ASSAP Officers

Since ASSAP tends to run as a series of semi-autonomous departments, ideas and suggestions come from all sides. This means a Chairman can most often be heard shouting 'I'm leading ASSAP - which way did it go?' I tend to feel that my role is to ensure that everyone is aware of what everyone else is doing and to make sure that we are all pulling in the same direction. In my case, since I also edit ASSAP News, this really ought to be easy, but events seem to move with almost paranormal haste sometimes... How did I get involved with ASSAP? Well, I joined a goodly number of years ago, but for my presence on the Exec I blame Val Hope. As a fairly inactive ASSAP member but frequent UnConvention attendee, I made the mistake of dropping in on the ASSAP stand and offering to help. Val asked me to mind the Psychokinesis stand while she went to lunch. I never saw her again that day, but after 6 hours of staring at a balance waiting for it to move I was trapped forever... I am currently interested in the way ghost stories develop from different seeds (genuine experiences; FOAF tales and folklore; hoaxes; misperceptions, etc.) and also the process of ostention, whereby these stories feed back into actual experience. I work in IT and am currently a seed guardian for the HDRA, an environmental organisation which aims to preserve the genetic diversity of various plant varieties. When you combine this with a general interest in science, you can appreciate why I always go for the green cheese in Trivial Pursuit.

Officers names
Mark Cave	Jim Clark	Bill Eyre	Steve Hall	Greg Hill
Val Hope	Paul Lee	Wendy Milner	Cherill Penton	Caz Pick
Hugh Pincott	Carrie Searley	David Taylor	Maurice Townsend	Melanie Warren
Mike White	Dave Wood


Research Department		Hugh Pincott: National Research Coordinator: Email address
		Hugh Pincott was a founder member of the Association and has held various executive posts including Public Relations Officer, General Secretary, Chairman and latterly Research Officer. His interests span the entire range of the paranormal, and he is a one-time Honorary Secretary of the SPR.
Investigations Department		Bill Eyre: National Investigations Coordinator: Email address
		Longstanding involvement in Spiritualism, including spending five years regularly attending physical seances. Joined Chesterfield Psychic Study Group (CPSG) to widen my interest to other types of psychic phenomena – gave me the opportunity to become involved in experimental research into such areas as dowsing, Christos and the ouija. Since 1990, have held various committee positions within CPSG – currently Treasurer / Investigations Officer. Joined ASSAP in 1992, became an AI in 1996, PK & Physical Mediumship Coordinator from 1998 – 2004, member of Executive since 2003, NIC since 2004. Married with two grown-up daughters. Enjoy cycling when not working for a living in IT or trying to fathom the mysteries of the human psyche.
		Cherill Penton: Deputy NIC: Email address
		I am a typical housewife and mother with an avid interest in the paranormal, having witnessed and experienced quite a few strange occurrences throughout my lifetime. In my role as DNIC I am responsible for accrediting new AIs, issuing the ASSAP ID cards and producing the AI Bulletin every four months. I hope to be able to give my support to all AIs whenever it is needed.
Media Support		Steve Hall: Media Support Officer: Email address
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		Dave Wood: Deputy Media Support Officer: Email address
		Dave is 24 and is ASSAP's Deputy Media Officer. Dave is a graduate of the University of Plymouth and in September 2005 enrolled to do his MSc in Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology through Liverpool John Moores University. Dave is co-founder of Paranormal Site Investigators (www.p-s-i.org.uk) and is co-editor of its Journal of Investigative Psychical Research. Dave's research interests are hauntings, paranormal belief, experiencer psychology and photographic anomalies. Dave is an experienced media operative, both inside and outside the field of paranormal research, and is pleased to deal with any media-related enquiries from either the media or from ASSAP's membership.
Members Events		Caz Pick: Members' Events Officer: Email address
		Hi there. My name is Caroline and my role within ASSAP is to arrange and organise regular investigations. I have had an interest in the paranormal for over twenty years, although it feels more like a lifetime, and have become steadily more involved with our subject. Some would call me obsessed! I’m a founder of LPA, an ASSAP-affiliated group, and have travelled the length and breadth of the UK in search of scientific proof of existence, or not as the case may be. I have a lot a thoughts on the subject, but none that are set in stone, and have a real love for research and historical sites and buildings. Please feel free to contact me with any location suggestions you have - it would be good to hear from you.
