Contact us
For all general enquiries:
Churchill Archives Centre
Churchill College
Cambridge
CB3 0DS
For further information, see our Visit us page.
Meet the team
Allen Packwood, Director
Allen Packwood is the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre. He joined the Archives Centre team in September 1995 and has worked extensively on the Churchill Papers collection, publishing ‘How Churchill Waged War’ in 2018. Allen manages the Archives Centre team and serves as Secretary to the Churchill College, Margaret Thatcher and Sir Winston Churchill Archive Trusts. His role includes development and outreach.
Email: director.archives@chu.cam.ac.uk
Amanda Jones, Archives Administrator
Amanda joined Churchill College in May 2017 after working as a solicitor, teaching overseas students and completing her PhD which was recently published as ‘Bringing Up War Babies’ by Taylor & Francis.
She coordinates the diary and administration of the Archives Centre, organises events, and assists the Director and senior management team.
Email: Amanda.Jones@chu.cam.ac.uk
Sarah Lewery, Senior Conservator
Sarah joined the team in 1999 and is now Senior Conservator. She works in the dedicated conservation studio, usually with a conservator and/or conservation assistant.
Her role involves managing all aspects of the Preservation of the collections – from monitoring the storage environment through to planning for recovery in the event of an for emergency affecting our holdings. She also carries out conservation treatments on the collections and contributes to outreach.
She is part of the Senior Management Team of the Archives Centre.
Email: Sarah.Lewery@chu.cam.ac.uk
Andrew Riley, Senior Archivist
Andrew Riley is an archivist with a particular interest in modern political papers. He has spent much of his time at the Archives Centre working on the papers of Margaret Thatcher. He is also interested in using archives for teaching purposes and academic engagement.
Email: Andrew.Riley@chu.cam.ac.uk
Hannah James, Records Manager & College Archivist
Hannah joined Churchill College in 2017, having previously worked in records management and archives roles in legal and local government settings.
As Records Manager, Hannah works across the Archives Centre and Churchill College to manage digital and hard copy current records. As College Archivist, she collects, catalogues and preserves material about and from members of Churchill College as well as answering internal and external enquiries.
Hannah is also a volunteer mentor for both the Archives Centre and the ARA PeerPal scheme.
Email: college.archivist@chu.cam.ac.uk
Sophie Bridges, Archivist
Sophie joined the Archives Centre in April 2003, having previously worked in London at the Historical Manuscripts Commission and the Guildhall Library. At the Archives Centre, her work has focused on the personal papers of the individuals involved in social research, including Michael Young and Phyllis Willmott.
She is also the registrar for loans to temporary exhibitions.
Email: sophie.bridges@chu.cam.ac.uk
Madelin Evans, Archivist
Madelin joined the Churchill Archives Centre in 2017. She has catalogued the papers of Robert Edwards (IVF pioneer) and is currently working on the Churchill Acquired Papers (a collection of Winston Churchill’s papers acquired through his biographer). Madelin has also worked on the papers of George Pitt-Rivers (anthropologist, Nazi sympathiser and Second World War detainee), and has produced an online exhibition on the papers of Rosalind Franklin (x-ray crystallographer who worked on DNA and virus structures).
Alongside colleagues, she also works on the Archives Centre’s social media and other communications.
Email: Madelin.Evans@chu.cam.ac.uk
Katharine Thomson, Archivist
Katharine joined the team in 1997, initially as part of the Churchill Papers project, and since then has worked on many other individual collections. She tends to specialise in earlier political material, but has also catalogued the papers of various members of the Churchill family. Some of the archives she has worked on include the papers of Leo and Julian Amery, Neil Kinnock, Enoch Powell and Mary Soames. Katharine is also responsible for the administration of the British Diplomatic Oral History Programme.
Email: Katharine.Thomson@chu.cam.ac.uk
Chris Knowles, Digital Archivist
Chris joined the team in 2019, and took on the role of Digital Archivist in 2020. He is responsible for the preservation of the Centre’s digital content, which covers both files which we receive born-digital from our donors, and digitised copies of our analogue material.
Jessica Saunders, Archivist
David Parker, Conservator
David joined the Churchill Archives Centre in Oct 2022 as part of the Conservation team. He is involved in all aspects of preserving the collection such as environmental monitoring of the storage areas, providing suitable packaging materials for the archives, disaster planning and recovery, ensuring correct document handling, and supporting outreach and exhibition programs. He also carries out interventive treatments on designated collection items.
Paula Laycock, College Records Officer
Paula is the Records Officer and works with Hannah in the College Archives. She co-ordinates the College’s oral history project. For further information, see Paula’s entry on the College fellowship directory.
Email: Paula.Laycock@chu.cam.ac.uk
Nicole Allen, Archives Assistant
Dr Cherish Watton-Colbrook, Archives Assistant
Cherish joined the Archives Centre as Archives Assistant in 2021, having previously consulted many of the Archive’s scrapbook collections when she was an MPhil student at Churchill College. Cherish has a particular interest in the history of material culture, archiving, life writing and collecting in twentieth-century Britain.
Alongside helping readers consult collections in the reading rooms, Cherish supports the Centre’s communication work and creates research guides to promote different collections. She has recently completed a PhD on the history of scrapbooking in Britain during the twentieth century.
Julie Godden, Conservation Assistant
