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Meet The Team

The West Yorkshire branch of CPRE is an independent charity. It has its own governing body and a board of trustees. Listed below are the members of the board and trustees.
If you are interested in becoming a trustee for CPRE West Yorkshire, we would love to hear from you, so please get in touch.
David Cove
David Cove: Chairman

David, a recent immigrant to Yorkshire (he has only lived here 42 years), is Professor Emeritus of Genetics at the University of Leeds. Although his research is plant-based, concentrating on development at the cell level, he is a gardener and chairs his local In Bloom group.

He became a member of CPRE because of his interest in traffic management arising from the planning of the M1 extension, one option for which would have impacted on his village and the surrounding countryside. Once captured, he became a trustee and is now Branch chairman.

He is also chair of his local Neighbourhood Forum and writing the Neighbourhood Development Plan is presently occupying a lot of his time.

Michael Church: Hon Secretary, Treasurer and Trustee

Michael was born in Surrey and moved to West Yorkshire 36 years ago after living and working in England and France. He’s a retired Accountant and a widower with four grown-up daughters. His interest in the Countryside started in his youth as a member of the Boy Scout Association.

It wasn’t until he moved to West Yorkshire and got involved with the Ramblers that he took up again his interest in the countryside. He became the countryside officer for his group and finally the area countryside officer for the West Riding Area. His work with CPRE started when he was asked to represent the Ramblers on the West Yorkshire committee. This led in time to him becoming a fully paid-up member of CPRE.

He is also the Chairman of the West Riding area of the Ramblers, Deputy Chair and Treasurer of the Heavy Woollen branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and a Trustee of the Morton House Club and Institute.

Robert Bamforth
Robert Bamforth: Trustee

Now officially retired, Robert had a very varied professional career in Civil Engineering, Strategic Planning, Marketing and Management Consulting. It took him to all parts of the UK and internationally but he has always lived in the Yorkshire Pennines, close to where he was born and raised on the family farm. Married, with two adult sons, he has an eclectic range of personal interests ranging from geology to genealogy; from heritage to science fiction. The crossword puzzle is always the first job of the day.
Robert is a Trustee of West Yorkshire CPRE and a strong advocate of working in partnership with other like-minded organisations, community groups and individuals. His simple aim is to do what he can to achieve long-term, economic, social and environmental sustainability, for our communities and countryside.

Chris Foren: Trustee

Chris is a retired lawyer and lives in Leeds. He has been a member of CPRE for more than 20 years. Chris’s family enjoyed farm holidays when he was a teenager and he attributes his love of the English countryside to those formative years.

In recent months he has been busy campaigning against the expansion of Leeds Bradford airport. Chris is our most recent trustee to join the team, and is also a trustee for an organization that provides counselling to refugees and victims of torture.