Meet The Team
Meet the Team

Lord Mayor of Stoke on Trent
The Lord Mayor of Stoke on Trent
Councillor Ross Irving is the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent for 2020/21 and his Lady Mayoress for the year is Miss Christine Warren. Councillor Irving has served as a city councillor since 1973 and has previously served as Lord Mayor 2017-2018.
Councillor Ross Irving is the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent for 2020/21 and his Lady Mayoress for the year is Miss Christine Warren.

Denis Eldin
Denis is Arnold Bennett’s grand-son and lives in Paris.
He is a frequent visitor to Stoke on Trent.
This picture was taken at the 2016 annual dinner, held at
Port Vale Football Club Banqueting Suite.

Professor Ray Johnson MBE
Ray is Emeritus Professor of Film Heritage and Documentary
at Staffordshire University.
Founder of the Staffordshire Film Archive in 1980.
Ray was awarded the MBE in 2011.

Morag Jones
Morag is Vice Chairman of the Society
Morag is also Chairman of Arnold Bennett Book Prize Panel

Carol Ann Gorton
Carol is Secretary and Treasurer of the society
Contact Email: arnoldbennettscty@btinternet.com

Jacques Eldin
Jacques is Arnold Bennett’s son-in-law and was married to
Virginia, AB’s daughter.
This picture was taken when a plaque was unveiled at Villa les Nefliers, Fontainebleau, France, Arnold’s while he was writing The Old Wives’ Tale. The picture features Jacques in the garden with Gyles Brandreth.

Mary Beardmore – Vice President
Mary is a Vice President of the society.

Margaret Drabble
Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd DBE FRSL.
Margaret is a novelist, biographer and critic.
She is the author of “Arnold Bennett a biography”.

John Shapcott – Vice President
John is Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Keele.
His many published books & scholarly journal articles have
appeared in both the U.K. & the U.S.A.
John is also a Vice President of the Society

Erika Alcock
Erika has recently joined the team as a committee member.

Kevin J Burke
Kevin Burke
Kevin is a committee member and also the accountant

Fiona Cole
Fiona is the Membership Secretary
Email: thecoletribe@googlemail.com
To become a member get details here

John Davies
John is a Trustee and
the main contributor on the Twitter account.

Virginia Meir
Virginia is new to the team and is the social secretary

Penny Michell
Penny is new to the team and is a Trustee
She is also one of the Book Prize Judges

Jerry Park
Jerry is the minute secretary and also custodian of a small collection of second hand books for sale.
You can contact Jerry for a list of the books on park50@hotmail.com

Dr Randi Saloman – Wake Forest College, Winston Salem, NC. U.S.A.
Randi is Editor of the Society Newsletter and lives
in North Carolina.U.S.A.