Background:

Ali Vowles grew up on a small dairy farm in Gloucestershire.  Her parents came from many generations of farmers in Gloucestershire and Somerset. She has mainly lived in Bath since 1987. She is married and has one son.

Education and experience:

Katharine Lady Berkeley’s Comprehensive in Wotton-under-Edge is where Ali went to school and she ended up being Head Girl.  She graduated with a BA(Hons) in Media and Communication studies at Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University). The first time she walked into a radio studio over thirty years ago, Ali fell in love with the job working as a BBC presenter and reporter for TV and radio. Her career has taken her to every nook and cranny of the west country.  She says the most enjoyable bit has been meeting and interviewing thousands of people, who have trusted her to tell their stories. As a freelance she now enjoys all kinds of work from event and conference hosting to media training and even modelling.

Further information:

Supporting charities has always been an important part of Ali’s life.  She is a patron for the testicular cancer charity, It’s In The Bag – and an ambassador for the dementia research charity, BRACE. She has also been given the University of Bath’s Vice Chancellor’s Award for her outstanding contribution to the community.

Background:

Narinder was born in the Punjab, India as a Sikh. She became a Christian in her 20’s. Her husband converted from Islam to Christianity, and they have three grown up daughters and three grandchildren.

Before her Ordination in the Anglican Church, Narinder was a Registered Nurse working in Palliative Care and Mental Health. She is a qualified Psychodynamic Counsellor and Intercultural Psychotherapist, Counselling Supervisor and Spiritual Director. God’s calling as a priest has led Narinder to serve in parishes in St Albans, Beaconsfield and in Bath & Wells Diocese.

Currently, she is the Lead Chaplain of Royal United Hospitals Bath (RUH), Staff Governor and as part of my role Narinder sits on various groups such as the Ethics Group, End of Life Steering Group, Health and Wellbeing Group, Equality and Diversity Group representing the UKME staff, patients and their families and leading Reflective Practice Groups for colleagues at the RUH.

Narinder is an Interfaith Advisor for Bath and Wells Diocese, a Bishops Panel Adviser (BAP) and working with Vocations Team focusing on UKME/GM Vocations and the UKME Champion addressing Racism and Injustices for Bath and Wells Diocese within the wider church.

She is a Priest Vicar at Wells Cathedral and member of the Steering Group at Wells Cathedral which has oversight to help shape the Cathedral’s approach to the reinterpretation of its monuments with connections to Transatlantic Slavery and a part of the Diocese Lament to Action Group.

Narinder currently serves on the Bishop’s Council as well as the Diocesan Synod. She is a Trustee for Ammerdown Retreat Center which aspires towards Hospitality, Peace and Reconciliation where Narinder leads retreats, quiet days, and training on Racial Justice, Diversity and Bereavement at Ammerdown Nationally, Narinder is a member of the National Minority Ethnic Vocations Advisory Group working alongside the National Minority Ethnic Vocations Officer Regionally and Chaplaincy Steering Groups For Narinder, it is an enormous privilege to serve God and His people. His faithfulness and steadfast love is key to her calling. In March 2022, Narinder was invited and installed as Prebendary of Wells Cathedral which was an honour to receive.

Education and experience:

Richard was educated at Uppingham School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he read law. He is admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales and the Supreme Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He has been at the same leading City law firm since 1991 and specialises in disputes and investigations.

The main focus of Richard’s work in the voluntary sector has been on mental health and social mobility. As well as being a vocal advocate for mental health awareness both within his law firm and across the wider legal profession, he is currently a trustee, and chair of the appeal board, at James’s Place, a national male suicide prevention charity.
He is also involved with the social mobility charity upReach and for a number of years has acted as a mentor to students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are looking to join the legal profession. In 2024 he was nominated as Best Mentor of the Year at the Student Social Mobility Awards.

In addition, he is a Specially Appointed Commissioner at the Royal Hospital , Chelsea.

Further information:

He and his family moved from London to Somerset in 2007. He lives with his wife Fiona in a village on the edge of the Blackmore Vale where they make cider and try (unsuccessfully) to keep bees. They have four adult children, two sons and two daughters. Richard’s interests include travel, skiing, cricket and open water swimming.

