Meet the team

Chair

Richard Roberts

Richard is a mechanical engineer and former information technology project manager who first became interested in advertising in the early 2000s.

 His interest turned to a passion that led to the founding of the Richard Roberts Archive. The Archive has since developed from Richard’s private collection to a publicly accessible research centre.

 He is the director and archive consultant of the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain. He has owned several Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows and a rare 1956 James Young Silver Cloud saloon.

  • Dr. Craig Horner

    Trustee

    Craig Horner is a senior lecturer in history at Manchester Metropolitan University. His research is in late-Victorian mobility, especially cycling and motoring.

    He has written on early motoring, most recentlyThe Emergence of Bicycling and Automobility in Britainpublished by Bloomsbury in 2021 and edits theannual albumAspects of Motoring History for the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain. 

  • Peter Moss

    Trustee

    Peter is a chemical engineer and industrial consultant with a passion for motoring history that dates back to his very earliest years – his family owning old cars as diverse as a 5CV Citroën and a 4½-litre Bentley.

    He is a director, publicity officer and webmaster of the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain and has written articles for specialist motoring publications. He has given talks at the 2017 and 2019 European Motoring History Conferences.

    In 2021, Peter and Richard published their joint work Making a Marque, the history of Rolls-Royce promotion from 1904 to 1940, which contains many items from the Archive. It is out now from all good bookshops.

  • Katie Hilton

    Trustee

    Katie is a designer specialising in creating engaging experiences for the museum and heritage sector.

    She holds an undergraduate degree in Graphic Design and is currently undertaking a postgraduate degree in Heritage and Interpretation. Throughout her career spanning over a decade, she has had the pleasure to develop her hobby of visiting museums into helping other visitors access and enjoy heritage collections such as the Richard Roberts Archive.

  • Sukriti Mehta

    Trustee

    Sukriti is a marketing strategist with a background in brand communication and consumer insight. She brings over four years of experience in brand storytelling, content strategy, and research-led marketing across both corporate and creative sectors.

    She joined the Richard Roberts Archive with a keen interest in the way advertising reflects cultural history. Sukriti supports the Archive’s mission through audience development, digital engagement, and marketing strategy — helping make the collection more accessible and engaging to broader audiences.

    Her role combines her passion for storytelling with her commitment to preserving and celebrating advertising heritage. She is especially interested in how historic campaigns shaped public perception and how those insights can inspire modern communication.

Our volunteers

  • Philip Lloyd

    The Collection Care Expert

    “ I began volunteering at RRA several months ago, having initially no knowledge of what it would involve other than what I had read on this site. I was immediately made welcome and shown around the Archive to get an understanding about what it was all about. From the start I found it fascinating – not least because of how such a unique and culture-rich collection would be housed in a unit on such an unassuming (I think is the word) trading estate on the edge of Stockport.

    My main task is to sort through publications – sometimes from up to a century ago – extracting the advertisements, checking whether they already exist in the Archive and, if not, filing them away, suitably protected, using a well-understood protocol so that they can be easily extracted when needed. That is my main task but I assist wherever needed – including acting as electrician’s mate when one of the Trustees was installing new light fittings: “Hold onto this while I switch the power on to test it. Don’t worry, it is insulated.”

    They say that every day is a school-day and I find it compelling what my work at the Archive tells me about changes in social attitudes over the decades – generally, in relation to topics like gender stereotyping and how children should be raised, but also specifically, in noting how advertising of, for example, tobacco products and fur coats has changed and/or become extinct. 

    The work I do is interesting; the surroundings comfortable and the company of other volunteers and the Trustees most agreeable. Tea is constantly being brewed and – the most important element of any workplace environment – there is usually a plentiful supply of cake. I have found that my time at RRA is very far from being a zero-sum game; I am sure that the knowledge and experience I accumulate each week far exceeds the benefit to the Archive of the little bit of work that I do (but don’t tell Richard.)”

  • Stan

    Our Preservation Champion

    “I retired and was looking for interesting things to do.  I found the archive on Stockport Volunteer Hub in November 2024, with the tempting offer of maintenance and woodworking jobs.  After the first visit I was drawn in by the friendliness of the group, the log stove heated office, frequent biscuit-fuelled tea breaks, a variety of interesting tasks and listening to gentlemen of a certain age talking animatedly about old cars.  The enthusiasm of the volunteers, even when sorting through and filing scores of the same adverts is strangely infectious, I think they must be putting something in the tea.”

  • Profile coming soon

  • Profile coming soon