MEET THE BASE TEAM
Graham Sykes
Chief Executive
Graham has been a supporter of the Trust for most of it's existence. In 2019 he was recruited by the then CEO as potential sea staff. Soon after the sad news of the laying up of Morning Star of Revelation broke. Graham shared in the re-think of the business model and helped procure funds for the purchase of Eastern Star. He served as a Morning Star Trust Ambassador until his appointment as CEO.
Graham is a minister in the Church of England. He has sailed everything from a Mirror dinghy to a 200' tall ship!
Anna Pennington
PA to the CEO
Anna has always loved being outdoors doing sport especially on the water. She first met the Morning Star Trust at university through a trustee who convinced her to do her DofE Gold expedition resulting in her completing the award aged 24 and a ½, just in time! After gaining her Competent Crew, she went on to get her Day Skipper and later joined the Round Britain leg from Edinburgh to Fort William, discovering adventure, confidence, and the joy of being told “go helm!”. She volunteered as a Mate, even supporting with social media while living overseas. Anna left teaching in April 2026 after hearing the call to career pivot she now works part‑time for the Trust bringing her project management, organisation and speedy typing skills. She is fuelled by a lot of prayer and a lot of oat flat whites she spends the rest of her time getting up to Mischief on Strava.
Anna Jakob
Administrative Assistant
Anna fell in love with the sea and its impact on people in 2017, when she first stepped on a yacht. She quickly realised that a classroom in Switzerland was much less effective than the environment a boat creates – so she trained up and moved to the UK in 2023. She first met MST in 2018, but it took five years and another God-orchestrated meeting to get her to sail with us!
Anna loves supporting people in becoming the best possible version of themselves – whether that is by asking a deep meaningful question and listening well to the answer, providing food and crewlists, or simply a hug.
Amy Scott
Staff Skipper
Amy's first time on a yacht was doing her Silver Duke of Edinburgh expedition with the Ocean Youth Trust Scotland which cemented her love for the sea! As a student she spent as much time on the water as she could, dinghy racing, instructing and qualifying as a Yachtmaster offshore before finishing her degree.
She later switched her adventures at sea to adventures with God on dry land much of which was overseas until returning to Oxford. After four years of teaching, Amy eased her way back into sailing by completing the 2025-2026 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race as crew.
Amy is excited to join MST as staff skipper. She is also a trustee of Big Green Heart
Barry Hampton
Finance Manager
Barry is our Finance Manager and looks after the bookkeeping and financial arrangements for the Trust.
He assists with our forward financial planning and is always looking for ways to improve the way we run our finances together with our data and record keeping.
Ted North
Fundraising Assistant
Ted has held senior leadership positions at numerous charities and organisations over a distinguished career in outdoor education, and led MST for ten years until his retirement in 2017.
Never one to sit still, Ted continues to use his fundraising expertise to help ensure we have the resources we need to run our programmes.
James Richardson
Project Equip
(New boats)
James is a keen sailor and joined the Trust in 2024. He has participated both as sea staff and as part of the maintenance team. James is a Project Manager by training and brings a wealth of experience managing major projects across a wide range of industry sectors. With this experience in mind, he has volunteered to assist the trust by Project Managing "Project Equip", which is the specification, funding, procurement, build and commissioning of 4 new boats for the trust over the next 5 years.
Jason Ward
Ambassador
South-West
Jason spends most of his life on the water. His passion is teaching young folk to sail and opening their eyes up the wonders of time at sea. Harnessing the power of nature and helping people to become a crew, to work and survive together is what makes him come alive.
When not skippering sail training yachts with MST he is working his small fishing boat off the Cornish coast trying to land ‘a bit of fish and a few lobsters’. The only time you will see him run is when the lifeboat when the pager goes off, he is crew at Penlee.
Jason was a plumber by trade and also a pastor in the Apostolic Church UK, he has some training in counselling and mental health awareness, he is keen to see lives of people made better.
Adam Davis
Ambassador
East Coast
My parents introduced me to my Christian faith and to the sea. Since then, many people, mostly “volunteers” have encouraged, taught and inspired me about both. I had a career in commercial property and business management; but now (alongside being a husband, father, PopPops and several other things) I’m a volunteer skipper with Morning Star and find myself promoting the joy of East coast sailing. I love seeing the transformation that comes to so many people when joining a boat and learning to work with the sea. Morning Star continues the legacy of faith and the sea given to me by many others and I now hope to pass that on myself – and if it happens to be out of the Orwell, the Blackwater, the Wash or the Thames or any of the delights in between, then even the better!
Susan Iskander
Women on Water
Susan has refreshed and updated her sailing qualifications to volunteer as a skipper and an RYA Cruising Instructor with Morning Star Trust on the South and East Coast of UK. She also volunteers with Civil Service Sailing Association, Cirdan Trust and Spirit of Adventure Trust in New Zealand. She enjoys accompanying young people as they find their passion and potential through the adventure of sailing and discover their capacity to weather the storms in the sea of life. In turn Susan is passionate about encouraging female sailors and skippers or instructs on MST Women on the Water (WoW) Voyages that provide a safe space for women to test themselves and build community aboard ship. Susan's sense of personal resilience stems from her understanding of her own identity in Christ, and belief that everyone is equally created and loved by God. Though that personal resilience was tested in the challenges of the Covid 19 Pandemic, sail training is refreshing her soul too
Josiah Brown
Josiah joined the Morning Star Trust team as a volunteer in 2025, having grown up sailing traditional yachts on the Norfolk Broads. He brings a heartfelt passion for the water combined with a deep love for the Lord. For Josiah, sail training is the perfect intersection of these and he is dedicated to using time at sea to mentor young people, build their confidence, and share the joy of exploring life and the sea together.
Stewart Scott
Volunteer Vessel Maintenance Manager and Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Manager
Stewart has had a long career in engineering, but his passion is sailing on the sea. He brings these two things together in leading the volunteer team who keep our boats safe, seaworthy and up to the high standards of the MCA Coding requirements. Stewart also has a strong commitment in enabling everyone to have the opportunity to experience sailing a yacht on the sea and serves MST as their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer as well as being Yacht Mate. MST is determined that EDI will be a reality and not just an exercise in looking good. He also volunteers for the Sea Cadets as Yacht Mate and Relief Engineer on their Tall ship TS Royalist.