Education and experience:

David joined The Bristol Port Company in October 2008 as the Operations Director and was appointed as its Chief Executive Officer in 2016.  Bristol Port remains the largest private and independently owned Port in the UK, employing over 600 personnel.  It operates over a 2,600 acre estate with a hugely diverse portfolio of trades.

Prior to joining the Port David spent 24 years serving in the British Army during which time he was involved in numerous operational deployments culminating in Commanding his Battalion in Afghanistan in 2007.

David is a Business Representative on the Main Board of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Chair of Governors at Wells Cathedral School.

Further information:

David is married to Sophie and has 3 children, Annabelle, Fergus and Edward.

Background:

Caroline was born in Herefordshire and settled just outside Bath in 2018 having travelled via Honduras, Oxford, Manchester, London and Derbyshire.

Education and experience:

She has worked in the commercial and faith sectors. With an international HR background, she has an interest in flourishing communities, organisations and groups.

As a volunteer herself she meets many people who contribute so much to local life and can see the challenges faced by charities and groups in delivering their services and making the changes they seek.
She has had a particular involvement in the development of leadership in many different contexts, from the international to the local. As a result, she is intrigued by the potential of voluntary organisations and local leaders to bring people together in shared endeavour for the common good, and by their contribution to the wider possibilities that make for a flourishing society.

Most recently Caroline worked for the Church of England overseeing the appointment and training of senior clergy. She currently volunteers as a telephone adviser for Citizens Advice, is a non-executive member of Wells Cathedral Chapter and on the PCC of her local church.

Further information:

She is an amateur musician and plays the bassoon in the Bath All-Comers Orchestra, sings in her Church choir and in larger choruses when she can find the time.  Sharing in making music and in her church community brings personal fulfilment and energy amidst the busyness and demands of life.

Education and experience:

Sheila was born and grew up in Ireland and following a degree in English and Theology she moved to China to teach in university. She retrained as an accountant in London and spent much of her career in the public sector. She spent time as Finance Director of the London Symphony Orchestra and has worked in local government as a Finance Director and Chief Executive across a number of local authorities (including the then Somerset County Council).

More recently she has worked in Debt Advice at the Money Advice Service and as an advisor and consultant to a range of not-for-profit organisations. She is a Lay Trustee of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, a Trustee of British Gas Energy Trust (until June 2024) and a Governor of Taunton School.

Further information:

Sheila moved to Somerset in 2010 having lived in Surrey and London. She lives in a village in the Quantock Hills. In her spare time she loves to read, walk locally in the Quantocks and on Exmoor, and travel, often for more walking. Married to Martin, they have four adult children.

Education and experience:

Having been brought up in the north of Scotland, Jennifer has lived on Exmoor for the past 26 years.  She is Managing Director of an IT consultancy which delivers solutions and services to financial markets and industry using advanced algorithm-based technology.

With an MA in English, Jennifer worked in Singapore for the British Council, then joined Longman as a Book Editor in Melbourne, Australia. On returning to the UK she became a Commissioning Editor for Heinemann and for several years juggled a busy career with the demands of a growing family.

Since moving to Exmoor, Jennifer has held the position of Church Warden in Luxborough and has, in this capacity, been responsible for driving initiatives focussed on engaging with and supporting the community. She has also been a Parish Councillor for many years with a special interest in planning applications. Jennifer has been an active committee member and fund raiser for many charities. She is an ambassador for The Nelson Trust, which supports vulnerable people who have multiple and complex needs including addiction, trauma, and offending.

During 2022-2023, Jennifer was honoured to serve the county of Somerset as High Sheriff. Her focus during the year was on food poverty, and the promotion of opportunities in education and training for children and young adults.

Education and experience:

Suresh Ariaratnam was born in Cornwall and grew up in Bath. He has worked in the book industry for over twenty-three years, primarily as a literary agent, focussing on representing authors from minoritised ethnicities. Based on his experience of helping to facilitate literary works by prize-winning writers, he developed an operating thesis of the relationship between access and excellence, which resulted in an intergenerational transfer of his client list to a colleague from an under-represented community as a collaborative response to shrinking the equity gap in publishing.

