Meet The Crew

This page shows you some mug shots of the people who either run, or help out with aspects of running the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain.

Hopefully this page will help you put some Faces to Names (or is that Names to Faces?). If you are new to the club and coming on your first trip, feel free to come along and say hello to us! We're a friendly bunch of 'Coaster Crazy' enthusiasts, and are always happy to tell you anything you want to know about the club, trips, or anything else you may want to ask!

ANDY HINE MBE - RCCGB Chairman & Founder andy@rccgb.co.uk Andy is the Chairman of our fantastic club! He puts alot of hours into running the club, organising trips for us all to get together, socialise, have fun and of course ride coasters!! Short Profile: I started the Club in 1988 to unite coaster enthusiasts and have been running it ever since. As well as overviewing the Club and all area's of it my day to day role is administering new members, organising trips, handling media enquiries, responding to e-mails (although this is difficult as I get around 200 a day!), I also still stuff AIRtime in envelopes, stick on address labels and lick the stamps! I bet Richard Branson doesn't do that! Nickname: Nev RCCGB Message Board Name: Andy Hine MBE First Coaster Ride: Grand National (BPB) - Age 6 Favourite Woodie: Phoenix (of course!) at Knoebels, Pennsylvania Favourite Steelie: ??? (Real Coasters are made of wood!) Favourite UK Park: BPB Favourite Non-UK Park: Knoebels (followed by Indiana Beach) Funniest Coaster Experience: Riding Megafobia (Oakwood) holding two 1 litre cups full of water with Ryan Hackett sitting behind me. Can't think how he got so wet!! Best Coaster Experience: Seat 3 on the Phoenix everytime. I've been riding for over 20 years and it's always good Worst Coaster Experience: Gouderix (Parc Asterix) - I'd have less pain if I was being hit with a baseball bat! Other Interests / Hobbies: Skiing, Go-Karting, Kraftwerk, Benny Hill!

ALAN CHILVERS - Club Secretary Short Profile: I am the Club Secretary. I help Nev with anything he wants me to do with the club, or anything else really. I stuff letters into envelopes, check the bank balances, help organise Blackpool, and thus can often be seen on the stage singing or doing some weird gong show act. I also organise the annual Club Ski Trip. Nickname: Chick RCCGB Message Board Name: Information not provided First Coaster Ride: I cant remember that. I can remember the Southend Kursaal though. And my first trip with the club was the opening of Megafobia Favourite Woodie: In Britain, Megafobia Favourite Steelie: Nemesis Favourite UK Park: I like a lot of the parks in the UK, but I do appreciate parks are designed for different people ( with a park designed for coaster enthusiasts not even on a drawing board ! ) If someone asks me where to go, I ask them what they want from a park, then suggest a suitable answer Favourite Non-UK Park: Information Not Provided Funniest Coaster Experience: Ryan's Ice cream drama - We were on a USA trip, and it was hot. Myself, Ryan and Nev were wandering about, so we grabbed an ice cream, and being America, it was huge, and overflowing the cornet. So much so that Ryan's lost it's balance and fell to the floor. His face was a picture. However, this mountain of ice cream was now just outside a shop entrance. We had nothing to clean it up with, and before long people were walking towards it. We were now taking bets as to who was going to tread in it or not, whilst we hid just in the shop, behind the T shirts. It was an hilarious 10 minutes, ending with a man flattening it with his sandals, as it squished between his toes, as he lost his balance and fell into it as well. Ho Hum Best Coaster Experience: Too many to recount. Some of the ERS's have been fantastic Worst Coaster Experience: Being bashed on the head on some of the not so nice steelies around the world Other Interests / Hobbies: Believe it or not, I work in the Fashion trade. Always have done, and I suspect always will. I am over 37 you know. I also used to be in a group, and was a mobile DJ for about 10 years.

GRAHAM SHAW - Merchandising - Clothing merchandise@rccgb.co.uk Graham is responsible for all Club Merchandise clothing with Colleen Dudley. We are currently waiting for more information and a short profile from Graham, so check back soon for an update!

COLLEEN DUDLEY - Merchandising - Clothing merchandise@rccgb.co.uk Colleen is responsible for all Club Merchandise clothing with Graham Shaw. We are currently waiting for more information and a short profile from Colleen, so check back soon for an update!

