Committee Members
Chairman: Lee Towersey
Lee started Droid Building in 2007 after discovering the Worldwide R2 Builders Yahoo Group. Completing his first R2D2 in 2009 he attended Charity Events and Comic Cons through the Rebel Legion as there wasn’t any active groups for UK Droid Builders at the time. In 2011 Lee & Oliver helped create the UK R2D2 Builders Club and over time as the variety of Droids became more apparent it was decided to create DroidBuilders.uk to help encourage more than just Astromech Building.
Since 2013 Lee has worked for Neal Scanlan in Creature Effects at Pinewood Studios. Having worked on Star Wars Productions for over 10 years he has accumulated a tally of 15 Astromech Builds and involvement in over 100 other Droid Builds. Lee continues to build droids in his spare time, with many unfinished projects on the go at the same time!
Lee is always looking to develop the Droid Building Community and is always open to ideas from anyone to help improve the group.
Design: Nik Harber
Nik first found inspiration to build his first droid in 2016 after an enlightening visit to Celebration Europe in London. Realising that astromechs could be built from materials other than aluminium he set to work on his R5 unit and completed it a year later.
Two more astromechs followed along with a plethora of static builds which feature his now famous weathering techniques!
Prior to joining the committee he had already taken on the design role and started producing the clubs branding and merchandise artwork. Becoming a committee member was the next logical step forward.
Nik is responsible for the clubs visual identity and artwork for events, patches and clothing, he’s also an active member of Rebel Legion and acts as the club liaison to Elstree Base.
Tech/MOT: Darren Poulson
Darren first met the UK R2 Builders at a Milton Keynes CollectorMania back in 2013 and soon after started on his first droid build.
After completing his R2D2 (eventually) and getting the first MOT for it he became an MOT officer, and eventually was asked to run the MOT process for the club.
As part of this he wrote the first version of the Droidbuilders Portal, originally just for the tracking of MOT status, but eventually it grew into a more fully featured system for running the club in general. Along with the portal, Darren also set up the various websites for the club and is generally the tech goto for any IT issues online.
Outside of the committee duties, Darren organises a few part runs for the club, most notably the Astropixel light kits.
Events (Scotland): Doug Inman
Doug first started in the prop building arena back in 2004 always having intention to have his own droid. After lurking on the forums for many years in 2019 he started construction on his first R2D2 taking full advantage of the lock down period to get it finished in 2020.
Being based in Scotland, he quickly became the clubs most northern based MOT officer, supporting other builders around Scotland.
With Celebration on the cards in 2023, Doug nearly 100% completed his 2nd droid in time for the event, and now travels about all over the UK to support the club, with the possibility of many more on the cards.
Events (North): Mark Leigh
Mark joined the R2 Builders Club in 2015, beginning a journey that has led him to construct an impressive array of droids and props. His first build was an aluminum R2-D2, which he completed over 18 months. Since then, he has created two additional droids using styrene and 3D-printed parts, along with a BB-8 droid, a Mouse droid, and various other Star Wars-inspired props.
Beyond building, Mark has made significant contributions to the club community. He has been involved in organizing events for many years and hosts the annual Northern Builders meetups. As one of the club’s MOT officers, he oversees quality and safety checks for droid builds. Additionally, he has managed several “part runs” for the U.K. Club, helping fellow builders access essential components.
One of Mark’s proudest moments was assisting in the refurbishment of an R2-D2 belonging to his good friend Pedge, an honor he was grateful to be part of.
Events (South)/Worldwide R2 Builders Liaison: Oliver Steeples
Oliver was one of the first members of the R2 Builders Group on Yahoo pre-millenium. He is also responsible for multiple people joining R2 Builders/Droidbuilders.
He had his first R2 ‘almost’ ready for the original Celebration Europe in 2007 which he organised, since then he has organised (with help) Celebrations in 2016 and 2023.
He has built far too many droids, but using this as a learning experience to make future droids better.
Droidbuilder wise he is one of a team doing events, and planning events such as DBUK.
Social Media: Sarah Baker-Saunders
Sarah saw the original movie back in early 1978 and was instantly fascinated by C3PO and R2D2, the droid stars!
With a love of arts & crafts (and little money for the early toys), she made a small R2D2 out of an old broom handle…building her own real droid was the stuff of dreams!
In 2002, at Celebration 2 in Indianapolis, Sarah first noticed the R2D2 builders club. But her real opportunity to delve deeper came in 2012 after a redundancy, via a fibreglass C3PO head from eBay…
She then made a replica TC-14 head, and then quickly jumped into 3d printing. With help from other Droid Builders (including the legend “Pedge” Wadley),her TC-14 protocol droid was eventually born… just in-time for the next DBUK 2022 meet-up!
These same guys persuaded her to then wear the suit fully for the first time. Although it was a struggle.. once that head was in place and the eyes illuminated… the audible gasp from everyone was an amazing feeling!
TC-14 has appeared at several conventions since, and even got to appear at SW Celebration 2023 here in the UK. Her build adventures now continue with her first R2, of course supported by lots of helpful advice from other members.
Sarah volunteered in 2025 to help with the continued success of Droid Builders UK, and is honoured to now become a committee member.
She is always super proud to be part of the Droidbuilders UK community – such a fun, friendly & safe-space (respectful of diversity & gender/age/ability) for anybody with any interest in droid building.
Education, STEM and Events(Midlands): JD Parr
JD has been tinkering with programming, electronics and small robot building for over 20 years. First joined the Yahoo group, probably around the same time as Oliver, but delayed the first build until 3D printing became accessible.
He is now an overactive Droidbuilder both astromechs and statics and is always available to help others, with a keen interest in animatronics and developing a range of online learning resources to help demystify the build process.
Starting with Celebration 2023 he has worked alongside Michael Baddeley to deliver STEAM sessions to bring our passions to more people.
All committee members agree to the following requirements:
- We are required to attend at least two different events per calendar year, not including DBUK. This should be two distinct events and not two days for the same event (eg, Megacon).
- We will contribute at least two articles to the website per calendar year. These can be anything from event reports, tutorials, builder profiles, etc. Anything that may be of interest or useful to the droid building community.
- We must attend at least 80% of the committee meetings held.