He remains involved in helping to ensure the equitable treatment of marginalised people, in the creative economy and more generally, through advocacy and activism. Relatedly, a current body of work involves raising awareness of the importance of board and c-suite culture in fulfilling responsible business practices and organisational values-based strategic objectives.

As a non-executive director for NHS Somerset and NHS Dorset HealthCare, he is especially interested in the broader socio-economic determinants of health and their relationship to inequalities, and in a holistic understanding of wellbeing which champions the interdependency between personal, societal, and planetary health.

Suresh also serves as co-chair of Literature Works, and as a trustee of the Theatre Royal Bath, and the Trussell Trust, as a well as a member of the British Library Advisory Council. In 2022, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of Somerset in 2024.

Education and experience:

Peter is currently Chair of the NHS Blood and Transplant. He is also Chairman of Sir Richard Sutton Limited and a Non-Executive Director of Pay.UK. Previously he was Chairman of Somerset Community Foundation and of Yeovil District Hospital, as well as Treasurer of Bath University. He was President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a Partner at PwC.

Background:

Born and brought up in Hampshire, Olivia moved to West Somerset in 1995 with her husband Michael, and their 3 children.

Education and experience:

She studied Art History at the Courtauld Institute, and then worked as a curator in the Print Room of the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. A very enjoyable part of this work involved accompanying Leonardo da Vinci and Holbein drawings around the world to loan exhibitions. She was later a researcher for the 1989 Arts Council Leonardo exhibition at the Hayward Gallery.

When the family moved from London to the West Country she decided to pursue other interests, and worked voluntarily for the Witness service in Taunton Crown and Magistrates Courts and became interested in the work of the Probation Service. Wishing to be more actively involved in the criminal justice system, she retrained and joined Avon and Somerset Probation in 2008 working between offices in Taunton, Bridgwater and Minehead.

She is a newly (2019) trained volunteer adviser for the Citizens Advice, and also involved in a joint enterprise project with MIND and the Quantock AONB that gives people with poor mental health the opportunity to do conservation work in the Quantock Hills.

Further information:

She loves living in the country and is keen on walking, preferably with her dogs, and amateur gardening. Along with reading, art remains one of her main hobbies providing good motivation to return to London to visit family and enjoy theatre. She was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset in Oct 2019.

Education and experience:

Ian is Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bath. He joined the University of Bath from the University of Cambridge where he had been Master of Jesus College, van Eck Professor of Engineering, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of Photonics Research in the Department of Engineering.

He gained his BA (1980) and PhD (1984) degrees from the University of Cambridge and was appointed a Research Fellow and Assistant Lecturer at the University of Cambridge before becoming Professor of Physics at the University of Bath in 1991. He moved to the University of Bristol as in 1996 as Professor of Optical Communications and became Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1998.

He returned to the University of Cambridge in October 2001 and, in 2005, became Head of the School of Technology and subsequently Chair. He left there to become Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional Affairs in 2010.

His research interests are in photonics, including optical data communications and laser diode-based devices. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. He was a Member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Photonics Society (2008-2012). He is an Editor-in-Chief of Electronics Letters and Nature Microsystems and Nanoengineering. He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset in Oct 2019.

Education and experience:

Peter Wall retired from the British Army after a career spanning 40 years. He joined the Royal Engineers from Sandhurst military academy in 1974 and read engineering at the University of Cambridge. He finished his military career as the Army’s chief from 2010 to 2014. He has served all over the world, including operational command tours in Rhodesia, the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

He is now Director of Amicus, an advisory business which specializes in imparting military and commercial leadership expertise, with emphasis on strategic planning and execution, leadership development, and organisational health. Peter is also a director of General Dynamics, the US defence and aerospace corporation, and President of Combat Stress, the military veterans’ mental health charity.

Further information:

Originally from Suffolk, he has lived with his family in the Mendips for 20 years. He is a keen supporter of Blagdon Cricket Club and enjoys skiing and sailing.

