Patron, Presidents, Trustees and Advisory Board

The NAA has always been honoured to have had the close support of the Royal Family since 1865.  For instance, prior to the start of the First World War in 1914 annual Queens and Kings Cups were presented to the winners of the main NAA Competitions with the winners of those competitions retaining the trophies in perpetuity.

Our new Patron is His Majesty King Charles III who kindly accepted this Patronage on 3rd May 2024. The President, Vice President and Trustees were all delighted by this news which highlights the key role that the NAA has played supporting the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and especially the Artillery Volunteers, for over 160 years.

 

Key Roles and Personalities

The key roles and those people kindly filling them are set out below:

Patron:

His Majesty, King Charles III

The King is also the Captain General of the Royal Regiment of Artillery.

President:

The Master Gunner, St James’s Park – Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory KBE CB.

The current Master Gunner, despite his many other roles, supports and takes a close interest in the role that the NAA continues to play in ensuring that Artillery Volunteers are “fit for purpose” for their volunteer artillery roles.  The Trustees very much value this support (and that of his predecessors since 1962).

Vice Presidents:

  • Colonel M J E Taylor CBE TD DL
  • Colonel J A B Kinloch TD DL

The Vice Presidents act as an invaluable sounding board for the current Trustees.

Trustees

The Trustees, as charity trustees, have control of the Charity, its property and funds subject to their duties under Charity Law.  The 2018 Constitution states that there should be at least 3 and not more than 6 Trustees.

The currently appointed Trustees are:

  • Colonel CE Comport OBE TD DL – the Chair
  • Col D Middleton MBE TD – the Deputy Chair (with responsibility for the liaison with the Reserve Regiments and Facebook)
  • Maj M Taylor TD – The Honorary Treasurer (with responsibility for the NAA finances)
  • Maj D Harris TD – The Honorary Secretary (responsibility for the administration of the NAA and communication with Members)
  • Maj A J Dines TD – Non-Portfolio Trustee (responsible for this website development, the NAA Heritage and the current re-furbishment of the NAA silver)

 

NAA Trustees and Members attending the September 2022 Lunch held at the Victory Services Club.

Advisory Board

In parallel with the adoption of the 2018 Constitution, an Advisory Board was inaugurated, whose responsibilities include:

  • Acting as an advisory body to the NAA trustees on all Royal Artillery operational matters;
  • Acting as a channel of communication and link between the Charity and the Military Chain of Command;
  • Generally providing support for all activities of the NAA; and
  • Representing the views of the Members.

The Advisory Board can have up to 16 individual members – the current Members (in addition to the existing Trustees) are:

  • The Regimental Colonel or future equivalent appointment
  • The Deputy Regimental Colonel (Reserve Colonel) or future equivalent appointment
  • The Deputy Commander (1 Artillery Brigade) or future equivalent appointment
  • The WO1 RA Army Reserve or future equivalent appointment
  • 4 Representatives of the serving Royal Artillery Reserve

 

The Honourable Artillery Company firing a Royal Salute from The Tower of London

Crest

Short biographies of the Master Gunner, Vice Presidents and Trustees are set out below:

President - The Master Gunner St James's Park

Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory KBE CB

Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory KBE CB

President

Vice Presidents

Colonel M J E Taylor CBE MStJ TD DL

Colonel M J E Taylor CBE MStJ TD DL

Vice President

Colonel J A B Kinloch TD DL

Colonel J A B Kinloch TD DL

Vice President

Trustees

Colonel C E Comport OBE TD DL

Colonel C E Comport OBE TD DL

Chair

Col D Middleton MBE TD

Col D Middleton MBE TD

Deputy Chair

Maj M Taylor TD

Maj M Taylor TD

Honorary Treasurer

Maj D Harris TD

Maj D Harris TD

Honorary Secretary

Maj A J Dines TD

Maj A J Dines TD

Non-Portfolio Trustee

Get in touch

It is important to the Trustees and the future of the NAA that we engender as much interest and enthusiasm for the NAA as possible to enable us to continue to achieve our objectives.

Please either:

    Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory KBE CB

    President

    After reading engineering at St John's College, Cambridge The Master Gunner joined the Royal Artillery in 1981. He commanded The Chestnut Troop, Royal Horse Artillery and 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and deployed on operations to Northern Ireland, the Balkans and as Deputy Commander of 1st (United Kingdom) Armoured Division during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. His recent military roles were as the Army's Director General Personnel, Military Secretary and between 2013 and April 2016 as Chief of Defence People, the Ministry of Defence's de facto Human Resource Director. In September 2016 and having left the Army, he became Chief Executive of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, an organisation that relieves need, suffering and distress amongst serving military personnel, veterans and their families. He became the 32nd Master Gunner St James’s Park on 1 May 2017.

