After almost 10 years with ZEAL, Sönke Martens, Chief Commercial Officer of ZEAL, has decided not to extend his Board contract expiring end of June 2024. Going forward, ZEAL Network SE will streamline its Executive Board to three members effective 1^st December 2023.

Sönke Martens will step down from his position on the ZEAL Executive Board effective from 30 November 2023. He will continue to serve ZEAL until the end of February 2024 to ensure a seamless transition of his responsibilities to respective management leaders of ZEAL.

“I would like to thank Sönke Martens for his relentless dedication towards ZEAL and its brands LOTTO24 and Tipp24 in the past years.”, said Peter Steiner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ZEAL Network SE. “With his innovative spirit, he has shaped ZEAL’s culture and made significant contributions to making ZEAL a best-in-class e-commerce company and the market leader for online lotteries”

Advertisement

Helmut Becker, Chief Executive Officer of ZEAL Network SE: “On behalf of the entire Executive Board I would like to extend my gratitude and best wishes to Sönke for his passion and startup spirit he brought to the company. Only this year, he and his team successfully launched the biggest marketing campaign in the history of LOTTO24. Under his leadership ZEAL tripled billings in the core business, successfully integrated the LOTTO24 and Tipp24 businesses, and achieved a significant improvement in customer lifetime values and the way we win new customers. We regret his decision to leave ZEAL and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities outside of ZEAL, and wish him the best for the future.”

Sönke Martens has been part of the ZEAL Group since 2014. He held various management positions, initially as Head of Product, later as Managing Director responsible for the operational business and, among other things, shaped the multi-brand strategy following the LOTTO24 takeover. Since July 2021 he serves as member of the Executive Board of ZEAL. In his role he was responsible for product management, marketing and customer operations, data science, as well as the German LOTTO24 business and ZEAL Iberia.

A collaborative project involving University of Gloucestershire, the Dean Heritage Centre and local volunteers and schools to establish a unique literary collection, has been awarded £133,8867 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The literary papers of past Forest of Dean writers will be conserved and made available to researchers, schools and the public.

The new project will bring together a unique collection of material spanning more than 200 years, some written in local dialect, that reflects the landscape, people and places of the Forest of Dean.

Advertisement

The Forest of Dean Writers Collection will complement Dean Heritage Centre’s archive of British television playwright Dennis Potter (1935-1994), which was also the product of previous work with the University.

The two-year-long project will see the original handwritten manuscripts, including poems, novels, play scripts, notebooks, drawings and photographs held by descendants from all over the UK and the US, become part of the Forest community museum’s permanent collection.

Specialists from University of Gloucestershire will work with museum staff and local volunteers to research and catalogue the more than 400 unique items making up the new collection, while a series of events and exhibitions will showcase the fascinating new material.

Schools will have access to the collection’s literary, historical and dramatic content, to give their cross-curriculum work a local flavour and raise literary aspirations.

Unique Material

Advertisement

Among the unique material making up the new collection are previously unknown poems by “Forest Poetess” Catherine Drew (1784-1867); work by poet, biographer and literary editor Leonard Clark OBE (1905-1981); books once belonging to war-poet FW Harvey (1888-1957; a never-before seen novel by Valerie Grosvenor Myer (1935-2007) better known as an academic and biographer; a memoir by former collier and farmer Fred Boughton (1897-1985) written in Forest dialect with parallel “Queen’s English” translation.

Many of the papers were discovered by Dr Jason Griffiths and Dr Roger Deeks during their research for the University’s “Reading the Forest” project that was launched in 2015 to engage the public with the work, life stories and achievements of writers and poets from the Forest.

Dr Jason Griffiths said: “We’re so thrilled to hear we’ve received this support from the Heritage Fund. Thanks to The National Lottery players, more people will learn about the Forest of Dean’s rich and distinctive literary heritage.

“The work of these authors is of intense local interest, but it is also part of a much wider national body of work that captures the rich texture of this country’s fascinating places and people.”

Dr Roger Deeks said: “The literary heritage of the Forest of Dean is an important part of its wider cultural heritage. Many of these writers overcame economic hardship and class prejudice to achieve what they did. The story of their lives and careers will inspire young Foresters.”

Advertisement

Creative Talent

Dean Heritage Centre manager, Mark George, said: “This new collection plays an important part in our plans to diversify the museum’s displays and the new stories we tell about the Forest’s history. It will bring new visitors to the Centre too.”

Nicola Wynn, head of collections at Dean Heritage Centre, said: “This is fantastic news. I am so looking forward to working with this new collection. Alongside our existing Dennis Potter archive, this new material demonstrates the incredible depth of creative talent that has come out of the Forest of Dean over the years.

“Engaging young people with this work could create a whole new generation of Forest writers and poets.”