Our Board & Staff

Being a Cranleigh schoolboy, David Knapp’s club playing career commenced in 1975 with the Old Cranleighan Hockey Club (OCHC) and after 18 years playing at Bournville, Guildford and Hounslow he returned home in 1995. The last 27 years have seen him in various voluntary roles at OCHC from men’s First Team coach/manager, Ladies’ First Team coach, and club captain. Aside from hockey, David's spare time has been spent involved with various community projects, conservation initiatives and being a trustee in two local charities, all in the village where he lives.

David said: “Having played hockey since the age of 9, it is a real privilege to be able to put something back into the sport following my election as Chair of The Hockey Museum (THM). Following my retirement after 40 years as a practicing solicitor, I am now able to devote time and effort to increasing awareness of The Hockey Museum and working with my fellow trustees, staff and volunteers in our quest to continue the Museum's remarkable growth and deliver on its exciting plans.”

Mike Barford graduated from Cambridge University in 1971 with a degree in Mathematics. After 3 years teaching at Christ's Hospital (CH), he trained as a Chartered Accountant becoming a partner in Deloitte in 1985. At Deloitte, Mike co-founded the Forensic Services Department, specialising in providing expert accounting advice to clients involved in disputes. After retiring in 2003, he was for many years Treasurer of the Surrey Cricket Board and a Trustee of Eastbourne College Inc., and is currently Treasurer of a Charitable Foundation which supports pupils at CH and Treasurer of the University Hockey Match Organising Committee.

Mike played hockey for Cambridge University, Sussex and Richmond HC, of which he is a former 1st XI captain and club President. He also played cricket for Cambridge University and retains an active role in several cricket clubs. Since 2006, he has led the volunteer team in the CH Museum, where he is Honorary Curator.

Mike Smith is a 'Baby Boomer' who learned his hockey from the cradle thanks to his hockey enthusiast father who learned his hockey at school in India. He played his first club match at the age of 12 and continued for over fifty years, also taking on administrative roles at club, county and national levels, taking in outdoor, indoor, umpiring and coaching, becoming one of the first Hockey Assocation (HA) coaches in the early 1970s.

In founding specialist hockey company Mercian in 1974, Mike's involvement in hockey became even greater. Shortly after, by marrying hockey player Judy and producing two hockey-playing sons, a total hockey family was created. The birth of Mercian enabled the collection of hockey material of all kinds – maybe the start of The Hockey Museum (THM)?

Involvement in the Hockey Men's World Cup in London in 1986 saw the first display of hockey memorabilia and planted the seeds of what was to come. In June 1992, with the impending National Hockey Stadium at Milton Keynes, Mike and David Wareham were asked by Phil Appleyard (then Hockey Association President) to become joint Honorary Curators of The Hockey Museum based at the new stadium. A few ‘ups and downs’ ensued, but in 2011 with Mike retired from Mercian, an offer of a home from Woking Borough Council saw the re-birth of the dream of a dedicated museum for hockey and Mike became one of THM's founder Trustees and the Museum's first Curator.

Imogen Gibbon graduated from the University of St Andrews with an MA (Hons) in Art History, subsequently gained an MSc in Archive Administration from Aberystwyth University. From 1997 until 2002 she was Curator of Historic Photographs and Ship Plans at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich before moving on to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2002 to became Senior Curator of the Reference Section. In 2013, she took up her current role of Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery where she has been responsible for initiating and delivering many successful exhibitions.

For Imogen, the development of The Hockey Museum's collection – both the objects and archives – is pivotal to achieving the objective of placing the Museum at the centre of the heritage of hockey in the UK and internationally. Imogen brings her years of professional museum and gallery experience to assisting with the development and exhibition of the collection, the world’s leading hockey museum and archive.

Mike Joyce graduated from the University of Leicester in 1997 with a degree in Sport Science and Mathematics.

Born to a hockey family of Anglo-Indian decent, Mike is passionate about the sport. He has been a player, coach, umpire, club official and volunteer all his life, and has held various professional roles in hockey and wider sport. He co-founded Futures Sports, a provider of international residential hockey camps, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2021.