ANDREA SHEPPARD - AIRtime Editor & Production airtime@rccgb.co.uk Short Profile: I joined the RCCGB in 1999 and became the Editor of AIRtime at the start of the 2002 coaster season, and basically everything you've seen in AIRtime since then - I've put together. AIRtime is the bi-monthly club members magazine, full of trip reports, UK and Worldwide Coaster news, as well as members articles and news. I collate the stories and images, from members, regular contributors, and directly from information supplied by the parks, along with sourcing information and images that are not always readily available. Once I've got it all together - then I create the artwork ready for printing. The deadline always seems to come around very quickly and inevitably I end up working very late into the night on the computer, once the kids have finished their homework and gone to bed!! So sorry for any spelling mistakes! Nickname: Andy RCCGB Message Board Name: Jester First Coaster Ride: As far as I know it was the Wild Mouse on the seafront at Southsea Favourite Woodie: A hard one for me as I am such a woodie lover - probably anything designed and constructed by CCI or The Gravity Group - oh and of course The Grand National and The Big Dipper at Blackpool. Favourite Steelie: Millennium Force without a doubt Favourite UK Park: Blackpool Pleasure Beach Favourite Non-UK Park: Probably Cedar Point, but I still have plenty of parks to discover Funniest Coaster Experience: Riding Shockwave Backwards (before H&S stopped us!) and the person standing next to me thinking I had managed to get into that position on the ride, with my face rammed agaist the headrest, by accident! And being filmed while riding Nemesis in our underwear for Comic Relief - Pants to Poverty Year - AGGGHHHH!!!! Best Coaster Experience: Oh - difficult - there are so many ... Nemesis in the rain at most Loopathons - Megafobia in the Dark (and usually in the rain) at Oakwood - Being at the ride opening day of The Voyage at Holiday World - Filming on the coasters with the kids and the BBC - My first ever rides on Millenium Force and TTD - then being able to take the family to Cedar Point so they could understand why I loved them so much! Worst Coaster Experience: Not getting roll-back on TTD - Grrrr - and knowing I probably never will Other Interests / Hobbies: I work in the Theatre, and most of my spare time, has either a theatrical or musical element to it. I also love watching movies, but have a habit of falling asleep while watching them at home! Perhaps it is because I do too much!!

MATT WALKER - Website Editor webmaster@rccgb.co.uk Short Profile: Matt (me!) - should that be I? Anyway - I am the Club Website Editor, so if things here don't work, blame me! I'll add some profile information very soon when i've got a few spare minutes and chased everyone else for information for this page! If you find any broken links or errors on the site, please feel free to send me an email, and i'll get them fixed! In the meantime, here's my quick facts.... Nickname: Matt RCCGB Message Board Name: Coaster Police First Coaster Ride: Corkscrew at Alton Towers Favourite Woodie: El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA Favourite Steelie: Millennium Force at Cedar Point, Ohio, USA Favourite UK Park: Blackpool Pleasure Beach Favourite Non-UK Park: Cedar Point, such a choice of coasters! Funniest Coaster Experience: Not really sure, but it's bound to be when Heather Hall was about and providing entertainment, either that or on a silly kiddie coaster somewhere which are always a right laugh! Best Coaster Experience: Sat in the back seat of El Toro with Mark Blundell for the first ride of the ERS on the USA 2008 Tour. Having absolutely no idea what to expect, the pure insanity of the speed and airtime of this coaster was the best - because I simply wasn't ready for it. I was then lucky enough not to get bumped out the back seat for the next 2 rides! Bonus!!! Worst Coaster Experience: Is it possible to have a bad one? Oh hang on... just thought... Arrows? Other Interests / Hobbies: I work in IT by day, and almost of my spare time when i'm not out on Coaster Trips is taken up by either doing this website, playing pool (league player), playing UT2004, or relaxing and trying to catch up on TV!

DAVE PERRY - Club Photographer trips@rccgb.co.uk Short Profile: I am the club's Official Photographer. You'll see me on the trips, camera at hand taking loads of photo's of everyone having fun and so you are bound to end up in the yearbook. I'm also helping Matt out with the website doing the Trips section so if you have any trip reports or photo's you'd like considered for the website then please forward them to me and i'll do the rest. Nickname: Dave RCCGB Message Board Name: amigasat First Coaster Ride: Wild Mouse at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Favourite Woodie: The Voyage at Holiday World, Indiana Favourite Steelie: Superman - Ride Of Steel at Six Flags New England, Massachusetts Favourite UK Park: Blackpool Pleasure Beach Favourite Non-UK Park: Cedar Point Funniest Coaster Experience: Riding The Rattler during an ERS at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, everyone was laughing throughout the ride Best Coaster Experience: My first ride with the club, an ERS on Shivering Timbers on Woodiestock'99, what a ride to start my club experience on! Worst Coaster Experience: The Tornado at M&D's in Motherwell, heavy bruising after just 2 rides, they have now removed the corkscrew element Other Interests / Hobbies: Traveling, Computing, My Website, Casino's & Bandits!, Organising Trip Add-On's, Music, Satellite TV

GARETH PREECE - Merchandising - Collectables gareth@rccgb.co.uk Short Profile: Gareth is responsible for all Club Merchandise collectables. Nickname: Sheep RCCGB Message Board Name: Sheep First Coaster Ride: The wooden "Figure Of 8" at Porthcawl, on or around 1970 Favourite Woodie: Tough one this, but the more I ride it, the better it gets, so it has to be Megaphobia Favourite Steelie: Easiest question of all, the one and only Nemesis Favourite UK Park: Oakwood, without a doubt Favourite Non-UK Park: The wonderful Knoebels Funniest Coaster Experience: The historic, through the Station on The Outlaw, Adventureland, USA Trip 1999. Those who were there will know what I mean Best Coaster Experience: As per funniest experience above! Worst Coaster Experience: ERS on Silver Star, Europa Park, in the evening, soaked to the skin (thanks Mr. Healey, revenge will be mine). I don't think I have warmed up yet !!! Other Interests / Hobbies: Photography, Computers, Cars & Motor Racing, Travel. That about pretty much sums it up!

POSITION VACANT x4 - Welcoming Crew Member The main function of a member of the Welcoming Crew is to help new members who are on their first club trip. They are available to introduce the new members to other members, answer any questions, and generally help out where they can. These positions are all voluntary to help new members out and should be filled during Winter 2008/9 ready for the beginning of the 2009 Coaster season! Enquires should be directed to: info@rccgb.co.uk