There are eight  Directors who act as Trustees for the Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust.

Councillor Amanda McConnell - Trustee

​Amanda has lived in the Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen area all her life. She is a County Councillor for Caerphilly County Borough Council representing Machen, Graig-y-Rhacca, Draethen, Waterloo and Rudry Ward. She is also a Community Councillor for Bedwas Trethomas and Machen County Council and Draethen, Waterloo and Rudry County Council. Prior to being a Councillor she was a Legal Secretary for a busy Solicitors office. She looks forward to working with the community so that Ruperra Castle is preserved for all to enjoy.

Charlotte Rogers - Chair

​Charlotte is a successful management professional with 20 years of experience in communications, leadership, business strategy, corporate social responsibility, and project management. Currently a civil servant working at the Department for Business and Trade in communications and marketing with a broad range of experience across a variety of sectors including Cardiff University, KPMG and not for profit organisations. She lives locally in Bedwas, Caerphilly, and since 2021 has led the Trust in communications and stakeholder engagement, whilst also taking the role of membership secretary and chair.​

Chris Brimble - Trustee  

​Chris is a Chartered Architect and urban designer, and founder of Arden Kitt Architects. He currently sits on RSAW Council, is a RIBA Student mentor, and external reviewer at the Welsh School of Architecture. Chris actively campaigns for better planning and design at the local level, and he is a firm advocate for greater participatory processes and decision making within communities. He firmly promotes the importance of conserving our heritage assets, as a means of enriching place identity and celebrating local characteristics which contribute to successful placemaking.   

 Councillor Chris Morgan - Trustee

An engineer by trade, Chris has lived in Machen all his life, and loves the outdoors and countryside. He has a passion for our heritage and is a former chair and trustee of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal Trust (12 years), he also volunteers on the inland waterways in the Midlands where he keeps his narrowboat. He is a Councillor and former chair of Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen Community Council, currently County Councillor for Machen and Rudry ward for Caerphilly County Borough Council. He currently sits on the Caerphilly County Borough Council Cabinet with portfolio for Waste, Green spaces and Leisure.

Dr Elaine Davey - Trustee

Elaine originally qualified as a Building Surveyor, later completing an Honours Degree in the History of Art and Architecture and then a PhD with the Cardiff School of Planning and Geography at Cardiff University, about the role of the Percy Thomas Practice in the ‘building’ of modern urban Wales. 
Elaine has been involved in a number of heritage projects over the years for various institutions and has held officer positions in many heritage societies including Chair of the Victorian Society Wales group since 2000 and Vice Chair of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust since 2019. This has involved campaigning, organising conferences, giving lectures etc.

Jane Price - Trustee and Secretary

​Jane grew up near Ruperra Castle and, as a child, spent many a day exploring the surrounding woodland and searching for treasure outside the Castle grounds. As an adult, this love for Ruperra has become a passion, to save it from unsympathetic development and to maintain the tranquil beauty of its setting. Jane became a Trustee in November 2022.

Pat Jones-Jenkins - Trustee

As Pat Moseley, Pat set up the first Ruperra Castle Conservation Trust in 1997. She was secretary under Chairman Dr Peter Elmes when the Trust purchased Coed Craig Ruperra in 2000, and helped set up sister Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust which under Chairman Janet Wilding, successfully defeated housing plans for the Castle site in a Public Inquiry.

​With a commitment to publicising and preserving the heritage of the Ruperra countryside in South East Wales, she has given ‘walks and talks’ and recorded for posterity the memories of servants , soldiers and locals who also loved Ruperra. She retired as secretary of this Trust in 2020, but continues to contribute as a Trustee.

Sarah Gatehouse - Trustee

​Sarah grew up and went to school in Newport and spent weekends cycling the lanes around Ruperra. Whilst researching her family history she found that her great, great, great grandfather worked as a stable hand on the Ruperra Estate in the early C19th and received a pension after the death of Sir Charles Gould Morgan, 2nd Baronet. She has over 30 years’ experience as a Chartered Town Planner and was Area Team Leader at Westminster City Council. Since 2016 Sarah has been self-employed on part time basis, helping architects and independent planning companies prepare planning applications and appeals and providing ad hoc planning advice on a range of proposals. Sarah holds an MPhil in Environmental Planning and a Diploma in Conservation.