Following six years as the National Development Manager for England Hockey from 1999 to 2005, Mike moved to Switzerland to help run a ski school and to lecture in Sport Science. Since then, he has held positions with the International Olympic Committee, was Executive Director of The Hockey Foundation and now heads up Education & Development for the International Hockey Federation. Out of work, Mike is a member of Stade Lausanne Hockey Club and Head Coach of Switzerland U18 Boys.

Dr Heather Dichter is associate professor of sport management and sport history in the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester. She is the programme leader for DMU’s Sport Management MSc and also teaches on the Sports History and Culture MA.

Heather’s research focuses on sport and diplomacy, with a particular focus on the occupation of Germany and the Cold War. Her books include Bidding for the 1968 Olympic Games: NATO's Cold War Battle with International Sport (Massachusetts, 2021), Soccer Diplomacy: International Relations and Football since 1914 (Kentucky, 2020), and, with Andrew Johns, Diplomacy Games: Sport, Statecraft, and International Relations since 1945 (Kentucky, 2014).

Heather studied history at the University of Michigan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Toronto, where she earned her PhD in 2008. She has previously taught at Ithaca College and Western Michigan University before moving to England in 2017. She grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the heartland of field hockey in the United States and home of Spooky Nook, where the US Women’s National Team was based for several years.

Heather brings her academic and research experience to support The Hockey Museum’s activities.

John Willmott has hockey in his blood as he has been attending hockey matches for most weeks of his life since his birth and has regularly attended many festivals at home and abroad. He still plays veterans hockey for Southgate and summer hockey for Pistons. He has been President of both and has been a Chairman of several businesses over the years. He is a Trustee of Sportsaid’s Eastern Region and a recently retired Chair of a prep school.

John is married with five children and lives in Hungerford, Berkshire. He is from the fifth generation of a family run construction and property company and sat on the National Council of the Chartered Institute of Building. In addition and following his involvement as the Stadium Director for the 1986 Hockey Men's World Cup in London, he became an artificial turf pitch consultant. This was then followed by working as a volunteer at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul for GB Hockey and the British Olympic Association. He has worked on many of the elite hockey installations throughout the UK and for a variety of school and university sports facilities including making many grant aid applications. John was also appointed for the 2012 London Olympic Games hockey training facility at Chigwell which was replicated at Riverbank, Olympic Park.

Dr Clio O’Sullivan (@ClioCliona) is Assistant Curator at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. Previously, she was Head of Public Engagement and Communications at Chawton House where she curated two exhibitions, Man Up! (2020-'21) and A Costume of Sport (2022).

Clio’s hockey connections began at the age of 11 when she joined Cheam Ladies and whilst studying at the University of Southampton she played for the Ladies' XI during the year when they were promoted into the Premier BUCS league and held various positions on committee including, Social Media Secretary, Mixed Captain and Vice Club Captain.

Alongside her museum work, in 2022 Clio completed her PhD in English (creative writing).

Occasionally she dresses in period clothing!

Tochi Panesar has been very passionate about hockey for as long as he can remember. His family can vouch for this as, over the years, hockey may have taken priority over the odd family engagement!

Tochi was born in the Indian state of Punjab. At the age of five he and his family migrated to Nairobi, Kenya where his love of hockey was sparked. In 1971 he finally settled in England when he moved to South London.

The first club he joined in England was Merton Hockey Club, followed by Hampstead HC. In 1975 he joined Spencer Hockey Club and has been loyal to them ever since! At Spencer, Tochi captained the First XI in the 1980s for six years, played for most of the teams on the ‘way down’ and has since captained the Masters team for a number of years. He had also enjoyed being an integral part of the club’s leadership, taking on the roles of Club Captain, Chairman and President of the Hockey Club. He went on to be Chairman of the Spencer multi-sports club for ten years.

Tochi has played county hockey and has been a member of prominent invitational clubs, for example London Indians, Lusitanians, and Members HC, forging strong friendships along the way. He has also enjoyed coaching both colts teams and senior teams, and has played and managed the Surrey over 60s team, and the South Divisional over 60s and 65s teams. Tochi still enjoys regularly playing for the Spencer Grand Masters team. He also played in the over 65s Masters World Cup in Barcelona in 2018 and the European Cup in Antwerp in 2019.

