh start and new challenges in a new place.

The regular art classes which Ronnie now runs are very important to him. They aim to encourage artists to develop their own ideas and voice, and he finds it exciting and gratifying working with the artists as they progress. He feels it is the most difficult, but also the most rewarding part of art. Ronnie also gives regular talks, demonstrations and workshops on many aspects of art and creativity to art societies, educational institutions and the corporate world.

His own art centres around the idea of identity and how it manifests in many different ways from the theatrical to the everyday.    

Steve Markwell

Steve spent the majority of his business career working with major American companies on an International basis. His experience spans Procter and Gamble, Ray- Ban Sunglasses, Remington Shavers and Cross pens. Steve’s career took him and his family to Holland, France, South Africa, Canada and Italy. When they returned to Guildford, Steve’s wife Liz became General Manager of the Guildford Institute. Subsequently Liz and Steve both worked with Silent Pool – the local gin distiller, merging work with pleasure! Now they have set up their own coaching company Winning with Words, helping people in the key area of public communication. They have delivered seminars at The Institute, at the ActivZone Gym, and for the Surrey Hills Enterprise group. They are also currently working with a number of local companies, improving communication skills and sales and customer service ability.

Sarah Jane Vickery

Sarah is an author, illustrator and creativity coach who believes that good things happen when curious minds put pen to paper and that anyone can feel the benefits from being more creative.

Sarah teaches cartooning, journaling and colouring to spark creativity and help both adults and children develop a calm, clear and confident mindset. Her Doodle Colour Discover workbooks are fun, inspiring and thought provoking journaling exercises used by schools, counsellors, therapists and clients. 

Sarah having recently joined The Guildford Institute, hosts colouring workshops with her beautiful illustrations and new colouring book. Get your colours! Join in! Come along and experience the fun of colouring and the joy of capturing your own Art of Wellbeing.

Rita Jones

Rita is a graduate of UCL, Department of Archaeology and currently lectures for The Guildford Institute and the WEA. She focuses predominantly on early classical civilisations, the origins of early man and the first urban settlements in Catal Hoyuk and Jerricho.  Her subject areas are Ancient Mesopotamia (Iran and Iraq), The Holy Land, Ancient Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, Empires before Alexander, The Ancient Persian Empire, The Etruscans and Greatest Cities and Sites of the Ancient World. The Origins of Civilisation and the fascinating Bronze Age world of the Mycenaeans in Greece and the Minoans in Crete is a particularly fascinating period to study. Over the many years Rita has been lecturing, she has taken students and visited most of the sites covered in her lectures.  All these sites are studied archaeologically and their Classical history is discussed in detail.

Rita lives in Molesey with her two rescued cats and small rescued dog called Digby. She has a son in Wales and a daughter who lives in the States which she visits regularly. Rita also has six grandchildren and two very young great-grandchildren.

Nicolas Meier

In just a few short years, UK-based guitarist Nicolas Meier has carved a reputation out as one of the UK’s most original and uniquely talented guitarists. Drawing from a love of Turkish, Eastern and Middle Eastern music, Flamenco, Tango and more — all mixed with jazz -Meier is one of the rising stars in a vibrant British jazz scene. But, his versatility and musical fluency extends well beyond that … so much so, that his considerable talents drew the attention of rock guitar legend, Jeff Beck, who has since made Nicolas a mainstay in The Jeff Beck Group, carrying him on two world tours during the course of the last several years.

Meier originally hails from Switzerland; born in 1973 to parents who are great lovers of the arts, with wide-ranging musical tastes extending to the Classical, Jazz, Latin, Flamenco, Rock and (even) Pop genres. A true gypsy spirit with a disciplined maestro’s touch, Nicolas has embraced a number of different cultures and studied their music forms, nuances and idiosyncrasies.

