Key Personalities

The Anchorites

President 2026

Chief Officer Stuart Smith, Master Mariner, PGDip, RFA

Naval Staff in the Ministry of Defence
Read Stuart’s Haul Up Report here.

Chief Officer Stuart Smith joined the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service in 2005 commencing his training at the Warsash Maritime Academy and the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. Following a three-year cadetship he was awarded the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s ‘Richard Jones Award’ and the Warsash Maritime Academy’s ‘Sword of Honour’ and was immediately appointed to RFA WAVE KNIGHT in support if OP CALASH as Third Officer. He has served in most classes of RFA as Officer of the Watch, Point Defence Officer, Navigator, Operations Officer and Executive Officer. His early career included repeated service in the Somali Basin in RFA WAVE KNIGHT conducting counter piracy operations. More recent
appointments have included RFA GOLD ROVER operating as APT(S)
and RFA BAYLEAF in support of OP KIPION, and subsequently off
Libya during OP DEFERENCE. He has also served in RFA FORT VICTORIA during her period
as Flagship to CTF 151 operating in the Gulf of Aden.
In 2011 he represented the Service at the London November Ceremonies and in 2012 he led
the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Contingent in the Armed Forces Muster in Windsor to commemorate
the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the late Queen.
In 2014 he completed the Fleet Navigating Officers Course in HMS SEVERN and was
subsequently appointed to RFA ARGUS where he served as Navigating Officer for her
deployment to Sierra Leone as part of OP GRITROCK, the UK’s response to the Ebola crisis in
West Africa. He completed the Intermediate Command and Staff Course at the Defence
Academy of the United Kingdom in 2015, winning the Royal Navy Ethos Prize. In 2017 he was
appointed to the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) project as the Navigator and
Operations Officer in RFA TIDERACE, delivering the ship to the UK for military customisation.
2018 commenced with a brief period as Executive Officer in Command of RFA ARGUS prior to
qualifying as a Royal Navy Specialist Navigator in HMS WESTMINSTER in March 2018. Later
in 2018 he joined Navy Command Headquarters for a two-year SO2 appointment as the RFA
Fleet Navigator.
In 2020 he was promoted to Chief Officer (OF4) and has served in RFA FORT VICTORIA as
Executive Officer during OP FORTIS and RFA TIDESURGE as part of the Standing NATO
Maritime Group 1. As a Chief Officer he has commanded RFA TIDEFORCE and most recently
RFA LYME BAY in the acting rank of Captain (OF5). In 2022 he had the honour to lead the
Royal Fleet Auxiliary Contingent at the State Funeral of Her Majesty the late Queen. He is
currently appointed to the Naval Staff in the Ministry of Defence, Whitehall.
A Master Mariner, Chief Officer Smith is a Younger Brother of the Corporation of Trinity House,
a Liveryman of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, a Freeman of the City of London,
President of ‘The Anchorites’ and is a member of the ‘Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society’.
Chief Officer Smith lives in Suffolk where he is the Chairperson of his local branch of the Royal
British Legion. He is commissioned as a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force Air Cadets and
commands a Sector of four Squadrons including the most improved Squadron in the UK for
2024-25! He also serves as the Aviation Officer for Norfolk and Suffolk Wing. He enjoys sailing
and is a full member of the Royal Cruising Club.

Past-President 2025

Sue Terpilowski FCLT OBE

Founder & Managing Director, Image Line
Read Sue’s Haul Down Report here.

Sue Terpilowski OBE is a well-known and accomplished PR, marketing, and communications expert who has significantly impacted the industry since the late 1980s. Sue quickly rose through the ranks to establish and manage her PR, marketing and visual events agency, Image Line Communications, in 1988.

Over the years, Sue has built a reputation for effectively collaborating with various stakeholders, raising and addressing issues affecting independent businesses. Her outstanding promotion and championing of issues affecting independent businesses in London earned her a well-deserved nomination by the Mayor of London OBE in 2014, which was awarded to her by Princess Anne.

Sue has served on multiple business organisation boards and a portfolio of voluntary positions. She takes an active memberships role in several professional bodies speaks to her passion for driving positive change in various industries. Sue has been involved in initiatives, including launching the Women’s Speakers Bank for the IMO & WISTA International and being part of the winning team in the Maritime Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Lab competition in 2022. Sue co-authored the commissioned report by ECSA & ETF looking into how the maritime industry can attract and retainer more women, particularly at sea.

Sue’s wealth of experience and passion for driving positive change has made her a sought-after consultant, public speaker and board member in various organisations.

Vice-President 2026

Captain Henry Andrews, BSc, AFNI

Master Mariner and Solicitor
Claims Executive, Steamship Mutual

Henry attended Warsash Maritime Academy and started his career at sea as a Cadet on cable layers with Global Marine Systems (formerly Cable & Wireless). He went on to sail on various vessel types, including offshore vessels, passenger ships, and harbour towage and salvage vessels, reaching the rank of Captain.

Since coming ashore, Henry has completed an Honours Degree in Marine Operations and qualified as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. After a number of years at a Maritime law firm, Henry joined the Claims Department of Steamship Mutual in 2024, where he supports the American Syndicate and the Club’s Cruise and Ferry entries.

Henry is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights and of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, where he takes an active role on various committees, including the Young Officers Committee; the Diversity & Inclusion Committee; the Centenary Committee; and the Finance & Risk Committee.

Committed to giving back, Henry serves as Vice-Chairman of trustees for the Greenwich Sea Cadets; trustee and National council member for the Merchant Navy Association; trustee for the IMarEST Guild of Benevolence; and Bridge Team Volunteer for the S.S. Shieldhall Charity.

Henry is bilingual in English and Swedish, with a working knowledge of Danish and Norwegian.

