Members
Apr 10th, 2011 by Ralph Averbuch
The following people make up the current membership of Pencaitland Community Council.
Community Council Members:
Chair: Ralph Averbuch – Email
Secretary: Nicky Neighbour – Email
|
|
 |
Nicky Neighbour moved to Pencaitland from Edinburgh in the year 2000 and lives here with her husband and their two children. Both children attend the local primary school; the eldest starting at Ross High after summer 2011. Nicky is an antenatal teacher and volunteer with the NCT and also takes on occasional work at Winton House. Nicky has been involved with a number of community groups since moving to the area and has been a member of the Community Council since 2004.
|
|
Jean McCormack
 |
Jean has been a Community Councillor since 2005 and took over the role of treasurer in 2010. Jean, now a full time housewife since retiring from accountancy positions in both manufacturing and retail, managed the village Ranger Guide Group for many years. She lives in Pencaitland and has two grown up daughters who live in East Lothian.
|
|
Bob Rees
 |
Married to Ute Skiba, Bob moved to Pencaitland in 1988 and joined the Community Council in 2001. He has two daughters, one at the Ross High in Tranent, the other currently studying at Aberdeen University. Bob works as a research scientist at the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh.
|
|
 |
Originally from Edinburgh, Ralph Averbuch came to Pencaitland in 2003 with his wife Sheila after having lived in London and then Dublin for nine years. Married, with two kids currently attending the local primary school, he and his wife Sheila run a home-based copywriting company. Actively involved in local issues, he joined Pencaitland Primary School’s Parent Council in 2009. He joined the Community Council in March 2011.
|
|
Lynn Donohoe
 |
Lynn moved to Pencaitland in 2001 with her husband Dave, having lived in Edinburgh since graduation (a long time ago!). She spends all her time juggling three small boys and a job at Marks and Spencer. Actively involved in the community, Lynn has previously been chairperson of the local playgroup and joined the Community Council in March 2011.
|
|
 |
In order to be near her large, extended family, Fiona retired to Pencaitland 6 years ago (2005), after a lifetime’s senior teaching and posts of responsibility, mainly at The King’s School, Canterbury, where she spent many happy years. Sadly widowed just before retirement, Fiona hoped to build a new and different life up here, and so it has proved. Fiona divides her time between looking after the four of her grandchildren now living nearby, and classes at the university. She enjoys theatre, music, travel and gardening, and helps out regularly at a local school. In joining the local Community Council in March 2011, Fiona hopes to give something back to the place which has made her so welcome.
|
|
Phil Summerfield
 |
Phil Summerfield and his wife Vicki have been Pencaitland residents since 1975. They have both recently retired after careers in Construction and Teaching respectively, working in several countries in the Middle East. Since 1987 Phil and Vicki have been based back in Scotland. For a period in the 1980s, Phil was on the committee of the Parent Teacher Association at Pencaitland Primary School, when their two children were pupils there. Phil joined the Community Council in March 2011, saying “Having spent the past 37 years enjoying all the benefits of life in this village, it’s time I gave something back!”
|
|
Tom Steele
 |
Tom Steele’s home and office is in Boggs Holdings, well suited for those seeking to run their own business in one of the county’s most attractive locations. His career has included newspaper, radio and TV journalism; creating and managing successful commercial radio operations in Scotland, England and Ireland, as well as holding interests in the research, tourism and financial sectors in Scotland and the USA He is married to Fiona and they have two children and five grandchildren. He has been a Community Councillor since 2005.
|
|
Bill Balfour
 |
Bill retired from Standard Life in 2004 where he was a problem solver – a position which he was aptly qualified for, with a BSc. in Mathematics from Aberdeen University in 1964. Interests include athletics, bridge, philosophy, table-tennis, travel and walking and especially meeting people. Bill is an active member of U3A (University of the Third Age) and organises 5 mile walks in East Lothian twice a month. He has been married for 39 years, has two children, and has lived in the village for 19 years.
|
|
Frank Stacey
 |
Frank has lived in the Boggs for more than 20 years. Prior to that he spent a similar period in Edinburgh raising two daughters and a son and lecturing in the University. Now retired Frank has for many years chaired the Boggs Community Association which runs and struggles financially to maintain the Boggs Hall. His spare time is devoted to his wife, grandchildren, house and garden and a bit of Scottish country dancing.
|
|
Patti Gordon
 |
Patty has been a Community Councillor for 13 years. She is a retired teacher and has lived in Pencaitland since 1976. She is married with three daughters. Patty was Brown Owl for a number of years and also served on Pencaitland Primary School Board.
|
|
Andrew Watson
 |
Andrew is a native of East Lothian, brought up in Tranent, bringing up his family in Glenkinchie and now living with his wife at New Winton. Andrew is now retired after a successful engineering career in transport and fleet management, first in road haulage and later with Scottish Omnibuses throughout the East of Scotland. He enjoys clay pigeon shooting and has been a member of East Lothian Gun Club for 30 years.
|
|
Sheena Richardson
 |
Sheena has lived in and around Pencaitland all her life. Growing up in Boggs Holdings she started her working life as a librarian before moving on to administration and secretarial positions in the financial services sector in Edinburgh, until she married and had a family. Sheena delivered the village mail for twelve years, worked at Glenkinchie Distillery for another five years, before retiring and looking after the catering for the village “lunch club” and joining the Community Council in 2010.
|
|
Stuart Lyness
 |
Stuart moved to Pencaitland in 1994. He is married with two children. One of his children is still at Pencaitland Primary School whilst his eldest starts at Ross High School after Summer 2011. Stuart works as a Hearing Aid Audiologist in Edinburgh. His hobbies include swimming, cycling, rock climbing and walking his dogs in the local area.
|
|
PC Robertson
 |
PC Robertson patrols the Fa’side area which covers Pencaitland and regularly attends Community Council meetings. See Community policing in Pencaitland.
Fa’side Community Police Email.
|
|
Elected Councillors:
Shamin Akhtar (LAB)
 |
Shamin was selected as a representative for the Fa’side Ward on East Lothian Council at the 2012 council elections. Shamin has lived in Pencaitland since 2007, moving to the village from Musselburgh with her partner Ryan and their two young children in Limekilns. After graduating from the University of Abertay, Dundee in Biotechnology she was elected President of her Students’ Association, going on to be elected the President of the National Union of Students Scotland. Shamin has subsequently spent much of her career in the voluntary and community sector, including more than a decade working for SCVO, the national umbrella body for Scottish charities. She has also volunteered with a wide range of charities and community groups over the last 20 years including Chair of a national housing organisation. Closer to home, Shamin has supported Pencaitland playgroup and volunteered with the school’s PTA.
Email.
|
|
Jim Gillies (LAB)
 |
Jim has been a Councillor for Fa’side since 2007, sitting as Labour. A local growing up in Pencaitland, he has a wealth of knowledge about village developments over the years and now lives in the next-door village of Ormiston. Apart from his council duties Jim also sits on the East Lothian Educational Trust and is a member of Member of The Co-operative Regional Board for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
|
|
Donald Grant (LAB)
 |
Donald Grant is a veteran of local politics. Always representing Labour he has been a Councillor since 1999. Ouside his council role he is involved with Active Leisure East Lothian, the Lothian Mineworkers’ Welfare Convalescent Trust and the Coalfield Communities Campaign.
|
|
Kenny McLeod (SNP)
 |
Kenny McLeod was born in Haddington and educated at Ross High School, Tranent where he still lives. Representing the SNP since 2007 he also has a wide range of outside interests.