Having made a lasting impression on gentlemen the likes of Jeff Beck, Bill Bruford and Steve Vai — just to name a few! — Nicolas Meier is unquestionably one of today’s most well-rounded, ambitious, masterful up-and-coming talents on guitar. Steve Vai’s Favored Nations Records released Nicolas’ brilliant solo album, Infinity, featuring Jimmy Haslip, on bass and Vinnie Colaiuta.

Nicolas has been the recipient of numerous awards. A truly dedicated student of the instrument, he has pursued advanced studies at Switzerland’s prestigious Conservatoire de Fribourg, and subsequently earned a scholarship to Boston’s illustrious Berklee College of Music. His burning passion for both rock and jazz persists to this day.

Mike Sleigh

Michael Sleigh

Michael has worked in the areas of design, photography and education for more than 30 years. Starting in an architect’s office, he moved on to being Technical Support at West Surrey College of Art and Design, and then Lecturer at WSCAD and Epsom School of Art. Michael has also been an adult education tutor and freelance graphic designer.

For 18 years, Michael was the staff photographer for the Royal Horticultural Society based at Wisley. He also undertook exhibition design, information and interpretation and graphic design work whilst at the RHS.

For the last 10 years Michael has been the owner and Photographer at Polypodphoto, specialising in heritage photography whilst also giving talks on photography and organising ‘PhotoWalks’. Since 2012, he has delivered courses on photography and architecture and design at The Guildford Institute.

Currently, Michael is specialising in Victorian Gothic Revival design and in Church Stained Glass. Over the last two years he has had a number of displays and exhibitions of his photographs, focusing on details to be seen in stained glass windows. He also administers the Neo-Gothic Guild and the Church Stained Glass Project.

Jane Chapman

Jane’s tutoring on Get more out of your gallery visit: looking and seeing art is a constantly evolving project.  Facilitating others to explore and discuss their own reactions to paintings, drawings and sculpture supports her own creative work as it requires her to understand the processes of other artists. Through group discussions, creative minds come together to learn, share experiences and ideas and have some fun.

Her earliest career was as a lawyer and vice president of a University specialising in professional legal education. But Jane always loved art, and as an adult she attended summer schools at the Slade School of Fine Art, where she learnt how to draw and paint and was given the confidence to attend and graduate from Central Saint Martins School of Art.

At the Victoria and Albert Museum, Jane completed art history certificates and learnt how to use her practical skills of drawing, painting and making to interpret art in new and exciting ways.

For the last three years, she has attended the Chelsea Open Studio and has been mentored by the professional artist Enver Gursev. Jane’s own work explores quiet silent places, such as cathedrals and forests. She observes and simplifies these spaces through tonal drawing.  Her abstract paintings attempt to arrange the resulting motifs and images in a way which expresses space, whilst evoking the mystery, spirituality, peace and wonderment that these actual places inspire.

https://www.thecrabflowercollective.com/

David Rose

David Rose is a well-known local history writer and public speaker. He has written and co-written more than a dozen local history books focusing on Guildford and the surrounding area.

He has been interested in history for as long as he can remember and collects all kinds of things related to what he calls ‘history of living memory’. His collection includes old photographs, picture postcards, books, maps, guide books, plus a wide range of old bottles, bygones and yesteryear’s advertising.

He set up and edited for 13 years, a popular column in the Surrey Advertiser called From the Archives. He is now one of the key writers for the on-line newspaper The Guildford Dragon NEWS and continues to write articles on local history on that website under the title Through Time.

David also writes the Peeps into the Past column for the Woking News & Mail, and contributes stories to local societies’ publications if asked and supplies local history information to anyone interested.

Daphne Jefferis

Daphne is an Art History lecturer who has a special interest in 19th and 20th century European Art. She delivered study tours to Florence for many years, so also has a particular love of early Renaissance art.

Daphne has taught for many years at the Guildford Institute and also A-Level Art History in Adult Education and in schools. Daphne gives talks all over Surrey for Art Societies, Women’s Institute and Probus groups and for anyone who asks her!

