Community Council Members:
Acting Chair: Ralph Averbuch – Email
Deputy Chair: vacant – Email
Community Council Secretary: Janet Gordon – Email
Most recent Community Council Election: Results
Ralph Averbuch – Chair
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 secondary 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.
Janet Gordon – Secretary
Originally from rural Dorset, I’ve lived and worked in SE Scotland for over 45 years, the past 15+ in Pencaitland. As my family are now scattered across the world, the importance of friends and local community are particularly important to me. In my spare time, apart from being the Secretary for the Community Council I’m very involved with the East Lothian Countryside Volunteers.
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.
Phil Summerfield – Former Chair
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!”
Fiona Tennick
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.
Alison Glencorse
I have lived in Pencaitland for 30 years with my husband Alan, having moved up here from the south coast of England in 1994. I first became involved in local organisations through my daughter Charlotte, who went to the local mothers and toddlers group, playgroup, nursery, primary school, and then on to Ross High School. Having worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland for 33 years before being made redundant in 2018, I now do some freelance proof reading but am otherwise retired. I have been a member of the P&DCC since 2012, and am also the treasurer for the Friends of Pencaitland’s Parks.
Email.
Patty 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.
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.
Matt Berry
Matt moved to Pencaitland in 2020 and joined the Community Council shortly afterwards. He’s keen to help the Pencaitland communities integrate new families and provide a thriving village lifestyle.
Richard Kerr – Treasurer
Carol Finneron – Former Chair
Carol Snow – Former Deputy Chair
Adam Forrest
Douglas Scott
Myra OConner
Sally Thomas
Sally Whittle
Elected County 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.