THE CREW

With a strong Wargrave contingent, known to many in the village, the crew is made up as follows:

Chris Cordrey has lived in Wargrave for 20 years, both his children attend Ranelagh School in Bracknell where he is Parent Governor. His business background is in supply chain and he now works as a Director of his own company contracting in e-procurement and partner management. “Last year, my fiftieth , by way of dealing with my MLC ( mid life crisis), I had a crack at sailing the Atlantic, it was a great experience and raised £38,000 for the COSMIC Charity. I realised that if a whole COSMIC crew could charter a yacht and raise a modest sum each we would be on winner, so the COSMIC Biscay Challenge was born.

Suby Snellen is the only lady on the crew. Her name evolved from a modelling career years ago when she changed her name, having been christened Susan! She has two daughters and a puppy who is helping in her quest to get fit, having morning runs in addition to training at the gym when work has finished. Suby heard the appeal from Chris on Radio Berkshire and took up the challenge! “The only member from Wokingham, I would like to think the people of Wokingham will get behind me to support my challenge and help me reach my target £5000 sponsorship.”

David Moseley has lived in Wargrave for 28 years. He is married with 4 sons and, at 54, he is the oldest member of the Crew. David is a Business Consultant specialising in providing business and strategic planning advice to start-up and early stage companies - mainly in high technology. He keeps fit by running (and is a founder of Wargrave Runners), but has only limited experience of sailing. “Sailing across the Bay of Biscay is an opportunity to test yourself that you only get once or twice in your life. I’m looking forward to it with a mixture of excitement and apprehension.”

Ritchie O'Brien lives in Wargrave and has been married for 15 years to Julie, they have four daughters. He was born in London but grew up and was educated in Johannesburg, South Africa. Ritchie has spent his career in the construction, IT and Railway industries, he is currently an executive with the new Railway infrastructure company Network Rail, recently taken over from Railtrack. “ I have always planned to sail around the world with Julie when we retire. I think she is hoping that the Biscay Challenge will get this out of my system.”

David Cunningham has lived in Wargrave for seven years with his wife Shirley and their ten-year-old daughter Megan. Together with Shirley they run their own business, organising conferences and events both in the UK and abroad. Prior to this David had a twenty-year career as an actor in film, TV and theatre appearing in several West End plays with such names as Lauren Bacall, Faye Dunaway and Michael Gambon. “ I have never been a particular lover of the sea, but what an adventure and by the end of it we should have raised a substantial sum of money.”

Nadeem Batt - is 32 and lives in Hayes with his girlfriend of three years. He is an IT consultant and works for Sun Microsystems, mainly in the design and implementation of network/internet infrastructure. He keeps fit by a regular gym routine and swimming. Loves sailing and scuba diving, however, hasn't done anything anywhere near as challenging as the Biscay Challenge before. "The cost, the effort and the holidays used, will be well worth it if we can raise enough money to get the ambulance for COSMIC that they so badly need.”