President: Bronwyn Clarke
Bronwyn is a social historian with a particular interest in dress and textile history. She has been involved for six years as a volunteer and a contract employee at the Armidale Folk Museum, the Hillgrove Museum, and Saumarez Homestead. Her Honours thesis was on 18th century British worsted textiles, and she is currently undertaking a Master of History degree at UNE. She’s always been fascinated by textile and other crafts of the past and has taught a range workshops for the Jane Austen Festival and Sydney Regency Weekends.
Vice-President: Julie McCarthy
Julie McCarthy is local conservator who has been operating a private conservation studio in Armidale since 2016, providing conservation and preservation services. Julie graduated from the University of Canberra in 2002 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in the Conservation of Cultural Materials and over the last twenty years she has worked in both the private and public sector, including time at the National Archives of Australia, the National Library of Australia and UNE. She is a professional member of the AICCM, and a member of their Disaster Preparedness Committee.
Treasurer: Wayne Hoppe
Wayne has a MBA in accounting and over 40 years experience in banking. However Wayne’s passion is history and in particular family history. Wayne is the president of the Armidale Family History Group, vice president of the Armidale Historical Society and a Crown Land Trustee for the Museum of Education, Armidale.
Wayne has been researching his family for 35 years and has extensive knowledge in techniques that assist in researching families and properties. In particular his working knowledge on Trove has allowed him to present on this topic numerous times.
Acting Secretary: Lauren Mackley
Lauren’s bio to come soon
Jaymie Clarke
Jaymie Clarke is part of the social media team of Heritage New England And North West. He has studied librarianship, records management and archiving with TAFE. In his spare time, he enjoys researching menswear and occasionally volunteering with The Armidale Folk Museum.
