Meet the TCT Trustees

Kate Anderson (TCT Treasurer)

Kate is from East Lothian and moved to Thornhill in 2002 with her husband, Roddy. She is a speech and language therapist, working with children with complex needs in both Stirling and Clackmannanshire schools.  She was on the Thornhill and Blairdrummond Community Council for several years and has been a TCT trustee since 2011 with roles including membership secretary and chair.  She has just taken over the role of treasurer for a bit of variety!  She enjoys walking, particularly long-distance walking holidays with friends, as well as gardening, both of which give ample opportunities for wildlife and bird watching.

Veronica Batchelor

Born in Edinburgh, Veronica moved to Thornhill with her young family in 1977. During her stay in the village she worked for the Inland Revenue.
Her children, Norman and Hilary, went to Thornhill Primary and McLaren
High before leaving to further their studies in Edinburgh. She was actively
involved in the Badminton Club, the WRI and the Scout Hall Committee
and was a regular at any whist drives, coffee mornings and barn dances.
In 1992 she left the village and after a spell as a shopkeeper in Lochmaben
she became a fraud investigator for various local authorities throughout
Scotland ending up in Fort Augustus, Highland.
During the Covid lockdowns she decided to return to the Central Belt, to be
nearer her family, and she bought the plot of land opposite the school in
Low Town, where their “forever” home has been built.
Veronica is keen to be involved again in village life and to this end she
joined the Trust as a Trustee in September 2023.

Elaine Blanchard

Elaine grew up in the village, then moved to London after university to work in media. After eight years, she met her now-husband James and his job took them to Singapore in 2003. Elaine moved from sub-editing into feature writing for magazines, then as health correspondent for the only
English-speaking broadsheet ‘The Straits Times’, ending working life in Singapore as a freelancer and being on the committee of the St Andrew’s Society. Even though she would come back every year Elaine moved back to the village in December 2018 with James following a few months later.
Early retirement gave her the opportunity to get involved in village life, so she is Treasurer of the Thornhill and Blair Drummond Community Council, Secretary of the North Common Trust, on the editorial team of Thornhill Views, on the Paths Group and, as of July 2022, a TCT trustee.
Elaine spends the rest of her time running an Airbnb, powerlifting, trying and failing to grow tomatoes, trying and failing to play golf and obsessively listening to audiobooks.

Anneli Englund (TCT Secretary and Membership Secretary)

Anneli lives with her husband Mark (also a TCT trustee) and their daughter Eilidh on the western outskirts of Thornhill. She grew up in Sweden, spent 13 years in Ireland studying marine mammals and completing a PhD on dolphin acoustics before moving to Stirlingshire in 2014. She is now working for a renewable energy consultancy, focussing on bat call analysis and GIS. She is currently membership secretary at TCT and has been involved in the planning of Light Up Thornhill events. She enjoys kayaking, cycling, hill walking, camping and playing boardgames with her family.

Jim Mills

Jim and his wife Lin moved into Moss-Side Hall, on the Kippen Road, at the end of 2019. Originally from Paisley, they lived in Cheltenham for over 30 years where Jim founded an environmental monitoring company, from which he retired in June 2019. Two of Lin and Jim’s five children, plus their grandchildren, now also live in the village. Now semi-retired, Jim continues to be involved in environmental consultancy work and is currently chair of the Environmental Industries Commission’s working group on air quality and sits on a number of environmental research committees. In his spare time he is also the booking secretary for the community hall, issues TCT welcome packs to newcomers and helps with the Christmas tree and lights around the village. 

Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson hails from Cornwall and has been living in the Stirling area since 2004.  In the past, Gary worked permanently from home as a project manager for a software company.  These days, he has more time to spend on community projects, the house and garden, all of which he enjoys.  Gary has been working with the other volunteers on Thornhill Views for a few years and lately, with the village Paths Group.  This led to him to become a TCT Trustee in late 2020; like the other Trustees, he is very excited about the possibilities which Thornhill Futures might present. Gary, his husband and Bertie the Border Terrier love to be in the garden or out and about and particularly like trips away in their touring caravan during the summertime (or “BCT” (British Caravanning Time), as he likes to call it! 

Kate Sankey

Kate Sankey has been at West Moss-side Organic Farm for 30 years and has been a TCT Trustee for 3 years. The farm includes part of Flanders Moss NNR and the farm objectives are biodiversity and habitat management.  She gave up the day job at the University of Stirling in 2006 to focus on the farm and agritourism. The hayloft was converted into a place to meet, and hosts craft courses, the annual Forth Valley Art Beat exhibition, events etc. The three glamping Trossachs Yurts have been up and running for 10 seasons. Kate is a creative artist and weaver of natural materials from the farm and the moss and has run two art projects with local young people on the moss.  She was one of the original members of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority and is committed to improving the role of communities in influencing decisions about land use and environment, so is especially looking forward to the Thornhill Futures project. 

Richard Waite (Chairperson)

Richard and his wife Sue have lived on Main Street for twenty years. Their two children, Lucy and Angus, flew the nest after going through Thornhill Primary School and McLaren. Richard grew up in London, did all sorts of jobs, moved to the Borders in 1987 to run an outdoor centre and has stayed in God’s own country ever since.  Sue taught at Doune Primary School and Richard is still an independent social worker, the best bit of which, he says, is being involved with the wonderful Lilias Graham Trust on our doorstep. Richard and Sue love to spend time in the hills and in boats and kayaks whenever they can. Richard was active in the early days of TCT, especially with the paths group and became a trustee in December 2020.

Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson has been living on the western fringe of Thornhill in Chapel of Boquhapple (pronounced “Buh-whapple”) for th­­­ree years now, with his wife Anneli (also a TCT trustee) and daughter, Eilidh. He hails from not far away, having spent most of childhood in Perth and Fife. After spending many years studying birds in Scotland, England and Ireland, Mark now works as a Senior Research Ecologist for a small research charity called the British Trust for Ornithology, which coordinates bird monitoring and ringing across the UK. He got involved with TCT (and the closely related Thornhill Biodiversity Group) primarily to help with work to encourage and support people to better understand, and more thoroughly enjoy, the wildlife on their doorsteps. Mark is a keen bird ringer and moth trapper, and monitors the Barn Owls nesting in about 20 nest boxes around Flanders Moss.