    Colonel M J E Taylor CBE MStJ TD DL

    Vice President

    Mike Taylor served for 3 years in 32 Medium Regt in the UK and Hong Kong before serving for 34 years in the TA through Cambridge UOTC, 252 Field Regt RA TA, commanding 103 AD Regt RA(V) and finally 3 TA Colonel appointments firstly as Col RATA/DCRA, then Col HSF at UKLF and finally at Wales & Western District. He was Chairman of NW RFCA, then Chairman of the Council of RFCAs as well as being the Chairman of the NAA from1988 to 2003 and was appointed a Royal Artillery Honorary Colonel Commandant in 1994. His parallel civilian career was 22 years with Shell in the UK, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, then the public sector as Chair of 2 NHS Trusts and finally in the Third Sector where currently he is Chair of Cumbria CVS and County President of St John Ambulance in Cumbria.

    Colonel J A B Kinloch TD DL

    Vice President

    Colonel Jim Kinloch is currently a Deputy Lieutenant of Fife and is Colonel Commandant of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (Scotland). Jim was born and raised in central Fife. He started his military career in the Territorial Army as a private soldier but, after commissioning into the Royal Artillery, he served in and was privileged to command 105 (Scottish and Ulster) Regiment Royal Artillery. Post 105 Regiment, Jim was appointed Colonel TA Royal Artillery, was Honorary Colonel of 105th Regiment Royal Artillery and has served as a Vice Chairman of the NAA. Jim had the honour to be presented to Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Phillip at a private visitation to Balmoral in 1997. In civilian employment, until retiring in March 2022, he was a Programmes Manager with BAE Systems, Maritime Services managing a range of contracts supplying electronic equipment to the Navy, Army and Air Forces of the UK and Allied Nations.

    Colonel C E Comport OBE TD DL

    Chair

    Chris Comport joined 210 Lt Ad Bty RA(V) as a school boy but went on to command the Battery and then command 104 Regt itself. On promotion he became TA Colonel RA and Deputy Comd 160 (Wales) Bde. In civilian life he spent 30 years with Good Year Tyres and is now MD of his own company. The NAA has always played a big part in his Army career initially as an active participant in the competitions and more recently as both a Trustee and Chairman.

    Col D Middleton MBE TD

    Deputy Chair

    David Middleton served for 40 years as a reserve officer with 101 Regiment RA and at staff including periods of full time reserve service and mobilisation. Senior appointments included Colonel RA (Reserves) and Deputy Commander of both 43 (Wessex) and 4th Infantry Brigades. Now retired from the civil service he still volunteers with the cadet forces and is active with the Royal Artillery Association and a vice chair of the North of England East Reserve Forces Charitable Association.

    Maj M Taylor TD

    Honorary Treasurer

    Matthew Taylor joined Oxford University OTC in 1973 (having been the Senior Cadet at Bromsgrove CCF) and was a member of the RA Troop there for four years. He then served with 100 (Yeomanry) Medium Regiment until 1994. After a short break he became Secretary of the NAA in 1998 and then Treasurer in 2003. A chartered accountant in civilian life, he was a partner with EY in London until 2015 specialising in insurance taxation.

    Maj D Harris TD

    Honorary Secretary

    David Harris served in 104 Regt RA and subsequently as a staff officer with 143 Brigade BRT. In civilian life Major Harris is a retired Head Teacher, Ofsted Inspector and Senior Education Adviser for Wolverhampton City Council. A father of three children one of his sons is currently a serving officer with the Royal Artillery Reserves. He has been a member of the NAA for most of his career and Honorary Secretary since 2016.

    Maj A J Dines TD

    Non-Portfolio Trustee

    Andrew Dines has served as both a Regular and Reserve Officer in 7th Parachute Regiment RHA and 29 Commando Regiment RA. He is a now a non-practising solicitor and a director of a management consultancy/training company (Pegasus Professional Development Limited) working within the legal sector. He has been a Trustee of the NAA for over 30 years and organised the annual NAA Prizegivings at the Guildhall in London for 20 years and has just retired from being both a Royal Artillery Management Board Member for 17 years and Chair of the Welfare Committee of the Royal Artillery Charitable Fund for 9 years.