The site
Anapoly AI Labs, this website, introduces what we do, who we are, and how you can get involved. Alongside that is Anapoly Notebook, where we document experiments, publish lab notes, reflect on what works (and what doesn’t), and share our thinking as it develops.
The two sites, together with your practical involvement, offer a window into a hands-on effort to explore how general-purpose AI tools can help with real-world work – especially for independent professionals, small organisations, and curious individuals.
You’re welcome to follow along, try things yourself, and take part.
Our labs
An Anapoly lab is a simulated working environment set up to test how AI tools perform in real-world tasks. Labs don’t teach AI, they reveal its behaviour through use. The purpose is not just to explore what AI can do, but also to help participants build the confidence and judgment needed to use it well. Labs have a progressive focus:
Acclimatisation – first exposure, orientation, and familiarisation with AI tools and language.
Experimentation – practical trials to understand capabilities and limits.
Proof of concept – focused tests to determine whether AI tools can support specific tasks, processes and workflows.
Iteration – refining approaches and outputs through repeated trials, informed by feedback and earlier attempts.
Who are we?
We are Ray Holland, Dennis Silverwood and Alec Fearon, three experienced professionals based in Plymouth. We are preparing to launch Anapoly AI Labs to help others like us: people who are curious about AI, want to make sense of it, and prefer hands-on exploration over hype. Our focus is on trying out real tasks with current AI tools. The aim is to see what the tools are genuinely good for, and where they fall short.
Ray Holland
I’m a chartered electrical engineer, trained at the Royal Naval Engineering College in Plymouth. For the last 30 years I’ve managed programmes in renewable energy and energy policy across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and worked on support programmes for small businesses and the services that back them. Much of this focused on helping communities develop their own energy supply, often using technology created or adapted here in the West Country.
I ran a small consulting firm for ten years, delivering research and technical assistance for the World Bank, UN agencies, overseas governments, and the UK’s Department for International Development. In 2000 I led a project that developed an early solar lantern, later licensed to a company with strong distribution in Africa. Since then, solar lighting has become a widespread success, and I received the Environmental Award for Engineers in 2001 for that early work. I also served as a director of International Development Enterprises UK, which focused on affordable tools and technologies for small-scale farmers.
From Germany, I managed a six-year EU programme that supported African governments and regional bodies. That work included helping to develop the Africa-EU Energy Partnership and designing the current Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme. Today I’m applying some of those lessons closer to home by helping to set up community-owned solar projects in South Devon.
I live just outside Plymouth and have been struck by the creativity and drive of many of the area’s small businesses. I believe there’s real potential here, and I want to help share and strengthen what already works well. That’s one of the reasons I’ve joined Alec and Dennis in setting up Anapoly AI Labs.
Dennis Silverwood
I began my working life as an electrical engineer in the Royal Navy, then moved into industry project management, university lecturing in operations research, and later into marketing and business modelling. Along the way I’ve made and sold furniture, managed a theatre, tutored maths, run bid management projects, and supervised MSc students at Warwick University.
What ties all this together is a strong interest in how things get done, not just technically but through people. That has shaped my approach to teaching and consulting alike. I’ve particularly enjoyed working with students and young professionals on themes such as the UN development goals, corporate responsibility, and how new products and services emerge and find their place in the world.
Although I spent years commuting to Bristol and London, and travelled widely in the Middle East, Far East and United States, I have always remained rooted in Plymouth. I value the quality of life here and want to see the city grow in ways that help younger people build rewarding lives without having to leave. That is part of what drew me to help create Anapoly AI Labs.
Alec Fearon
I joined the Royal Navy at 17 and became a Weapons & Electrical Engineer Officer. Over the next 26 years, my focus shifted from traditional systems to computer-based combat systems. At sea, I served in frigates and a hydrographic survey ship. Ashore, I worked on development projects: as trials officer for the Stingray torpedo, our first guided weapon with a programmable digital brain; as combat system engineer on the Type 23 Frigate, the first to use networked computing; and later as UK lead on combat systems in the multinational project that became the Type 45 Frigate.
When the Cold War ended, I left the Navy and spent 14 years freelancing as a systems engineer and project manager in health, defence, and local government. At the same time, I set up Plymouth’s first internet services company—at one point running 35 telephone lines into a spare room at home. We provided email services to GPs across Devon, supported local businesses with e-commerce, and worked with Plymouth Chamber of Commerce on a prototype online clearing house for local enterprise. After moving to the Tamar Science Park, we developed services for clients ranging from yacht brokers to The Stationery Office.
Later, I worked for eight years as an ICT project manager in local government, helping services move online and join up across departments. I also became an external supervisor for MSc students at Warwick, guiding them through research on topics such as value in project management, sustainable business, and the implications of emerging technologies like the Internet of Things.
Although my work took me elsewhere much of the time, Plymouth has been home for a large part of my life. I raised a family here and have long appreciated the quality of life the city and its surroundings offer. Now that I have the time and freedom to do so, I want to repay some of that – especially by encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship amongst young people – so that Plymouth can thrive in what is certain to be a challenging future. That’s the main reason I’m helping to startup Anapoly AI Labs. But also, I’m fascinated by what’s happenig with AI, and this is a good way of trying to keep up with developments. And not least, it’s great fun.