Now in semi-retirement, Daphne is giving more time to drawing and painting and exploring new techniques and subjects. She has exhibited her work at the Institute as well as with Guildford Arts, AppArt and at the Cathedral.

Claire Harrison

Claire is a full-time international fine artist, and due to artistic commitments, only teaches courses at the Guildford Institute which is probably why they frequently oversubscribed.  Claire also has a few private students supporting them through their academic courses and mentors fellow artists.  Claire enjoys sharing her passion and extensive technical knowledge of drawing, painting and work of the Masters.  Claire has a unique teaching style where she concentrates on each individual developing their own style with confidence.

Claire is inspired by the natural world; from the flowers she grows to the tiny insects in her garden.  Claire creates large colourful oil paintings that are painstakingly created with a small detailed brush.  She can spend anything up to 2 years on a painting because she studies her subjects from life through drawing and photography in her sketchbook before finally embarking on the final painting using her research and imagination.  Claire’s much sought-after artworks are in both public and private collections in the UK, Canada and China.

Claire works and lives in the heart of the West Sussex countryside with her husband and neurotic rescue cat and has an interest in the environment, horticulture, literature, walking, dancing, yoga, meditation and archery.

Cherrill Sands

Cherrill Sands is a consultant garden historian with an MA in the Conservation of Landscapes, Parks and Gardens from the Architectural Association, London. She has worked at Painshill, as a volunteer, since 1993, and as a member of staff since 2004. She is a Representative Member for Painshill Park Trust, currently working in the archives. In 2013 she undertook a Lecture Tour of the USA for Painshill, presenting talks in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago.

Other work includes teaching for Adult Education and presenting talks on garden history and theatre studies. Once a trained dancer she now enjoys developing talks on the history and analysis of ballet and dance – even managing to combine the two passions with ‘Theatres in Gardens’ and ‘Gardens in Dance’.

She has been a member of Surrey Gardens Trust for over twenty five years and is a former Chair and member of Council; she remains one of the Research and Recording team. Cherrill enjoys discovering the endless variety of gardens around the world and all aspects of garden design- while trying to impose some order on her own patch of ground at home. 

Devdan Sen

Devdan began Tai Chi in the early 1980s while a student at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He returned to Tai Chi in the mid-1990s and studied with the late Master Akira Lim. Today, he continues to study Tai Chi and Kung Fu with Stephen Lim, the current master of the Lim School of Martial Arts. Devdan follows the traditional approach of the Yang style focusing on the long form of 108 movements. He also has a wide knowledge of shorter forms, Tai Chi sword and Qiqong (Chi Kung) and practices various forms of Kung Fu.

This is all a far cry from a previous existence of studying to be an ethno-musicologist and teaching Indian classical music, which he continues to do occasionally. Devdan edited the first Asian arts magazine in the UK and then went on to be a travel writer freelancing with the Rough Guides for 20 years, specialising on India. He was one of four original authors for the Rough Guide to India.

Having grown up in the Himalayas, Devdan loves mountaineering and climbing and now does the occasional stint as a ski instructor at weekends and helps with disability snow sports.

Tammy Ellis

Tammy Ellis

Tammy was born in London and raised for some years in the North of England. She returned to her roots in 1982 to attend the University of London to read a degree in French and German and, more importantly, this is where she met her husband.

Whilst languages remain an important part of her life, and she still teaches both French and German up to A level, her main passion is Art History. Tammy has been a lecturer in Art History at The Guildford Institute since graduating from the University of Surrey in 2007. Her main interests lie in 19th, 20th and 21st Century art and her aim has always been to make art accessible and ‘food for the soul’.

Tammy has also been involved in art tours to France, Ireland and Liverpool and has given guided visits of Tate Britain. She thoroughly enjoy the level of interaction that these trips bring. Tammy also lectures privately to groups and gives ‘one-off’ talks on art.

Tammy has three wonderful children, three gorgeous grandchildren, two dogs, and a horse – they all keep her very busy! When she does have a moment’s peace, she loves to bake and read books for her book club.

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