Museum Staff
Dr Sharon Webb MBE BA(Hons) MPhil PhD FSAScot
Director & Curator
Dr Webb came to Kilmartin Museum as Curator in 2003 and has served as Director from 2004. She instigated plans for redeveloping the Museum in 2012 and led the team that raised over £7 million to bring those plans to fruition. As well as playing a leading role in the renewal of our facilities, Sharon is guiding the development of our new exhibitions and caring for over 22,000 artefacts in the Museum's Collections. She was awarded an MBE for services to Heritage and Archaeology in 2015.
Hazel Allen
Finance Manager
Hazel Allen is a Chartered Accountant and Strategic Planner with over 25 years’ experience working with private and third sector organisations, with an MSc in European Environmental Policy, focusing on sustainable development in rural areas. She has worked with Kilmartin Museum as consultant Finance Director since 2019.
Eleanor Claxton-Mayer
Collections Assistant
Eleanor joins us from English Heritage at Tynemouth. As part of her curatorial work, Eleanor is helping to prepare our collections for the move back into the newly redeveloped museum. She says she is very excited to join the team, if mildly terrified at the mammoth task ahead!
Jacquelyn Condie
Education and Volunteer Officer
As a teacher and Principal Teacher, Jacquelyn has worked closely with Kilmartin Museum since it first opened. In October 2022 she became a part of our Education and Volunteer team, bringing a wealth of experience of teaching and coaching all ages. In addition to developing and delivering inspiring and educational programmes for children and adults, she will be recruiting new volunteers. Jacquelyn will also support and work closely with our existing team of volunteers, whose work is so vital to the success of the museum.
Julia Hamilton
Education Team Lead
Julia Hamilton has been part of the acclaimed Kilmartin Museum Education Service since 2009, leading the team since 2018. Julia is responsible for planning, promoting, delivering and evaluating lifelong learning and outreach activities, and spends a lot of time visiting local schools and groups helping learners of all ages to discover the landscape, history and wildlife of Kilmartin Glen.
Susanne Hawkby-Whitwell
Assistant Finance Manager
Susanne joined the Kilmartin Museum team to support the day-to-day finance functions of the Museum in January 2021, having relocated from Nottingham to Mid Argyll in late 2020. She has over 20 years’ experience in various financial roles across a range of sectors.
Jenny Pendreigh
Admin Officer
Jenny provides administrative assistance and support to the Museum staff team. She started work at the Museum in 2016, having previously worked in the voluntary sector in Lochgilphead.
Diane Steele
Redevelopment Project Officer
Diane joined the Redevelopment Project team in June 2019 to assist with fund and individual donor administration, publicity, events and the general administration of the project. She has many years’ experience of working with voluntary and community groups in Ardfern, most recently as manager and administrator of Craignish Village Hall.
Dr Aaron Watson BA MA(Hons) PhD
Interpretation and Engagement Manager
Aaron joined the Museum in 2018. As part of our Curatorial and Interpretation teams, he is helping to develop storylines and other content for the Museum’s new exhibitions. Aaron contributes to the Museum’s outreach, publications and research, drawing upon twenty years’ experience as an archaeologist, photographer and film-maker.
Patron
Mr Neal Ascherson, FSA Scot
Journalist and author Neal Ascherson, born in Edinburgh, has a lifelong connection with Argyll and its heritage. A Trustee of the Museum for many years, he is also the longest-serving Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, to which he was introduced in his teens by the late Marion Campbell of Kilberry. He taught at University College London’s Institute of Archaeology from 1998-2008, and was founder and editor of the journal ‘Public Archaeology’. Several of his books, including Stone Voices: The Search for Scotland and Black Sea, discuss the prehistoric past of Argyll. Neal’s role as Patron involves representing the Museum nationally, helping to extend its contacts and raise awareness outside Argyll.
Board of Trustees
Jan Brown MBE
After running ‘The Crafty Kitchen’ a Fair-Trade shop and café in Ardfern for 10 years, Jan became involved in a number of community projects as director/trustee with a particular interest in fundraising from Trusts and Foundations. She has been a Director of Kilmartin House Trading Company Ltd and a Trustee of Kilmartin Museum since 2015, during which time she has assisted in raising the funds for the Redevelopment project.
Nicholas Ferguson CBE
Nicholas Ferguson holds a Degree in Economics from Edinburgh University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and is the Chairman of Savills plc. He is also Chairman of Africa Logistics Properties, and a Fellow of Winchester College. He is former Chairman of Permira (ex Schroder Ventures) from 1983 to 2001, former Chairman and CEO of SVG Capital plc from 2001 to 2012 and former Chairman of Sky plc from 2012 to 2015. He is also founder of the Kilfinan Group, an association that provides mentorship to CEOs of charitable organizations by experienced managers. He is very involved in philanthropy, particularly in Argyll, and was awarded the Beacon Award for Place-Based Philanthropy in 2013. For 10 years, he served as Chairman of the Courtauld Institute of Art, and also as Chairman of the Institute for Philanthropy.
Dr Mike Heyworth MBE
Mike Heyworth is an experienced archaeologist who was previously Director of the Council for British Archaeology. He now operates as an international archaeology & heritage consultant and is involved with a wide variety of projects in the UK and overseas. He has considerable experience of charity governance and management, as well as a particular interest in the application of digital technology to the heritage sector. He was awarded an MBE for services to heritage in 2007. He has a particular love of the west coast of Scotland and visits the area frequently.
Grace MacLeod
Chair, Kilmartin Museum Company Limited
A native to Mid-Argyll, Grace studied medicine at Edinburgh University and returned to Lochgilphead to train in psychiatry. She retired as consultant psychiatrist and clinical director for mental health in Argyll and Bute in 2014, and has continued her interest in health and wellbeing by becoming involved in local charities that support this theme, including Kilmartin Museum. She is also interested in promoting Argyll as a place to live, work and enjoy. She has served on the fundraising sub-committee at Kilmartin Museum since 2014, and became a Trustee and Director of the Trading Company Board in 2017. Grace took on the role of Chair of the Trustee Board in March 2019.
David Paton
David brings over 40 years’ experience as a practicing architect with the last 30 of these years as a Partner and then more recently a Director of the Glasgow based Page \ Park Architects. During that period David was responsible for the delivery of many of the practice’s most complex and award winning projects. David has extensive experience of delivering high value projects across all sectors including Museum and Gallery projects. David became a Trustee of Kilmartin Museum in 2019 to assist the board with oversight of the Redevelopment Project.
Iain Saunders
After a career in investment management working for Flemings, a Scottish merchant bank, much of which was spent overseas, Iain retired to live in Argyll. He spent childhood holidays in this part of the world sailing small boats and has returned pretty much to the life he lived then, though the boats have grown in size as his agility has diminished. Iain’s contribution to the Trustee Board comes from his financial and business background which complements the expertise of the other Trustees in their specific areas of interest.
Will Self
Will is a Full Member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. His work has focused on helping communities to develop their natural and cultural heritage into sustainable resources. Building collaboration between public, private and charity sectors has been key to this, as has awareness raising. He is a founder member of the Heart of Argyll Wildlife Organisation and Heart of Argyll Tourism Alliance. Will was Project Officer then Company Secretary of the Dalriada Project, a £3.1 million Landscape Partnership Scheme, from 2009 to 2017.