Rear-President 2026

SCOTT HANLON Esq., BA (Hons)

Head of Operations & Change Projects, and Deputy Secretary at The Corporation of Trinity House, London.

Post Sixth Form, Scott entered the Civil Service as an A1 Caseworker within Gloucestershire’s Crown Prosecution Service Trials Unit. However, this career path was short-lived following redundancies. While he secured a new post, he enrolled at Swansea University in 2009 to read history in 2009. During his studies at the University, Scott was accepted into the University Royal Naval Unit, Wales, and after two years, he became the Senior Midshipman of Wales. He completed four deployments with HMS Express, sailed around Europe, and gained experience in life and service in the Royal Navy. However, his dream of ‘Passing Out’ as a Royal Navy Officer was destroyed due to a medical injury during his final deployment.

After graduating with a 2:1 Honours degree, Scott was the last candidate to be accepted into the Graduate Teaching Programme (GTP) to teach History in secondary education. He would later become a qualified teacher of history, government & politics and religious education. After two years in Gloucester, Scott decided, like many, to move to the ‘big smoke’ and landed a teaching role at a federation of catholic secondary schools in East London. During his time there, Scott became part of the senior leadership and head of Chaplaincy. After six years, he embarked on a new journey by becoming the Chartered Master Mariner Registrar for the Honourable Company of Master Mariners (HCMM), a City of London Livery Company. However, during the worldwide pandemic that was COVID-19, in August 2020, Scott was appointed as the Clerk/CEO of HCMM. He thus became the youngest Clerk of any City of London Livery Company in over 300 years. After serving the HCMM for nearly five years as Clerk, in May 2025, Scott took up the newly created post of Head of Operations & Change Projects, and Deputy Secretary at The Corporation of Trinity House, London.

Throughout his adult life, Scott has volunteered with various organisations. Scott is a Cadet Force Adult Volunteer (CFAV) in the Sea Cadet Corps, gaining his cadet commission as a Royal Naval Reserve Officer in 2009. He has commanded two Sea Cadet Units during this time: Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire and Greenwich, London. In addition to being the Commander Officer of Greenwich, he holds two London Area appointments involving Chaplaincy support and the other organising promotion boards for prospective officer candidates and senior rate volunteers. In 2008, Scott became an Adult Helper in HCPT, The Pilgrimage Trust, a charity committed to caring for children with disabilities and illnesses for a week during Easter in Lourdes, France. He travels with the Armed Forces Region and was recently appointed in 2024 as the new Group Leader of Group 360. In addition to volunteering in Cadets and HCPT, since 2009, Scott has also been a loyal member of The Royal Society of St George, Gloucestershire Branch and sat on the branch’s committee for three years. In 2023, Scott was honoured to be elected to the Society’s National Council to reinvigorate its identity and reverse its declining membership. In 2021, Scott became a Governor of The London Nautical School, Lambeth, London, where he is the link governor for middle and senior leadership and history. He is an Honorary Liveryman and Clerk Emeritus of HCMM, a past Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Educators and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Coopers, gaining his Freedom of the City of London in 2022. His passions are politics, education, youth development, history and the maritime industry.

Honorary Treasurer

Graham Stoddart-Stones

Graham joined the Royal Navy in 1967, and was superbly treated – he went halfway round the world in a frigate in his second year, and came back in a minesweeper. He did time in HMS Aeneas (an ‘A’ class diesel boat), and then, after 3 months on a Chagos Expedition with David Bellamy, another world cruise in HMS TIGER. Patrols in HMS Resolution preceded a Cape Canaveral visit in HMS Revenge, followed by more patrols (decidedly not classifiable as world cruises). Graham left the Royal Navy in 1976, and emigrated to the US, where he stayed for ten years before returning to the UK to work on the Channel Tunnel project. He started his own IT business with two others in 1979, which took him back to the US in 1985, staying this time until 2002, when his children’s education brought the family (wife, son, daughter) back to the UK. His love of the sea continued, with a crossing of the South Atlantic in a 48′ yacht in 2019, and a trip from Stornaway in 2022 to the Faeroes, Shetland, Norway, Denmark and Germany in a 39′ yacht built in 1979. In between yacht trips, Graham explores the use of Digital Mapping for Parish Councils, and in combatting Climate Change, and is taken on walks daily by their Labrador ‘Milo’.

Get in Touch – treasurer.anchorites@gmail.com

Honorary Secretary

Commander Giles Collighan, BSc(Hons), MA, RN

Born in Edinburgh and brought up in Rochdale, Giles has followed the sun and gradually moved further and further south, now living in Southsea after a 3 year sojourn at Southampton University studying Oceanography. During the ensuing 23 year Royal Navy career, Giles served as a Warfare Officer, serving mainly in T42 Destroyers and CVS as he progressed through as an OOW, Fighter Controller, Gunnery Officer and specialising in Anti-Air Warfare. His last job at sea was as XO of HMS NOTTINGHAM before completing the Advanced Command Staff Course and leaving the service in 2012 from his post as SO1 Force Protection in Naval HQ, Whale Island.

In civvy street he has followed a career in business, gaining a good initial grounding as a franchisee with Expense Reduction Analysts before taking a sharp turn left and starting a Distillery from scratch with former Fellow Anchorite, Vince Noyce. The Portsmouth Distillery Co is based on the eastern end of Southsea seafront in the 18th Century Fort Cumberland and has provided the Anchorites 100th Anniversary gin and prizes for the charity ‘Heads and Tails’ fundraiser at our Dinners.

He has recently left the Distillery – new adventures await!

His role as Hon Sec is general admin, Dinner organisation and Membership and he should be your first point of contact for any queries you may have about The Anchorites.

Get in Touch – secretary.anchorites@gmail.com