In business Tochi worked in the IT industry with Lloyds Bank for 30 years, specifically within the banking service delivery and infrastructure environment, where he held a number of senior roles and delivered major infrastructure projects. He retired in 2004 and since then he has spent time with family, taken on voluntary roles at Spencer and also worked as an IT freelancer.

Nick Pink is the England Hockey representative on The Hockey Museum's Board. He has been Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of England Hockey and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Great Britain Hockey since November 2019. Nick came from England Golf where he was CEO for four years. He has a background in sports administration having worked for the International Cricket Council, UK Sport and the Youth Sport. Nick is a hockey enthusiast, and has played, coached and umpired across the country.

Candy is The Hockey Museum’s first volunteer to have joined us from Hong Kong. She initially joined to offer administrative support to the Museum’s small staff team before progressing into other areas following her appointment to a full-time job with Surrey County Council.

Candy says, "Volunteering definitely helped me to get settled in UK and The Hockey Museum allows me to learn about a traditional British sport".

As an experienced administrator professionally, on committees and in education, she contributes her knowledge and skills under her roles as the Secretary to the Board of Trustees as well as the Project Manager for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Besides volunteering, she also enjoys playing piano, travelling and cooking.

Shane has been Curator of The Hockey Museum since April 2022. His involvement with the Museum began as a volunteer in 2013. In 2015 Shane was employed as Assistant Curator to the Museum’s founding Curator Mike Smith (no relation), during which time he brought professional curatorial knowledge and skills to the young, entrepreneurial heritage organisation. He initially supported the Museum’s collections and exhibition activities before taking the lead in this work, and in May 2018 The Hockey Museum achieved formal Museum Accreditation from Arts Council England. With the Museum only seven years old at this point, Shane ranks this award as one of his proudest professional achievements.

Shane holds a Master of Arts degree in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Manchester and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from the University of Plymouth.

Away from The Hockey Museum, Shane enjoys exploring cities and cultures. He holds a particularly fervent torch for fine art, history and beer and looks to combine these during his travels. He is an enthusiastic hockey player with Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club where he also umpires.

Mike Smith is a 'Baby Boomer' who learned his hockey from the cradle thanks to his hockey enthusiast father who learned his hockey at school in India. He played his first club match at the age of 12 and continued for over fifty years, also taking on administrative roles at club, county and national levels, taking in outdoor, indoor, umpiring and coaching, becoming one of the first Hockey Assocation (HA) coaches in the early 1970s.

In founding specialist hockey company Mercian in 1974, Mike's involvement in hockey became even greater. Shortly after, by marrying hockey player Judy and producing two hockey-playing sons, a total hockey family was created. The birth of Mercian enabled the collection of hockey material of all kinds – maybe the start of The Hockey Museum (THM)?

Involvement in the Hockey Men's World Cup in London in 1986 saw the first display of hockey memorabilia and planted the seeds of what was to come. In June 1992, with the impending National Hockey Stadium at Milton Keynes, Mike and David Wareham were asked by Phil Appleyard (then Hockey Association President) to become joint Honorary Curators of The Hockey Museum based at the new stadium. A few ‘ups and downs’ ensued, but in 2011 with Mike retired from Mercian, an offer of a home from Woking Borough Council saw the re-birth of the dream of a dedicated museum for hockey and Mike became one of THM's founder Trustees and the Museum's first Curator.

Anna is a museum professional who loves exploring how objects tell stories and connect people to the past. She earned her PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Vienna, where she investigated how museums shape public understanding of history and memory through their displays.

Over the years, Anna’s career has taken her from digging in the dirt as a field archaeologist with the University of Gothenburg (where she worked on Iron Age excavations and mentored new archaeologists) to working with museum collections and finding creative ways to share their stories as well as with UNESCO World Heritage on Korean and Japanese intangible music preservation.

Her path to The Hockey Museum (THM) comes with a funny twist. A brief and ill-fated attempt at hockey in France left Anna with an experience so scarring she swore off sticks entirely. That is until THM gave her a whole new perspective on the sport’s history and culture. Now, she’s excited to be part of a team that celebrates hockey’s rich heritage, no hockey experience required!

