About OYT South

Mark Todd is OYT South's Operations Manager. Previously a solicitor, he has been working full-time in sail training since 1997, including nine years as Staff Skipper with OYT South. He moved into a shorebased role overseeing the development of the charity in November 2009, though he will still be sailing on board John Laing from time to time.

Sally Croly is OYT South's Office Manager. She has travelled widely and spent four years in Hong Kong, where she worked for the police. She has been with OYT South since 2003, moving up steadily from part-time admin assistant to a full-time role running the office.

Brian Eyres

Brian is a former Ocean Youth Club staff skipper, who first got involved with John Laing immediately after the vessel's naming ceremony. He went on to sail as second mate and volunteer on most weekends through five winter refits. In 1993 he started working full time for the Ocean Youth Club, sailing through the season and refitting in winter. The highlight of this period was sailing as first mate / skipper in John Laing and James Cook, her sister ship, when the two boats sailed round the world between December 1995 and March 1997.

Now employed in the Accounts Office of the Lulworth Castle Estate, Brian is an active OYT South volunteer. As a qualified book-keeper, he does a lot of work on OYT South's administration and budgeting.

Yvonne Taylor

Yvonne runs her own business, KTY Yachts, offering RYA and other courses to yachtsmen and yachtswomen. Among other things, she has a particular expertise in first aid and other medical courses, and in safety at sea. She sails in John Laing as a relief skipper.

Caroline White

Caroline first sailed with OYC as a young crew member in 1983. A journalist by trade, she is also a qualified fundraiser and a member of the Institute of Fundraising. She runs OYT South's e-newsletter and works on other marketing and communications projects, including managing this website, as well as organising sea staff bookings. She sails in John Laing as a first mate.

Andy Royse

Having started sailing dinghies aged twelve, Andy has had success competing at National level. He first sailed with the OYC in 1995 as a young crew member, going on to become a regular member of the volunteer Sea Staff. He became a Trustee of OYT South in 2002.

A  professional Engineer, Andy has qualifications in Materials Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Health & Safety, Risk Management, Financial Planning and Project Management. He currently works for the City and County of Swansea in the Public Lighting Section.

Steve Lacey

Steve is qualified as both a teacher and a youth worker specialising in outdoor education. He has extensive yacht racing experience, frequently as a race navigator. He currently works for Dorset County Council as a Senior Youth Worker. He became involved with OYT South by bringing a group of young people to sail in 2002, and quickly qualified as a second mate. He is OYT South's Child Protection Officer.

Fiona Pankhurst

Fiona is Head of Corporate Marketing & PR at Raymarine, and was previously UK Operations Manager with Beneteau. She also has extensive experience of the charity world through involvement with the National Trust, Imperial Cancer Research Fund and Marie Curie Cancer Care. She owns a small 1970's vintage sailing cruiser with her husband and, as an ex-World Champion dinghy crew, still gets pathetically competitive when passed by faster vessels (which happens a lot). She says: "I have seen the positive difference that learning to sail, becoming part of a team, and exposure to a completely different environment can make to young people and hope to play a useful part by bringing my business skills, contacts and knowledge to bear for the benefit of OYT South and the young people themselves.”

Fred Cole

Fred is UK Manager of the Yacht Division of International Paint, previously Sales Manager for International’s Commercial Marine Division. Trained as a Chemist, having worked for Unilever and Morgan Crucible plc in fields as diverse as cosmetics, emulsion chemistry and industrial lubricants.  He has experience in marketing, sales, project management, PR, sponsorships, business strategy, employee relations and general management. Outside of the workplace, he has been involved in local politics, voluntary organizations and supporting local schools. Fred has some experience of both cruising and racing sailing.

Fred became Chairman of the Board of OYT South in January 2009.

Ben Martin

OYT South always aims to have at least one Trustee in the same age range as the young people who sail with us. Ben is aged 22 and in his final year of an economics degree at the University of Bath. Having done many years of sailing 30-footers around the south and east coast with family, he moved on to OYT South firstly as crew, qualifying as watchleader in 2006, stepping up to second mate in 2007 and first mate in 2009. He was nominated by OYT South in 2008 for an ASTO exchange award, which he won, to spend time on board a sail training vessel in Canada.

Ben currently represents OYT South at the ASTO Sail Training Youth Committee, which he currently chairs, as well as being the UK representative on the STI International Youth Forum.

He was co-opted to the Board of Trustees in October 2008..

Richard Griffiths

Richard is a barrister who joined the trustees in June 2009 to plough through small print and keep the trust on the right side of the law.  Richard learnt to sail in a Mirror dinghy as a child and has worked his way progressively to bigger and faster boats.  Richard is also a keen scuba diver.

Colonel (Ret'd) Mike Bowles

Mike served in the Royal Navy for two years and then the British Army for 34 years where he specialised in Port and Maritime Operations. He retired with the rank of Colonel following which he has worked as a consultant in management and security in the marine field. More recently he has worked for Sail Training International in both a voluntary capacity helping with the Tall Ships Races organisation and currently in a paid capacity as as part time Race Director.

He is very interested in charitable work and is a Trustee of two other charities - the South Atlantic Medal Association and Falklands Conservation. An experienced dinghy and offshore sailor, he is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, and a Companion of the Nautical Institute. Mike was elected to the Board in 2009.