		Mark Cave: Deputy Members' Events Officer: Email address
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Equipment		Carrie Searley: Equipment Officer: Email address
		I have always held a great interest in the perplexing world of the paranormal for over 20 years now, and even more so after having several unbelievable experiences with a local medium. I soon became an active ASSAP member 5 years ago after reading an article about our organisation in a well known woman’s magazine. It was then that I found 2 other members in the Dorset area whom I have become very fond of and have forged strong relationships with. Not only does every investigation present us with many frustrations and unexplained frivolities, we also get to meet new faces, make new friends & take a light hearted approach when the going gets tough at 3am in the morning. I have been the Equipment Officer on and off now for 3 years. My role is to keep track of ASSAP’s equipment pool and to ensure that members get what they need for their vigils. I am also responsible for purchasing equipment that members feel are essential to aid them in their investigations. As well as being a mother of a demanding 2 year old, I work as a Private Investigator and portrait photographer. Other hobbies include song writing, boating and hold a great interest in mediumship and Ouija.
Technical		Paul Lee: Technical Officer: Email address
		Paul Lee lives in Surrey and is a computer programmer for BAE Systems. He holds a 1st Class BSc (Hons) in Physics from Southampton University and a PhD in Nuclear Structure Physics from York University. He has a life-long interest in ghosts and the paranormal and is currently the webmaster and events organiser for the Ghost Club, where he schedules the lecture programme, Christmas lunch etc.
Groups		David Taylor: Groups Officer: Email address
		I have been actively involved in the investigation of the paranormal for over 20 years since founding Parasearch, a Midlands-based ASSAP-affiliated group. My main areas of interest are hauntings, apparitions, parapsychology and contemporary visions and belief. I am particularly interested in the historical, sociological and folkloric context of paranormal experience and belief. Along with other members of Parasearch I have investigated a variety of haunted locations – from castles and manor houses to museums and police stations! Many of these investigations have featured in regional and national media - from the Discovery Channel to the Sunday Times. I have also lectured extensively on the subject of investigating the paranormal, including the Fortean Times UnConvention, The Architecture Centre (Bristol), Police Training College (Worcester), The Ghost Club and various National Trust properies around the country. As ASSAP Groups Officer I look forward to hearing from new and existing ASSAP regional groups, and to assisting them in any way that I can. When not involved in paranormal research I enjoy jazz, conservation work, old bookshops, theatre, birdwatching and visiting old churches.
Ombudsman		Melanie Warren: Ombudsman: Contact via chairman
		My interest in all things paranormal began in the early 1980s, when a sitting with a local medium who shook my world-view. Over several years I was given plenty of convincing ‘evidence’ but was never able to fully accept the idea of a continuing existence after death. However, the ‘evidence’ did convince me that mediumship was worth examining more closely, and this I did for several years. My research has led to a deep fascination with the workings of the human mind. I am amused by the rather Buddhist statement of a scientist friend that ‘Life Is An Illusion’. The more one looks at the intricacies of ‘perception’ the more one agrees! During more than two decades of involvement with ASSAP, I have contributed several reports on a variety of ‘paranormal’ subjects and have been involved with major investigations in Cumbria and Lancashire. I was instrumental in finding patronage for the first MADS system; I co-edited a book of ghost stories (properly researched), the proceeds of which went to ASSAP; and many years ago I organised a very interesting postal Tarot experiment which is worth repeating – simple but illuminating! I’d be happy to explain it to anyone with knowledge of Tarot and a little time to invest. In the real world, my first love is the written word and books-as-things. When my children were grown, I developed a business as a specialist bookseller (guess what subject) and built it for several years, before joining a book distribution company as Marketing Manager in 2000. I live with several hundred books and a black cat in Lancaster.
Secretary / Treasurer		Maurice Townsend: Secretary/Treasurer: Email address
		I have been interested in the paranormal since I was at school, borrowing books about UFOs and ghosts from the library. I did a degree in physics but ended up in a career in IT. Science has remained a long-term interest which has always dictated my approach to the anomalous. I joined a local parapsychology group in Merseyside and soon afterwards joined the SPR. I was active in their local group in Brighton, getting involved in things like table tilting, physical mediumship and investigating ghosts. Subsequently, I became one of the founders of ASSAP. Since then I have been, at various times, Treasurer, Secretary, Research Officer and Chairman. I currently edit Anomaly and am on the Research Panel. I have organised the Investigator Training Days since their inception. I assisted with the MADS project which resulted in the publication of several papers in peer-reviewed journals. I also have a long-term interest in photography including anomalous photos and orbs.
