Trustees & Staff

Jeremy Burton, President of Leeds Civic Trust

I was born in Leeds and have spent most of my life in and around the city. I am proud of our city and support everything that the Civic Trust does to preserve the best of our built heritage and to promote and encourage good design. Having been involved with the Trust for over two decades I am honored to serve as its President.

Jenna Strover, Chair of Leeds Civic Trust

I moved from Northern Ireland to Leeds in 2003 to go to university and have since made Yorkshire my home.  I joined the Leeds Civic Trust in 2007, I have been a member of the planning committee, chair of the Heritage Watch Group and a longtime trustee. As a chartered building surveyor, I have found that the knowledge gained from being a member of Leeds Civic Trust has been a great benefit to my career over the years.  At the 2024 Annual General Meeting, I was honoured to be elected as the Trust’s youngest ever Chair.

 

 

Mike Piet, Vice Chair of Leeds Civic Trust and Chair of the Planning Committee

After studying Town & Country Planning at Newcastle upon Tyne, I worked as a Town Planner in Blackpool. I moved to Leeds in 1986 to join a company designing, building and operating swimming facilities. When this folded in 1991, I set up my own Leisure Consultancy and then joined Capita Sport & Leisure in 2004. On being made redundant in 2011, I supported other consultancies on specific projects until retiring fully in 2019. As Chair of the Trust's Planning Committee since 2004, I have represented the Trust on bodies including the Waterfront Association, the Leeds Property Forum and Leeds BID while leading the organisation's response to planning and transport issues.

 

 

 

Cliff Stead

This is my 60th year, very poignant as I'm the same age as Leeds Civic Trust and have been involved with the Trust for thirty years! My role within the Trust has included publication committee, planning committee for 29 years, I helped run the social media side for many years primarily Facebook . My background has been in the arts and printing, working in the print industry for thirty years in Leeds and Sheffield. I did a stint for three years as a journalist for the Metro newspaper as a food and drink writer. I've exhibited my art across the UK and abroad and helped set up Sketchclubsocial and the iconic Leeds Owl Trail. Since the pandemic my focus has been increasingly on Tour Guiding mainly in the Leeds area and historic archiving.

 

 

 

 

Lucy Moore

Aside from my membership of the Trust’s Blue Plaques Group since 2018, I have significant experience working in the cultural sector in Leeds. I’ve worked as a curator for Leeds Museums and Galleries since 2013 and led our First World War commemoration programme, which had audiences of almost 3 million people across the five years of the programme. Our activities were largely co-curated with a variety of organisations, from universities and community groups to members of the city’s retail sector and further afield with international partners. A recent volunteer project I’ve worked on has supported forty people online to collectively transcribe a document from Leeds Museums & Galleries archive. This was carried out entirely remotely. These projects give me a significant understanding of what cultural heritage means within our city to a wide variety of stakeholders.

 

 

 

 

Jim Brettell

Arriving from London in the early 70's, I joined the Trust having been impressed with the 'Let's Put Leeds Upon Aire' publication. Since then I've been actively involved in a number of ways; putting together the opening exhibition for the Wharf Street premises, serving on Trust Council for two terms and membership (and for a time chair) of the Planning Committee. Since retiring as a Probation Officer in 2009 and discovering the internet has very little to say on the subject, my daily blog has gained a degree of notoriety and success having recently passed 4 million 'hits'. Other interests include a life-long love affair with pubs and heritage railways - trying to assist in the preservation of both.

 

 

 

 

Hannah Beard

After graduating from the University of Sheffield in 2018, I moved to Leeds to begin my role as a Landscape Architect at Urban Wilderness. I am a licentiate member of the Landscape Institute, and involved in a variety of projects, ranging from the design of a new secondary school campus, a play trail for the National Trust and a biodiversity enhancement strategy for a river corridor. During the last 3 years I have enjoyed exploring many areas of Leeds by bike and volunteering as a bike buddy ride leader and befriender for LASSN (Leeds Asylum Seeker Support Network) and at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm. I also entered and won the Leeds Civic Trust Liveable City competition last year in collaboration with sound artist, Alex De Little, re-imagining an alternate future for the 'eastside of the city centre. I have since collaborated with Alex to animate the idea through the creation of a guided soundwalk and public billboard artwork which aimed to give voice to                                                  community members who we engaged with during the project.

 

 

 

Clare Chapman

Born in Bedfordshire and raised in Yorkshire, I have proudly called Leeds home for over 30 years. I studied Art & Design at Leeds College of Art (now Leeds Arts University), before going on to complete both my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in History of Art and Museum Studies at the University of Leeds. I became a member of Leeds Civic Trust in 2023 and have been actively involved with the Heritage Watch Group since joining, taking on the role of Chair in January 2024. With nearly a decade of experience in the heritage sector, I currently work as part of a specialist team focused on finding sustainable new uses for former church buildings. I’m a passionate advocate for the conservation, repair, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings, with a growing interest in retrofit practices and the importance of traditional craft skills in sustaining our built environment. I’m committed to using my professional expertise to support the Trust’s work in celebrating and promoting Leeds, championing its historic built environment, and helping others recognise both its heritage value and the role it plays in shaping our city’s identity.

 

 

John Pike

In the legal profession in Leeds for 40 years, I was a real estate lawyer and partner in Addleshaw Goddard. At various times my responsibilities included partner in charge of marketing, and head of the real estate divisions. I am a trustee of Wade’s Charity which provides grant funding for the benefit of the inhabitants of the inner city of Leeds, it also owns a substantial portfolio of public open spaces which is let to the Council on long leases, to be maintained as public parks. I enjoy working closely with our Corporate Members, maintaining our current members and encouraging new members to join.

Antonia Stowe

Over the years I have been actively involved in the Trust including the planning group, I have contributed to many events including the corporate lunches and Leeds Owl Trail events of which the Trust has always been a treasured partner. I have spent 25 years working as a sculptor and facilitator on a range of both public and private sector initiatives on an international scale and have my Millennium Garden installed in Millennium Square and the first new owl in Trinity Leeds amongst other sculptural installations and exhibitions around the UK and beyond. Through the Leeds Owl Trail, we have developed a series of visual maps that have demonstrated the changes Leeds has undertaken over the past 10 years, we have worked with the City Architect John Thorpe and the local authority along with private companies to put our heritage at the forefront of branding the city.