First and foremost, FOCAL is a series of tournaments run by hard-working volunteers. It is these event hosts that form the spine of FOCAL as without them we would have no events to attend or organise! Each one of these organisers gives up an awful lot of their own time, and often money, to put on a great community event for our benefit and we are immensely grateful for them.
At the organisational level, FOCAL is now run by a small committee of volunteers, who make decisions regarding FOCAL’s policy and organisation. The committee members are:
Darren Godfrey – Chair
Having joined the committee in 2023, Darren was selected to be the new FOCAL chair in 2024. As chair, Darren takes ultimate responsibility for all FOCAL actions. He maintains the website, communicates with event organisers and attendees, and organises the end-of-year FOCAL Finals event.
Darren’s maiden attempt at hosting an event will come in Oxford in June 2024.
Chris Marshall – Treasurer
Chris Marshall has been attending co:events since 2013. As a professional ACCA accountant, Chris was a natural fit for the role of treasurer for FOCAL, and has served diligently in that role since FOCAL was founded in 2016. As treasurer, Chris maintains FOCAL’s accounts to make sure that we can pay for the year end Finals event and support event organisers with resources.
Chris was a Countdown quarter-finalist in 2012 and supports Huddersfield Town.
Adam Beach – Social Media
Adam Beach, aka Beachy, has been attending events since early 2022. A wizard with the graphics, Beachy has already put his stamp on the FOCAL social media gig, and his beautiful hand-crafted board can be seen gracing co:events across the country. While George left huge shoes to fill in this role, Beachy has already proven that he’s capable of rising to the challenge.
Beachy will be running his own event this year in Durham.
Fiona Titcombe
Fiona was a memorable octochamp and quarter-finalist in Series 80 of Countdown in 2019. Since 2019 she has also been at the heart of the Countdown community, organising events in London and Brighton as well as volunteering to host our 2022 Finals event in Milton Keynes and the first ever Goatdown event in Leeds, 2023.
Fiona will be running an event in Reading this April.
MSR – Safeguarding
Matthew S Rutherford (or ‘MSR’ as we like to call him!) attended his first FOCAL event in Manchester, 2020, and has since been to many more and organised a few of his own. He has presented our Birmingham event since 2022 and in 2023 co-hosted Rugby with Series 83 champ Adam Latchford.
MSR joined the FOCAL committee in 2023 to aid with the development of safeguarding policies. He will be hosting a combined Goat / Standard event in Rugby this March, as well as a separate event in Birmingham later in the year.
Callum Todd
Standing down at the end of 2023, Callum had been FOCAL chair since July 2021. Champion of series 69 and a regular participant in co:events up and down the country since 2013, Callum remains on the committee to provide much needed support and guidance to members and event organisers alike. Vegan, Leeds United fan and an all round smashing chap, Callum is one of a kind.
George Armstrong
George has been attending FOCAL events since 2018 and organised his first tournament in York in 2019, also helping to organise our London event in 2022. May 2024 will see George step into the organiser role once again, in Sheffield.
George has been a part of the ZoomDown presenting team, and was a contestant in the 2020 Countdown Christmas Specials hosted by Colin Murray.
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