Education and experience:

Richard retired from the Army in 2016 after 37 years’ service in the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and on the General Staff. On leaving the Army, he and his wife Liza moved to Taunton, where his parents have lived for many years. Immediately after leaving the Army he studied for a MA in History at Exeter University. He now works part-time as a management consultant, and is chairman of Situationaly Ltd, a software startup business aiming to make crowds safer.

Richard does quite a lot of voluntary work. He is The Rifles’ Regimental Colonel for Somerset, the Honorary Colonel of Somerset Army Cadet Force, and a trustee of the body that owns the Somerset Light Infantry collection displayed in the County Museum in Taunton. Also, he is Chair of Trustees of the Keep Military Museum in Dorchester, and Chair of Action4Diabetes, a charity that provides medical support to poor children with Type 1 diabetes in South East Asia.

Further information:

His interests include history, current affairs, choral singing (with Amici chamber choir in Taunton), and the great outdoors.

Education and experience:

Martin Thatcher is a fourth-generation English cidermaker and has been Managing Director of Thatchers Cider Co Limited since 1992.  The family-run business maintains it’s mantra of a sustainable company for future generations.

Martin is an active member of the National Association of Cidermakers, the body that represents the interests of cider producers in the UK and helps raise the profile of the industry to the public.  In 2005 he was awarded the coveted Nuffield Farming Trust scholarship; and in 2016 he received the Trust’s Steven and Gill Bullock award for innovation. Martin has been a Trustee of the Bath & West Society since 2015.

Encouraging skills development is a passion of Martin’s, and the Thatchers Young Talent apprenticeship programme that he has introduced into the company has attracted considerable interest, not only from applicants keen to join the company, but from wider industry, gaining recognition including the national IGD award for Employability in 2018, and in 2019 the Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Apprenticeships in the FE Week AAC Awards.

With his family, Martin has established the Thatchers Foundation, a charitable trust which supports good causes in Somerset.

Further information:

Martin is married to Anne, and has two children, Eleanor and Peter, who are currently working in the family business. Martin is a keen sports fan, in particular Rugby Union.

Education and experience:

Thomas is a solicitor in private practice who has held both professional and management roles in a top 100 law firm, including over ten years as the Managing Partner. He is now a consultant, and he has returned to a client facing role.

Alongside his professional life, Thomas has been actively involved with charities and not for profit organisations; this is usually as a trustee and often as the Chair. These charities have followed his interests and include arts-based charities, such as Bath Festivals, Bath Theatre Trust, and the Arnolfini in Bristol, and health care organisations, such as Dorothy House Hospice Care, the Royal United Hospital NHS Trust, and the mental health charity RICE.

He was chair and trustee of the Bath Preservation Trust, a campaigning and heritage charity which also runs museums in the city. Thomas has held local roles such as President of the local Law Society, parish councillor and churchwarden. He spent over ten years on the Council of Management at the University of Bath and was a director of Bath Rugby in its first years as a professional rugby club.

He is currently the Chair of Bath City Farm, and he chairs several grant making charities. He is a member of both the PCC of Bath Abbey and the Chapter of Wells Cathedral.

Thomas was the 960^th High Sheriff of Somerset and sits on the national Council of the High Sheriffs’ Association of England and Wales.

Further information:

He lives in the Bath area with his wife Michelle.

Education and experience:

Jane was born in Taplow, Berkshire and educated at Maidenhead High School. In 1969 she joined the WRAF and held a Short Service Commission as an Admin Officer, holding posts as a Families’ Officer, OC WRAF (responsibilities for welfare and discipline) and a Flight commander at a training establishment.

Following this she held various positions in the South East using her admin background and married David, whose family come from Somerset, in 1976. They have 2 daughters and a son and four grandchildren to date. They farm in South Somerset and are first generation farmers (David’s father was a clergyman) so have had to be adaptable to weather the vagaries of the industry. They started milking cows, have had both beef and sheep enterprises, also a B&B, but since 1992 have had an entirely arable business which is now, in part, a co-operative venture with other like-minded farmers. David has an ongoing involvement with the Royal Bath and West Society.

