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Staff
Bryan Massingham
Bryan Massingham is the Director of Studies, and a partner in the Maekok River Village Resort project. He took over the additional role of General Manager of Maekok River Village Resort in October 2002.
He taught in the U.K. before arriving as Head of Geography at Island School in Hong Kong in 1982. In his latter years at the school, he was one of the Deputy Principals. An Oxford graduate with a degree in geography, he has also studied at the University College, London and the University of Hong Kong.
In his time at Island School he has organised and led the following trips.
- Treks to Nepal and to Sikkim in Northern India
- Ski trips to Switzerland and Canada
- Field trips to Guilin in China
- Field trips to Northern Thailand
Bryan also developed a wide range of fieldwork in Hong Kong, China and Thailand. In addition he has written several geography textbooks which were widely used in Hong Kong’s schools.
Rosie Massingham
Rosie Massingham helps to co-manage the resort side of the business, with a particular interest in the look of the resort and the standard of presentation and service. She also has particular responsibility for overseeing the Maekok River Village Community Project, a community development project established at the resort. One important part of this is organising and overseeing our gap year programme where we welcome students throughout the year to teach in our local school. Rosie has a degree in Humanities and has an interest in the history of the region, particularly in the Nationalist Chinese who settled in the area after fleeing China following the 1949 revolution success of Mao.
Before coming to Thailand, Rosie taught history at Shatin College Hong Kong where she was responsible for developing various schemes of work, as well as organising history fieldtrips to Vietnam and does the same at the MRV when groups come to undetake a study of the local and regional history.
Austin Paddon
Austin Paddon is the Head of Activities at the Maekok River Village Outdoor Education Centre. Before joining the MRV Team he was Head of Outdoor Education at The Regents’ School – Pattaya, where he managed the Outdoor Education Centre (IDEALS) on the island of Koh Chang and directed the OE programme for the two Regents’ schools and other visiting international groups.
He taught in the UK before serving in the Royal Air Force as a commissioned officer and returned to teaching on the ‘international circuit’ in 1994. Austin has a wealth of experience in Physical Ed and Adventure / Survival / Leadership training and has taught overseas in Cyprus, Thailand, Oman and Ethiopia. A graduate from Carnegie PE College and Leeds University, he has also taught Geography and has organized schools’ International Award programmes and led numerous field trips and expeditions.
Some of the highlights of his travels and adventures include the jungle of Brunei, the Parc National des Volcans in Rwanda, the Danakil Depression and the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia and the deserts and wadis of Oman.
Jaruwuat ‘Will’ Tepinta: Community Project Manager
Will came to us from Lampang University (south of Chiang Mai) for a 3 month internship programme in 2004 and we were fortunate that he decided to make his career with us after he completed his degree. He has gained a huge amount of experience and many skills and as such is an invaluable member of the team. His main role now is to co-ordinate and organise the numerous community projects that visiting schools undertake and also the gap year programmes. In fact, the growth of our community programme has been such, that early in 2010, we deemed it necessary to create a new post and make Will our Community Project Manager as he needs to spend at least half of each week co-ordinating the community programmes. He is also a natural leader, speaks excellent English and regulars will be pleased to know that he does still do a lot of instructing and leading of the other activities we offer.
Adisorn ‘Q’ Jaima: Student Centre Manager
Q also came for an internship in 2006 and without much persuading, he, like Will, also decided to stay and work with us. Q is an instructor, tour guide and is also an important member of the community project team. However, he has shown wonderful organisational skills and attention to detail in his earlier years and at the beginning of 2010, he was promoted to the position of Manager of the Student Centre. In this role he is responsible for all 'domestic' aspects of the centre and for organising the all-important logistics of when groups come...from airport transfers, to making sure the right number of vegetarian lunches are packed for a trek. He is also a very adaptable and flexible member of staff and will also be seen suggesting garden arrangements or making proposals about environmental improvements.
Gap Year Instructors
Every year we welcome 2 or 3 'Falang' or 'foreign' instructors who come to the MRVR for a period of up to10 months. In the past we have had graduates from University College, Birmingham, Cardiff, Southampton and Nottingham Universities and this year we have Sarah, a graduate of Leeds University and Salla from Finland, who is covering her internship from Humak University.The relationship is mutually beneficial in that we receive excellent instructors and the instructors gain tremendous experience; and at the same time enjoy spending a year in northern Thailand (and get to travel widely during their down-time).
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