Meet the New Team at Sunninghill & Ascot Parish

A new team of officers is in place at Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council, following the retirement of  David Lupton. This has resulted in the promotion of former Assistant Clerk, Mrs Elizabeth Yates, to Clerk, and the appointment of Brian Humphreys as Assistant Parish Clerk. AscotMatters went along to thhe Parish Council offices (next to the Durning Library) to meet them and to find out a bit more about the new man!

New to the office, and to local government, is Brian Humphreys , recently retired from industry after 31 years with a process and control company, working in the paper and printing industry.

Asked what made him choose such a change of career, he says that  the job seems to offer involvement in the community and local affairs, something his former job didn't permit: "I have lived here 20 years but the  busy working lifestyle can mean this feels like a dormitory area. I was always away on business, travelling round Europe. Heathrow became my enemy, not my friend. Where else would you work, to try and make a difference?"

Brian has had a  small taste of community life, having been Secretary of Ascot United and manager of their new girls football team, ten years ago !

The family moved here from Ellesmere Port 20 years ago, due to Brian's job. He has two daughters who live nearby, one working as a teacher and one as a police officer.

He is only three weeks in the job ( after a 'baptism of fire' with the Annual Parish Assembly) and so is still getting to grips with plans, procedures and budgets, but is very enthusiastic about getting out and about, seeing what local people would like done and making a difference with these issues."I like the community spirit, the  variety of the work, auditing, getting out and about, working with the groundsman and so on," he says.

"My area of expertise is operations and management ( He also has an Open Universty MBA)   His confidence with IT will come in handy, as the  planning process goes paperless in June ! In the light of the Thames Basin Special Protection Area, which is often used in the fight against too much local development, Brian's Diploma in Environmental Policy is als likely to be useful. " I did the diploma out of personal interest. I saw so much change around me, so much of it badly managed," he explains, "I had a desire to see how things could be better managed." Brian enthuses about the benefits of continuing eduaction throughout life: " You never know where it's going to come in useful!"

Brian is also a vintage car enthusiast and spends some of his leisure time polishing and driving his Morgan.

The sense of purpose and enthusiasm for forthcoming projects comes over strongly, from both Brian and his boss, Liz. She says: "The good news is that we are both fresh in our roles and looking at the job with new eyes. We both want to see what we can do to make a difference."