Terry Bate has been President of the YCCA since 2013. She has been an active member of the Party since the late 1970’s in the heady days of Margaret Thatcher becoming Prime Minister. In 1998, she and her husband retired to Somerset where she joined the Association and became very involved in both electioneering and fundraising. Terry continues to take an active role. She has an MBA and her career started in computing in pioneering days. As a Management Consultant, much of her work took her abroad and her last 10 years were spent specialising in Change Management. She and husband Clive live in Ilminster, near her daughter and family, who are in Merriott.
Marcus Fysh lives with his wife Jenny and their two young children in East Coker and in the London area to be near Parliament. Originally from Australia, Marcus came to the UK when he was three years old. He went to school in Bristol, London and Hampshire before going to Oxford University where he studied literature.
After graduating, Marcus joined Mercury Asset Management, a British fund management firm based in London, specialising in investing in businesses in the Asia Pacific region. With this experience, he set up his own business in Australia, India and the EMEA region. Because of his strong ties with business investment, Marcus is a strong supporter of local businesses.
Marcus’s political life started when he was a South Somerset District Councillor for the Yeovil South Ward between 2011 and 2015. He became Somerset County Councillor in 2013 for the Coker Ward. Marcus was then elected to be Member of Parliament for the Yeovil constituency at the 2015 General Election with 24,178 votes (42.5%), a majority of 5,313 (9.3%). He was re-elected in 2017 with 32,369 votes (54.5%), a majority of 14,723 (24.8%). In the 2019 General Election, Marcus was re-elected with 34,588 votes (58.4%), an increased majority of 16,181 (27.3%).
Dan Conaghan was born and educated in Scotland and North Yorkshire. He graduated from Oxford University and joined the staff of the Daily Telegraph, before embarking on a business career. He is the founder of a corporate finance advisory firm specialising in healthcare. He is interested in public and fiscal policy and is the author of a contemporary history of the Bank of England. He lives in Merriott, near Crewkerne, with his family.
Nick White moved to Chard in the early 1970’s, returning there in retirement in 2018 after thirty-seven and a half years with a London and international law firm. Nick is Deputy Chairman (Membership & Finance) of the Association and Chairman of the Chard & District Branch He can be contacted on members@yeovilconservatives.org.uk or by phone via the YCCA office.
Kate Wylie Carrick is a recently retired teacher who has taught as far afield as New Zealand and Nepal; her last ten years were spent teaching in Somerset. Kate stood in the 2019 SSDC elections in South Petherton ward and since then has been working towards a stronger Conservative presence throughout the constituency. As Deputy Chairman Political Kate leads on the recruitment and coordination of our candidates in local elections.
Nigel Wylie Carrick is a retired Regular Army Officer who served with Gurkhas in the Far East, Middle East and in Nepal. He lives in Shepton Beauchamp where he is Chairman of the Parish Council and Chairman of the newly formed South Petherton District Branch.
Martin has lived in the Chard for over fourteen years. He has recently fully retired having been an investigator/paralegal since retiring from the Metropolitan Police Service.
Rod Jones has lived within the Parish of East Coker for the past eight years, having relocated to the area where his wife grew up, and where they have chosen to raise their family. Rod has a training and consultancy business operating across the UK and is a director of two other training companies. Previously, he served with the Royal Air Force for 26 years throughout the world.
