People

Jim Gunter – President

Originally from Bristol, Jim has lived in Wiltshire for most of his life and is married with one son.

A one-time member of the Labour Party, Jim saw the light and joined the Wessex Regionalists in 1991. Formerly the party’s Treasurer he was elected President in January 2018; has been a (non-political) Parish Councillor since 2014. He stood in the 2017 General Election for the Devizes constituency where he lives. His aim is to use his presidency to pioneer green community politics.

His first career was in Royal Mail which included managing all company services in the Bath, Salisbury and Swindon postcode areas, later heading their property project division developing new mail centres in Bournemouth, Bristol, Exeter and Swindon – and then Parcelforces’ national and international sort centres.

After leaving Royal Mail, Jim went to Bristol University reading for a B.A. and M.A. in Archaeology. Since 2005, he has been a self-employed commercial archaeologist working on sites right across Wessex – but most frequently in the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site area.

Nick Xylas – Secretary

Currently working as a full-time family carer, Nick has previously worked for both the U.K. civil service and, during a period living in the U.S., the state government of South Carolina.

A former member of the Green Party who had been interested in Wessex since learning Anglo-Saxon history at school, Nick joined the Wessex Regionalists after someone fortuitously left an issue of The Regionalist magazine, which focused on the party, lying around at a Green Party conference. He has since stood for election to Bristol City Council, in the Eastville ward.

David Robins – Treasurer

David joined the party at its formal establishment in 1980 and contested the Woodspring constituency in the 1983 general election. Before becoming Treasurer, he served for many years as Secretary-General.

His past contributions extend to regionalism generally in the U.K. and across Europe: as Secretary to the Regionalist Seminar in the 1980s and 1990s; as editor of The Regionalist magazine in the early 1990s; and as an active member of movements in Mercia and Northumbria. He was also a committee member for our former allies in the Common Wealth Party. A retired town planner with 35 years’ experience in local government, he has lived in Somerset since 2001.