Our team

“I love the contemporary tone to this portrait of our founder Bamber Gascoigne; the level of detail depicted with quite broad, loose brushstrokes. I could stare at it for hours.”

Ilona Harris joined the Trust in November 2022. She was previously Head of Commercial at Weald & Downland Living Museum, West Sussex, supporting the charity’s growth to financial stability and leading teams across key income generating departments: Retail, Catering, Events & Venue Hire, Fundraising and Membership. 

Ilona’s experience also includes Head of Corporate Partnerships at Tate, where she generated partnerships worth over £18M including several multi-year relationships; Senior Business Manager at Royal Opera House and Corporate Giving Manager at English National Opera.

"I love how simple, elegant and personal this beautiful sketch by Sargent is. There is something very personal, immediate and frank in Peggy's gaze, which speaks across the decades. Then there is Peggy herself, she was a real champion for women, I really admire that. "

Clare read History and History of Art at the University of St. Andrews before going to work at Christie’s auction house and various art dealers in London. In 2009 she wrote Metamorphosis not Metaphor, a retrospective on the work of Donald Hamilton Fraser RA, published by Lund Humphries. Clare joined the West Horsley Place Trust in 2017 as Operations Manager and has overseen numerous filming projects, building works and community events. She also sits on the Historic Houses Learning Advisory Panel and is a West Horsley parish councillor. 

“I’ve chosen this portrait as there is something in the subject’s gaze or the artist’s composition that reminds me of the work of Endre Roder, whose work I came across in a tiny gallery in Swanage”

Catherine joined the Trust in January 2025.  She is a chartered accountant and has been running her own accounting practice locally since 2012, helping her clients with their accounts and tax returns, and for the last 9 years has also worked with Orthopaedic Research UK, a medical research charity based in London, looking after their finance function and providing a CFO role.  Prior to that, Catherine was a co business owner in an accountancy firm based in West Byfleet, BWBCA Limited.  Catherine has a BA Hons degree in History from Royal Holloway, University of London, and spent many years studying Henry VIII and the Tudors.  She lives with her family locally and enjoys connecting with nature via the mediums of gardening and lunchtime walks, the Uncanny Podcast, and reading.

“There’s a portrait at the bottom of the main staircase I like.  It’s of a man with moustache and a feather in his hat and a sword by his side.”

Stephen has over 20 years of experience in senior charity fundraising roles. Immediately prior to joining West Horsley Place, he had been providing consultancy services to several charities and spent a year as Director of Fundraising for Horatio’s Garden.

Stephen experience also includes Director of Fundraising for charities including Coram, Ellenor Lions Hospices in Kent, SSAFA, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea, Saferworld and the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group.

Over the years, Carolyn has worked in interior design, graphic design and her early working life was spent as a Court Stenographer which was an education in itself! For the past 10 years, she has worked in the events industry mainly focusing on weddings and other celebrations. She has seen more than 500 weddings now and marvels at how each one is unique. She loves the excitement during the planning process and the sense of exhilaration in the air on the Big Day.

"I love this sketch in the Manor House. There is something very striking about her eyes"

Chrissie joined the team in August 2023 having been Head of Marketing and Communications at Painshill Park in Cobham. Previously to that she worked for many years in the marketing department at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford. She studied theatre and art at the University of Kent and has owned her own art business, specialising in papercutting.

Jo joined the team at West Horsley Place Trust in June 2021 to deliver the National Heritage Lottery Funded project, Heritage without Barriers. She has a background in visual arts having freelanced as a Community Artist in London and loves to create opportunities for people to discover their passion and grow in confidence. Jo has BA Hons in Fine Art from London Metropolitan University and an MA in Applied Anthropology and Community Art from Goldsmiths University.

Robin has worked in historic houses since 2017. Having developed an interest in the preservation of historic objects, he studied for a Masters degree in preventive conservation at UCL alongside working for English Heritage. Starting his career at Apsley House, he went on to care for historic collections at Kenwood and Chiswick House. In his previous role he was also involved with projects at Ranger's House and Marble Hill. He has a particular interest in the management of insect pest species that threaten organic historic material.

They say if a man is from Yorkshire you do not need to ask, as he will already have told you. Matt is from Yorkshire. Matt first arrived at West Horsley Place in 2016 and has been looking after the gardens and estate ever since.  Prior Matt was at Chatham House as production manager, before turning full-time professional freelance photographer. This led him to photograph many of the world’s most famous faces. Matt’s role habitat management within the countryside and creating a sustainable future for all of nature.

Yendle has come to us from the University of Surrey where he completed his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He has previously worked as a craftsperson for the Forestry Commission in Lincolnshire, as a community forester in Merseyside, and as a ranger in North Wales, where he is from. Working with our Environment & Sustainability Steering Group, with Matt and all our colleagues, Yendle’s role is to develop a land management plan for the estate and facilitate the trust’s work towards net zero by 2030.

The second Robin working at West Horsley Place, sometimes known as Rob, joined the team in July 2022. Robin worked in the property industry for many years and has a wide-ranging job role involving liaising with the numerous contractors who work on the estate, carrying out a numerous handyman jobs around the house, and assisting with events and the day to day running of the house and estate.