I moved to Burwell 34 years ago with my husband and one baby. We now have five children, all of whom were educated locally and with my background as a teacher (now recently retired) it was not surprising I became involved in the management of the playgroup (now Early Learners) and the Community Association at Burwell Village College.

I have been active in serving both Burwell and the surrounding communities and I am a member of many organisations.

I am chairman of Burwell Day Centre having been involved since it was built 20 years ago. My commitment to services and facilities for older people is reflected too in my chairmanship of the countywide Age Concern committee. I am a Trustee of Burwell Print Centre where adults with learning difficulties have the opportunity to train and work in a social enterprise.

As a member of St. Mary’s Church. I am heavily involved with the children and young people. In particular with our international exchange link with Germany and Hungary, which includes young people from around this area and with the Youth Work initiative. I am an active member of Burwell Community Forum. This umbrella organisation for voluntary and charitable groups in the village organises both Burwell at Large and produced the recent Burwell Information Booklet. I have served as a governor of Bottisham Village College for over 20 years. I am a committee member of WREN (Waste Re-cycling Environmental), which has financially supported projects throughout the county. I am vice-chair of Cambridgeshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England), which supports villages with advice.

Council Activities

I have been a Parish councillor since1981 and elected twice as chairman from 1988-90 and 1995-97, being the first woman chairman, as well as the first non-Burwellian to hold this office.

I represent Cambridgeshire on The National Association of Local Councils (Parish and Town Councils) and I am Vice-Chairman at present. I am a member of East Cambridgeshire District council since 1995 and I have chaired both their Strategic Development Committee and Community Services Committee on which I still serve. In the late 90’s I steered the working party responsible for a contract that introduced recycling into our district – an initiative we were told then could not be done in a rural area!

More recently I have been active in Licensing matters, which the district took over from magistrates, as well as Overview and Scrutiny Committee. I represent ECDC on the Local Strategic partnership as well as the Community Safety Partnership.

I was elected to the County Council six years ago serving for four years on two Scrutiny committees as well as being on working parties looking at Community Engagement and Cohesion.