Club Officers
President
Neil Gilbert
After a childhood of building Lego houses, bothering local estate agents for property particulars and drawing houses, it was no wonder Neil went into the construction industry. In 1993, Neil left his Brummie roots and moved to Bristol to study Building Studies and Building Surveying at UWE and, having grown to love the city and even appreciate the charms of the ‘Brizzle’ accent, he’s never wanted to leave.
When Neil’s not surveying buildings you can find him down the gym (chatting), striping his lawns (and occasionally his carpets) or polishing ‘the beast’, his beloved car (which sadly also has stripy foot mats at the start of each week)! That is when he’s not attending to his Rotary duties of chairing meetings, not always in bunny ears, organising his mostly female committee or attending one of a number of social events in the city, all in the name of ‘networking’.
Neil would describe himself as sociable, spontaneous, fussy and the one that keeps everyone’s glasses topped up at a dinner party. He’s also reputed as having one of the filthiest laughs around.
Senior Vice-President
Emma Riordan-Williams
Emma is a chartered accountant working as an Assistant Manager in the audit department at KPMG in Bristol. She loves her job but in her spare time puts in a lot of effort to proving the exception to the accountant stereotype (for reference she never has and hopefully never will own a grey suit!). Outside of work Emma loves to salsa, cycles, works out (begrudgingly) at the gym, goes to as many gigs as she can fit into her already hectic life and enjoys hanging out with her Bristol Bridge buddies! Emma has taken on the role of Junior Vice President, in a bid to cram even more things into her busy schedule. Her Mum thinks it’s a miracle she’s involved with Bristol Bridge at all, given how useless she is at getting up in the morning!
Junior Vice-President
Neil Pearce
Neil is the Sporting and Social Secretary (and a quantity surveyor) in the Bristol office of international management and construction consultants Gleeds. He likes to take time out of counting bricks to attend every social event possible, well who doesn’t! It was at one such event that Neil first heard about Bristol Bridge. In winning the egg and spoon race at primary school Neil’s infatuation with sport began. This infatuation shows no sign of abating - often to the annoyance of his girlfriend and to the detriment of their “quality time”! It was also at about this time that the man’s penchant for eggs began too: boiled, scrambled, poached… and his beloved rugby.
Neil likes reading and hearing about random facts. His poor memory means that the facts can often be enjoyed over and over again. Did you know that in a standard deck of cards, all four Kings have beards, but only three of them also have moustaches?
In the coming year as Junior Vice President Neil aims to learn as much as possible from the President and Senior Vice President. This is sure to involve how to stripe his lawn (and car mats), how to survive a ‘ROCK!’ concert, and hopefully some Rotary management skills too!
If Neil draws Emma as his secret Santa he intends to buy her a grey suit... from Asda.
p.s. The King of Hearts is slugless.
Secretary
Matt Ashley
Matt Ashley was a child prodigy who was a chess grand master at the age of 4. He composed his first symphony at the age of 8 and was nominated for, although not awarded, the Nobel Prize for economics at the age of 11 for his work on the predictions of price elasticity into a vacuum caused by a credit crunch. He now pursues a holistic lifestyle spreading peace and harmony across the galaxy. Matt aims to make Machiavellian politics the governing philosophy of Britain. He is renowned for his kind and considerate nature towards his fellow humans and hopes to use his election victory to the secretaryship of the club as a springboard to greater things. He is also known for his deadpan sense of humour.
Matt was brought up just north of Bristol. As a student he attended both Bristol universities. He is a property solicitor with Osborne Clarke advising on property management issues. He is a key member of the club's drinking committee. Matt likes hill walking and watching Bath rugby club, and has little use for hair gel. Matt still manages to find the time to attend the club's breakfast meetings and keep extremely efficient minutes.
Treasurer
Eszter Horvath-Papp
Having grown up in Hungary and lived in Austria and now the UK, Eszter is one of the more cosmopolitan members of Bristol Bridge! She is currently training to become a solicitor at Osborne Clarke, but she is still open-minded about which area of law to qualify in. Outside work, she tries to keep fit through activities like running and rock-climbing, and she lovingly helps to look after her partner's tarantulas (and that's not a euphemism!). Her biggest achievement in life so far has been conquering Mount Kilimanjaro – not that she takes every opportunity to brag about it. Eszter got talked into taking on the role of the Treasurer on the basis that "it would not be that much work". It shows her level of gullibility that she believed this.
Attendance and Membership Secretary
Claire West
Born in Kent, Claire heeded the “Go West” siren call and now lives in Clevedon. Claire studied at the University of the West of England and hated the commute each day. She has now matured and commutes daily to Lindleys Solicitors in the city centre! Claire is that exciting animal - a residential conveyancing solicitor, but don’t let that put you off! She enjoys her job (most of the time) as her clients seem to like her when she helps them move house.
Outside work, Claire likes to see friends, go to the cinema and watch formula one (some have likened her driving to bad F1, but she no longer to speaks to these people!). She likes to eat healthily but does enjoy the odd chocolate bar (or three) and keeps fit by traipsing up and down Park Street each day and going for walks around Clevedon. You will never catch Claire in a gym! Claire also runs a Brownie unit in Nailsea as she gets the odd trip to a theme park out of it, and it allows her to make all the arts and crafts toot she could possibly want and have a valid excuse for doing so. So beware Rotary Craft Fairs!
Social Secretary
Nicky Howell
Nicky is so busy organising our various upcoming social events, that she hasn't yet had time to write a biog about herself. So, watch this space... In the meantime, if you'd like to get to know Nicky better, do come along to one of our breakfast meetings and have a chat!
Speakers Secretary
Karen Beynon
Karen was brought up in Bedminster and after a four year sojourn in the sunny West Midlands studying law at the University of Birmingham returned to Bristol to find a job. She qualified as a solicitor in 1998 and after brief dalliances with residential property and mental health law specialised in wills and probate. She now works in this field at Wards Solicitors in their Portishead office. Karen likes walking in the countryside, cooking, a Sunday night detective drama and spending time with her beautiful and gifted (not that she’s biased !) four year old godson Evan. She also enjoys advising Matt Ashley on high finance, critiquing his musical compositions and beating him at chess.
Charities Secretary
Amy McKay
Amy has recently been appointed Charities Secretary and she will be posting her biography here very soon. Suffice to say for now, that writing a profile for this website is not her top priority, as she is incredibly busy with getting on with being our charities officer, by organising our Summer Fayre, compiling our charities newsletters and coming up with lots and lots of new ideas. We very much hope that Amy has some spare time left in her hectic schedule to spend on herself too!