The Movement for the Abolition of War

Officers and Committee

PRESIDENT: Paul Rogers

Vice-presidents

Colin Archer. Active in peace, development and human rights movements since 1970, including various roles in CND, Colin was Secretary General of the International Peace Bureau from 1990 to 2017, and played active roles in the Hague Appeal for Peace, the Global Campaign for Peace Education, and since 2005 Disarmament for Sustainable Development and the Global Campaign on Military Spending, in which he is still involved.

Martin Bell OBE. A former BBC war reporter, MP for Tatton 1997-2001, and currently a UNICEF UK Ambassador. MAW Vice-President since 2006.

Christine Blower. General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) from 2009 to 2016 (the first woman in this post), and now a Labour peer, she has sat in the House of Lords as Baroness Blower since 4 November 2019. Christine supported the launch of MAW’s DVD “Conflict & Climate Change” and has been an active vice-president of MAW since 2013.

Diana Francis. A lifelong peace campaigner and founding member of Rethinking Security, Diana has many years of international experience acting as a facilitator, trainer, mediator and consultant supporting groups of people working for change, and has written several books on war and peace making. At home in Bath she is a faithful member of the city’s Stop War group.

Mererid Hopwood. A celebrated Welsh poet and National Eisteddfod Chair Winner, Mererid is an academic and a lifelong campaigner for peace, working particularly within the International Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales. Mererid has recently been instrumental with others in creating the Academi Heddwch Cymru – a peace institute within the Welsh universities.

Officers of the Committee

(elected 12/11/22)

Chair: Tim Devereux. A mostly retired maths teacher living in Leeds who has also worked as an engineer, a social worker and a home tutor. Among other qualifications he has an MA in Peace Studies. Has been a member of MAW and on the Committee for years and has maintained our website since 2014. Has been involved with the peace movement since the 1960s, and is a member of Pax Christi and Yorkshire CND.

  • Vice-Chair: Hilary Evans
  • Treasurer: John Dowbekin
  • Secretary: Sally Reynolds

Other Committee Members

  • Gill Hurle (Membership Secretary)
  • Sue Gilmurray
  • Helen Horton
  • Heather Speight
  • Arthur West

Co-opted Committee Member

  • David Collins

Other posts

  • Newsletter Editor: Helen Riley