The Musical Museum's Trustees make up our board of Directors, and have a broad spectrum of backgrounds and experience. Our Trustees volunteer to apply their skills, experience and contacts to help us achieve our charitable objectives, grow the museum's visitors, reach new audiences, and build a sustainable future for our collections.
The Museum is actively seeking new Trustees. If you have relevant experience and would like to apply to join our board, please click here to find our more.
Our current Trustees are:
Chris Barber – Musical Director & Interim Chairman
Chris Barber, MBA, BSc, MCIPD, ARCM is a freelance consultant specialising in HR, organisational design and change management. Chris provides advice to public and private sector organisations to help them meet challenges imposed by changes in the business environment. He has worked both in the UK and overseas, with permanent senior roles in public and private sector organisations, most recently at PWC.
Chris joined the Museum 10 years ago as the Museum’s resident organist; he is a trained concert artist and has played at many Theatre Organ venues in the UK and the USA, as well as being regularly featured on BBC Radio 2’s The Organist Entertains. Chris oversees the musical life of the Museum, and produces (and plays in) many of the Museum’s concerts. In addition to his stewardship of the Museum as Interim Chairman, when not at his desk or at the console of The Mighty Wurlitzer, Chris likes to pursue his passion for motorcycling. His other main interests are in the restoration of his own Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ console, and the preservation and rallying of the Burrell Scenic Road Locomotive “Dragon.”
David Goddard – Collections Director
David Goddard MSc is a long-standing volunteer and supporter of the Museum, having served in various roles including editing the Friends magazine for 7 years, assisting in negotiations with Hounslow Council for the new building, and with the architects for the building design. David also devised and implemented the plan for dismantling, moving and reassembling of exhibits in the collection.
David comes from a military background, having served in the Royal Navy initially as an engineering officer and then moving on to flying both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. He has the proud distinction of being a midshipman on Britain’s last battleship, HMS Vanguard. After leaving the Navy, David worked as a project manager for EHI Ltd overseeing Augusta and Westland Helicopters during the design and prototype production of the EH101 (Merlin) Helicopter.
Marcus Harbourne – Health & Safety Executive & Operations Director
Marcus Harbourne first visited the museum in 2016, and like many before him, was captivated by the sights and sounds he experienced there. Marcus joined the Museum as a tour guide, and latterly, became a trustee. Marcus’ working life has been spent in the licensed retail industry, including being a manager for Forte Hotels for 5 years, with Courage Brewing as an area manager responsible for the day to day running of some 28 public houses, and Morland Brewery in 1983 as a Business Development Manager for 15 large catering outlets. In 1998, Marcus set up his own consultancy - Harborne Innpact Services, providing training on all aspects of hospitality, catering, licensing law, premises licencing and heath and safety best practice - all skills which have been of enormous practical help to the Musical Museum in recent years.
Marcus still runs his company, and covers some 25,000 miles a year in the delivery of various contracts. He is an active member of his local church and a long-standing governor of an independent school in High Wycombe as well as President of the school's PTA.
Simon Hill – Technical Director & CTO
Simon Hill, MRI MBCS CITP has been with the Museum since 2015, and oversees the Museum’s IT and technical infrastructure, including the audio/visual aspects of the Museum’s concerts and events, and the Museum's "Contemporary Collection". Simon has held a variety of senior roles in his business career – notably Vice-President at a global outsourcing company, and Director of Insight & Decision Science at Sky, as well as management roles at Dell, MasterCard, Bupa, Camelot, Vodafone and Cable & Wireless.
Simon brings with him a lifelong appreciation of music and an enthusiasm for pipe organs, which stems from his early years as a Cathedral Chorister. In addition to his extensive technical knowledge as a Chartered IT Professional, he also has experience in stagecraft, which began with his first job as an electrician at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth and continues through his hobbies as a pyrotechnician and lighting designer.
Michael Ryder – Trustee
Michael Ryder, M.Phil, FCA has a long and happy association with the Musical Museum that goes back to the late 1960’s, when he came upon it thanks to his mother’s Woman’s Guild coach visit, when he was obliged to fill an empty seat! He was fascinated by how the instruments worked. As a student with limited means, he persuaded people to give him lifts to Brentford so he could help take tickets on the door, sell items in the shop, and do whatever needed doing, eventually becoming a tour guide. He has been key to much of the Museum's history, playing a central role in creating the building the Museum now occupies, and serving as the Museum's Chairman for many years.
Professionally, Michael is a Chartered Accountant; after qualifying, he taught accounting and business in higher education, designing and creating new degree courses, as well as his own research and teaching commitments; he then became an HMI (education inspector), and finally became the Chief Officer of a large grant-giving charity in the London Borough of Richmond until his retirement.
Michael J Wood – Exhibitions & Display Director
Mike’s association with the Museum began in 2006, when as a volunteer, he spent many hours with the team dismantling and subsequently moving the collection to the new building - and then rebuilding and repairing the collection in the various galleries. Mike read Mathematics at the University of St Andrew’s followed by post graduate studies. He joined IBM and was responsible for sales and marketing to a variety of large companies. Since his “retirement” he has been Chairman of Carer's Support Spelthorne, a charity that offers independent and confidential services and practical help to local care givers. Mike is an accomplished musician and accompanist to local choirs and choral societies (occasionally taking charge of the baton). He is currently organist at St. Nicholas Church in Shepperton, and for the past 24 years Mike has been the principal accompanist for the highly-regarded Weybridge Male Voice Choir.