Jane was appointed a magistrate in 1986 transferring to the then Yeovil Bench in 1990 when the family returned to David’s roots here in Somerset. She has been involved in many aspects of Bench life serving on most committees at some point, including 9 years on the Sub Advisory Committee, but her overriding interest was in Youth Justice, she sat on the Youth Panel for 19 years, stepping back after some years as Chairman and still misses it! She was also a Bench Deputy Chairman.

Further information:

She has also had many years of church involvement, being licensed as an Anglican Reader (or Lay Minister) in 2009.

Her interests include gardening, her two labradors (working – sort of!), theatre, reading, music and most importantly, her family.

Education and experience:

Justin has been CEO of Somerset Community Foundation since 2005, leading its growth and development as the leading vehicle for philanthropy in Somerset, and largest independent funder of local charities, community groups and social enterprises. Each year the Foundation, which is based at the Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet, provides funding to hundreds of groups and organisations throughout the county. Justin was awarded an OBE in 2020 for services to the community of Somerset.

As a geographer Justin is particularly interested in place-based philanthropy, and how statistics and maps can often disguise the harsher reality of life in rural communities.

He moved to Somerset from Lesotho in Southern Africa, where he had spent two years supporting the work of local NGOs working on food security, environmental issues and the HIV pandemic. It was here he saw first-hand the power of community-led action to create positive and lasting change in people’s lives, but also the complex and multiple impacts of poverty. Prior to this Justin had worked on the early ‘agri-envrionmental’ schemes in Lancashire and Herefordshire, working mostly with family farms in marginal landscapes, and he retains a very keen interest in environmental issues and nature recovery.

Further information:

Justin grew up in Kingsholm, Gloucester, and, having stood in ‘The Shed’ with his grandfather, father and brother from an early age, says he has Cherry and White in his veins. He is, however, a keen supporter of Somerset County Cricket Club! With his wife, Sally, he lives in the Mendips, raising their three children. He is also a trustee of The Nelson Trust, a charity with a strong presence in our county, supporting women to overcome addiction and other complex needs.

Education and experience:

After leaving Court Fields School in Wellington at the age of 16, he began his journalistic career on his local newspaper, the Wellington Weekly News. It was, he says, a career he instantly fell in love with. When he retired in 2020 it was after nearly 50 years in journalism, the last 40 with the BBC.

He was instrumental in establishing the first local radio station in Somerset, BBC Somerset Sound, in 1988 and was its first presenter. When he left the BBC he was its senior television correspondent in Somerset. He has won three Royal Television Society Awards for investigative journalism and has reported from two war zones and one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters in Bangladesh.

Further information:

He has for many years been a supporter of St Margaret’s Somerset Hospice and in retirement wrote an autobiography, entirely to raise money for the charity. He is also a patron of Somerset Day and an Ambassador for the charities Brainwave in Bridgwater and Reminiscence Learning in Wellington.

Clinton has lived in Somerset virtually all is life. He and his wife Joanne now live in the village of Bradford on Tone, near Taunton. They have three daughters and a son and six grandchildren.

Education and experience:

The Hon Thomas Rees-Mogg has served 12 years as a councillor for Bath and Northeast Somerset, 8 years as a parish councillor in Hinton Blewett, 30 years as a trustee of the Wells cathedral preservation trust, including 13 years as their chairman. He is also an honorary alderman of Bath and Northeast Somerset.

Further information:

Father to 2 girls and 2 boys, the main carer and sometime home educator, he is also husband to Modwenna. His youngest child attends The Wells Blue school.

Education and experience:

After finishing his undergraduate degree and PhD in Artificial Intelligence & Cancer Chemistry at Oxford University, Alex started his working life promoting youth training partnerships as Chief Executive of an educational charity in the City of London.

Later, he jumped from a successful career in Intellectual Property Law to become Chief Executive of Mind (the mental health charity) in his home county of Somerset, where he now farms with his young family.

Alex is a Non-Executive Director of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Chairman of Wessex Scouts, and holds various trusteeships and directorships in the mental health, education and third sectors.