Rebecca first joined The Hockey Museum (THM) as a research volunteer in November 2023. Her involvement with THM developed when she was employed as Curatorial Assistant in October 2024 – a role that supports the collections and audience engagement work of the Museum, which includes utilising her digital and photographic skills. Although Rebecca has no prior experience in the hockey world, she finds hockey history incredibly interesting and has become involved in research projects like Hockey's Military Stories.

She is passionate about history and received an Ancient History and Philosophy Joint Honours Degree at Royal Holloway, University of London. Rebecca enjoys social history and is an avid collector herself. She collects a variety of things: old photographs, cameras, postcards, and autograph books.

In her spare time Rebecca enjoys going to concerts and gigs (the classic 'dad rock' kind!). She also likes to travel to visit museums and historical sites in the UK and abroad. Every week Rebecca volunteers as a Unit Helper at her local Girlguiding group.

Marcus is the Archivist for The Hockey Museum. He holds a Diploma in Archives and Records Management from the University of Liverpool.

Marcus undertakes his responsibilities at the Museum in an entirely voluntary capacity. These include the cataloguing and preservation of the paper-based archives of the Museum and making them accessible to staff and volunteers, visiting researchers and the wider public. For this work, Marcus leads a small group of volunteers offering valuable experience to students and aspiring museum professionals.

His role also includes conducting research for the Museum’s public enquiries service. His deep knowledge of the archives provides a strong foundation and understanding of where to look for the information required.

The Hockey Museum, which has benefited from Marcus’ involvement and skills since 2013, fits his passion for history and for hockey. He has played hockey since the age of 11, ending his playing and umpiring days at Teddington Hockey Club.

Suja shares the voluntary role of Volunteer Co-ordinator with Irene Ridgeon. Working with the Museum’s staff, together they manage volunteer relationships, seeking to ensure that all volunteers feel settled and happy in their roles. Suja and Irene are responsible for volunteering administration and internal communications; they are the first points of contact for aspiring volunteers, managing advertisements and screening applications. They also lead on arranging social activities for The Hockey Museum’s volunteer community.

Suja is a graduate in Mathematics and holds an MBA in marketing from the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside. Post her MBA, Suja worked as an Investment Advisor for two major banks before starting her own company. She has 15+ years of experience in managing client relationships as an Investment Advisor.

After moving to the UK, Suja acquired a Masters in International Relations from the University of Surrey and a Diploma for Financial Advisors from the London Institute of Banking and Finance. She also threw herself into several volunteering roles. Suja brings this passion for volunteering, her corporate experience and relationship management skills to the Curatorial Team.

Irene shares the voluntary role of Volunteer Co-ordinator with Suja Subramanian. Working with the Museum’s staff, together they manage volunteer relationships, seeking to ensure that all volunteers feel settled and happy in their roles. Irene and Suja are responsible for volunteering administration and internal communications; they are the first points of contact for aspiring volunteers, managing advertisements and screening applications. They also lead on arranging social activities for The Hockey Museum’s volunteer community.

Irene enjoys organisational tasks and making a contribution to her community. She didn’t have any experience of hockey prior to joining the Museum other than learning the basics at secondary school. However, she has always been interested in history, especially social history, and she enjoys finding out information that brings past lives into focus.

In addition to his role as Secretary to the Curatorial Team, Martin is responsible for The Hockey Museum’s IT systems and is a keen advocate of its efforts to digitise and make accessible the sport’s fascinating heritage online. Martin enjoys strategic projects including business planning and has assisted the Trustees in producing The Hockey Museum’s Strategic Action Plan. He is also involved in the Museum’s international match and player statistics project work.

Martin joined The Hockey Museum in 2015 wanting to put something back into the sport which he had taken up at Sheffield University, playing subsequently for Wimbledon Hockey Club, Crostyx Hockey Club and Woking Hockey Club where he holds the position of Treasurer.

In his professional career, Martin has held senior management roles in an international accountancy firm. He is a qualified accountant and insolvency practitioner, though he expects to use the former and not the latter experience during his time with the Museum!

Martin says, “I am thrilled by the ongoing success of the museum and the energy and enthusiasm of its trustees, volunteers and staff.”