Simon Hughes, CCT secretary, appointed MBE
CCT welcomes the appointment of an MBE in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours to Simon Hughes, secretary of the Chagos Conservation Trust, for services to environmental conservation.
Simon was one of the earliest members of CCT and has served as its secretary since its inception as the ‘Friends of the Chagos’ in 1993 when he was recruited by the founder, John Topp.
After serving 18 years in the Royal Navy as a Signal Officer, Simon became a Telecom Manager in BP for 10 years before fulfilling the same role at Schroders merchant bank in the City. From 1991 he worked as a consultant with KPMG prior to striking out on his own for a decade. His service to CCT since then has been of great value and deserving of this recognition.
Congratulations, Simon!

The Chagos Conservation Trust is delighted to welcome its intern for the 2026-2027 academic year, Elisha Gough.
Read the storyUnder the watchful eyes of Charles Darwin’s painting, Director Sarah Puntan-Galea presented the annual Chagos Conservation Trust Speaker Event to a packed hall at the Linnean Society of London on 14 May 2026.
Read the storyWe were delighted to launch our new website at our recent Annual General Meeting, where our members were given a live walk-through by Filip Hnizdo from Octophin Digital who assisted our Director, Sarah Puntan-Galea, in the creation of the new site.
Read the story