STOKENHAM - Key Persons
Gail Addison was raised in Manchester and worked there and in Somerset and Devon as a civil servant for over 20 years. After many holidays spent in the South Hams she and husband Brian finally moved to Chillington in 2005. Gail enjoys walking the footpaths and Coast Path in all weathers, and her appreciation of the outdoors and the natural world drew her to volunteer at Slapton Ley Field Centre and with the Woodland Trust. Gail joined Parish Council in February 2019 and is our rep on the Chillington Community Association and Chillington Woodland Volunteer Group, as well as Footpaths Warden for the Parish.
Adrian Goodman was born and raised at Mattiscombe Farm and - apart from a spell after college learning the ropes on an arable farm in Australia - he has lived and worked there all his life. He attended local schools, as did his three children, and is married to Maria, who has been a Teaching Assistant at Stokenham Primary for many years, all of which gives him a keen interest in local education matters. Adrian has served on the council since 2011, where his extensive local knowledge is invaluable in guiding planning and development decisions in the Parish. He is a Schools and Young People representative and a Parish Snow Warden.
Jonathan Ansell has lived within spitting distance of Start Point since the age of five. A former pupil at Stokenham Primary (as were his children), he has been involved with the land all his life, first as a farmer, then as a garden contractor, from which he is now slowly withdrawing to spend more time on his barn conversion. For 25 years Jonathan was an auxiliary coastguard; he is now chairman of the local history group and an active member of the Devon Rural Skills Trust. He has served on the Parish Council for 20 years and represents it on Stokenham Parish Hall Committee, the Coleridge Association of Parish Councils, and the Kingsbridge & Salcombe Estuary Conservation Forum.
Paula Doust was born in Beeson and spent her childhood in Beeson and Chillington, attending school in Stokenham and then Kingsbridge. She is married to Roger and blessed with four daughters and five grandchildren. In her earlier career Paula worked in Kingsbridge Community Primary School where she qualified as an HLTA (Higher Level Teaching Assistant) - in fact she was the first HLTA in Kingsbridge primary, and among the first in Devon. She now works at Kingsbridge Community College as an examinations invigilator and supports Roger with the administration of his business. Paula is vice-chair of Parish Council and serves as parish representative for schools and young people and is PC rep on the Parish Hall Committee.
Piers Spence swapped a desk in the City for a pair of wellies when, in 2011, he quit the board of Quarto Publishing and moved to Cotmore Farm, aiming to recreate the experience of holidaying on a working smallholding that he and his wife Sue remember from their respective childhoods in Ireland and Cornwall. The last of their three children having left the family home, they now have more time to spend with their horses, rare-breed pigs, Shetland sheep, ducks, chickens, and (in Piers' case) a garage-full of old Italian motorcycles in various states of repair. Piers chairs the Parish Council, edits the website and is Parish Tree Warden.