APRS Board
President of APRS
Patricia Macdonald
BSc PhD FRSE FSA(Scot) FRSA HonFRSGS HonFICS
Patricia is an environmental/cultural-landscape researcher, writer and academic (Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh) and an award-winning artist-photographer whose powerful, boundary-crossing environmental aerial imagery is commissioned, exhibited and published, and held in public and private collections, internationally in both fine-art and editorial contexts. She has authored/co-authored more than ten books and her work is widely discussed in other publications. She also has considerable experience in the museum/gallery and natural-heritage sectors, both as a staff member and at board level (Main Board and Scientific Advisory Committee, Scottish Natural Heritage; Trustee, John Muir Trust; Board Member, Stills Gallery).
Our Board
John Thomson (Chairman)
MA MSc FRSA
John studied history at Cambridge and economics at Bristol University. His long-standing interest in the environment and rural life took him from an early career in HM Treasury to senior posts in the Planning Inspectorate of the Department of the Environment and the Countryside Commission (England & Wales). After a spell as Head of the Town & Country Planning Policy Division in the then Scottish Office, he spent almost twenty years as a Director in Scottish Natural Heritage, leading its work in the fields of landscape, land and freshwater use, and planning and development. For much of this time he also led on recreation and access issues and oversaw SNH’s operations in the west of Scotland. He was for several years chair of the UK Countryside Recreation Network and the UK environmental agencies’ Land Use Policy Group. He also served as a Council member of Europarc, the Europe-wide network of National and Nature Parks. He is also Chairman of the Scottish Campaign for National Parks. He and his wife also run a small farm near Kirkcudbright, breeding and rearing black Galloway cattle. John is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Rebecca Hughes (Vice-Chair)
BSc MPhil CMLI FLI
Rebecca is a Chartered Landscape Architect who has worked as a landscape and environmental consultant and botanist across the UK and abroad. She spent 14 years as Head of Landscape and Restoration at Scottish Natural Heritage, leading its national landscape team and landscape character assessment programme. She acted as landscape expert witness for various public inquiries, including the proposed Harris superquarry. She graduated from Durham University in Botany and Geography and from Newcastle University in Landscape Design. She worked for The National Trust in Northumberland, the Lake District National Park and the Nature Conservancy Council, then set up a landscape consultancy, forestry and furniture making business in the Borders. She spent five years as Senior Lecturer in Environmental Design at Newcastle University. She has developed landscape and visual impact assessment methodology for various developments including the renewable energy industry, and has recently worked on biodiversity management planning and landscape restoration both in the UK and New Zealand.
Kenny Graham (Treasurer)
Kenny grew up in Forres on the Moray coast before moving to Edinburgh to study Mathematics at university. Following university he studied for and completed professional exams to become a Chartered Accountant. After spending around five years as an auditor where he had clients across a wide variety of sectors, including education, agriculture and port authorities, he began working in commercial banking. In his spare time Kenny enjoys writing and is a keen tennis fan, having travelled to visit several tournaments around the world, including trips to Paris and New York.
Judy Crabb
Although a qualified Town Planner by profession, Judy has for over 30 years worked in the Voluntary and Community sector for a number of charities over addressing isolation and loneliness as well as planning issues. She was Vice Chair of the Shropshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). Retiring to live in Edinburgh in 2016, Judy still supports CPRE by facilitating sessions on developing forward planning for CPRE Branches. She is now a trustee of the Heart of Newhaven and a member of Trinity Community Council.
John Esslemont
BSc MPhil PG Dip UPA MRTPI
John grew up in rural Aberdeenshire and Angus before attaining a geography degree at Aberdeen University and a post graduate degree in regional planning at Glasgow University. He spent almost 40 years in local government as a strategic planner in the West of Scotland actively involved in strategic land use policy development within the Strathclyde area and latterly within Ayrshire where he managed the Ayrshire Joint Planning Unit. John is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a past convener of RTPI Scotland. He is married and lives in Rutherglen. He enjoys hill walking and skiing. John is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a past convener of RTPI Scotland. He is married and lives in Rutherglen. He enjoys hill walking and skiing.
Catherine Gemmell-Simpson
Catherine was brought up in Forres along the beautiful Moray coast before heading to Aberdeen to study Marine and Coastal Resource Management at Aberdeen University. Since then she has worked with young people as a field studies instructor in Dorset and a visitor services supervisor at an aquarium. She is currently the Scotland Conservation Officer for the Marine Conservation Society based out of Edinburgh with plenty of time spent on many of Scotland’s beautiful beaches. When not at the coast Catherines favourite spot is the shores of Loch Morlich in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park.
Victoria Presly
Victoria grew up in the countryside of Aberdeenshire before heading to Aberdeen University to study Law. An avid long-distance trail runner, she spends most of her free time running around Scotland’s beautiful landscape with her two springer spaniels. Trail running has allowed Victoria to experience some of Scotland’s wildest and remotest trails, and as result she has a keen interest in APRS’s Scottish National Parks Strategy Project. She currently works as a lawyer in the oil and gas industry in Aberdeen.
Andy Dorin
Andy is an ecologist who has worked across Scotland. He began his career as an Area Officer for the Nature Conservancy Council and then Scottish Natural Heritage in the Cairngorms and Orkney. He was the first Sustainable Development Officer for The Highland Council, promoting Agenda 21, and led a community budgeting project across Ross-shire. Andy also has an MBA gained at Napier University and has employed this working for SNH on policy and business strategy before holding a number of more operational roles in the last few years. He was Area Manager for Forth, the Programme Manager for People and Nature and finally as Head of Protected Areas and Surveillance. Andy retired in January 2020 and has been finishing a house renovation, near Cromarty in the Highlands, since then. He is passionate about more people enjoying Scotland’s countryside, improving the management of Scotland’s Protected Areas and about a more sustainable approach to land management. He is a keen canoeist and a kayak coach and he loves nothing better than a night spent under canvas.