Chairman		Mike White: Chairman: Email address
		Since ASSAP tends to run as a series of semi-autonomous departments, ideas and suggestions come from all sides. This means a Chairman can most often be heard shouting 'I'm leading ASSAP - which way did it go?' I tend to feel that my role is to ensure that everyone is aware of what everyone else is doing and to make sure that we are all pulling in the same direction. In my case, since I also edit ASSAP News, this really ought to be easy, but events seem to move with almost paranormal haste sometimes... How did I get involved with ASSAP? Well, I joined a goodly number of years ago, but for my presence on the Exec I blame Val Hope. As a fairly inactive ASSAP member but frequent UnConvention attendee, I made the mistake of dropping in on the ASSAP stand and offering to help. Val asked me to mind the Psychokinesis stand while she went to lunch. I never saw her again that day, but after 6 hours of staring at a balance waiting for it to move I was trapped forever... I am currently interested in the way ghost stories develop from different seeds (genuine experiences; FOAF tales and folklore; hoaxes; misperceptions, etc.) and also the process of ostention, whereby these stories feed back into actual experience. I work in IT and am currently a seed guardian for the HDRA, an environmental organisation which aims to preserve the genetic diversity of various plant varieties. When you combine this with a general interest in science, you can appreciate why I always go for the green cheese in Trivial Pursuit.
Deputy Chair / Publications		Val Hope: Deputy Chairman/Publications: Email address
		I joined ASSAP in 1982 after reading about the launch in Psychic News in 1981 - I don’t like to rush into things. I have performed a variety of rewarding tasks since joining the Executive in 1983, including organizing a conference on survival research and taking the minutes for Executive meetings for a decade or longer (volunteers were thin on the ground). I edited and wrote chunks of ASSAP News for over 12 years and am still on the editorial panel for Anomaly. Since Mike White took over and I got my freedom back I have compiled the glossary that you can consult on the website and rewritten my ‘Strange Croydon’ website for Project Albion. In ASSAP I see my main role as making information readily available in the present and safeguarding it for posterity. This currently involves working on the ‘PASS’ clippings archive and the ASSAP history, plundering my photographic record of ASSAP. As Deputy Chairman I am due to take over from Mike White in autumn 2006 and say goodbye to leisure time. In real life I’m a multilingual translator for Defra, enjoy birdwatching, photography, food, wine, travel and Buffy.
Without portfolio		James Clark: Email address (put James Clark in subject)
		I suppose my interest in anomalous phenomena was sparked by reading books of 'true' ghost stories as a lad during the 1970s and consolidated by watching 'Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World' on television and collecting the excellent 'The Unexplained' part work. However it began, it has stayed with me my whole life. Over the years all those tales of bizarre experiences made me increasingly curious about how we interact with and perceive our environment, and this led me to study for a degree in psychology, eventually earning a first-class BSc. (Hons) in that subject. I am generally drawn to pretty much all the areas studied by ASSAP but in recent years have become particularly interested in documenting strange stories from my own neighbourhood in south London (as part of ASSAP's Project Albion). My current project is a book about the many ghosts, legends and mysteries from the London Borough of Wandsworth.
Without portfolio		Greg Hill: Email address (put Greg Hill in subject)
		I first joined ASSAP about six years ago. Before then I was petrified of anything paranormal, then I stumbled across a series of books on paranormal topics by so called "sceptical" authors. Being young and foolish, I joined ASSAP to show the whole world how all my sceptical theories were indisputable! Let's just say that it didn't take me long to grow up and realise that ASSAP was full of smarter, more experienced and more practical people than I was! These days I still take a very sceptical approach but I am a little wiser. A few years ago I was invited to take a high profile position in ASSAP but sadly I moved overseas for work reasons and I am now mainly restricted to writing articles in ASSAP News and taking up any investigations or contacts in South East Asia. I think it's only fair for me to note that I put in less time than most of the other execs. I am proud to be a member of ASSAP. It is a great organisation full of friendly and hard working people.
Without porfolio		Wendy Milner: Email address (put Wendy Milner in subject)
		Wendy Milner was born in an apparently haunted council house and has been sceptical ever since. However, she has retained her fascination for the anomalous and has become a seeker of a more scientific explanation for what she has experienced. A member of ASSAP for 9 years, she has been investigating and researching possible paranormal events with ASSAP for the last 5 and is also an honorary member of the Ghost Club. She is currently the Anomaly front cover artist and in fact most of her time is occupied with illustration these days.