I have lived in Brightlingsea all my life, as have both my parents and I now live there with my partner Sandra and son Michael who is now attending the same schools that I did.

I love this area of North Essex and have held many roles within the local community, including running a local karate club for 13 years. I have been Chair of Brightlingsea Free Music Festival which is responsibile for staging a major free outdoor music festival, attracting 8000 people. I have led the investment of £3.2m into the generation of creativity projects within 17 schools in Harwich and Clacton and until recently championed the community dimension of the planned Colchester Community Stadium in my role as Chair of CUCST. I also established a successful Market Town Initiative - the Community Reach Partnership which succeeded in delivering £360k of community investment across Brightlingsea, Alresford, Thorrington, Frating, Great Bentley and St Osyth, part of which was the establishment of a community ferry to East Mersea. I am a trustee of a local charity The Springmead Trust which exists to improve the lives of people within the local area. I am also a director of the Wivenhoe Assets Group, which is a community interest group with similar aims.

I spent 8 years as a Labour Councillor on both Tendring District Council and Brightlingsea Town Council, including a year as Mayor of Brightlingsea.

I have worked for BT for 21 years and I am currently an IT Project Director and have responsibility for a large budget. This has led me to become an accredited Programme & Project Manager with 12 years experience in Information Technology, managing multi million pound IT deliveries with teams of between 5 – 250. Many of these involve Indian subcontractors which has given me the opportunity of gaining experience working in Mumbai and Pune within the Indian community.

I am passionate about the community and excited by the prospect of having the opportunity to serve and support people from communities right across the new Harwich and North Essex Constituency.