Sir Peter Michael CBE - Chairman

Since graduating in Electrical Engineering, Sir Peter has had a distinguished career in high technology enterprises and many varied business activities. He has lived in the Newbury area since 1970 and is currently Chairman of Classic FM. He founded Micro Consultants Group, Quantel, Databasix Ltd, UEI Plc and was Chairman of Cray Electronics, all world leaders in high technology industry. He has sat on numerous Government committees associated with high technology and research activities.

Sir Peter's Newbury business interests include Proprietor of his family hotels, Donnington Valley Hotel Golf Course and The Vineyard, Stockcross, the Eddington Estate and the Highcross Group. He is a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths and is passionately involved in the Arts, with a particular interest in Sculpture, having been Chairman of the Royal Society of British Sculptors appeal in 1992 and Chairman of The Sculpture Company. Married with two sons, his other interests include tennis, opera and classical music.

"I believe that this important transaction which brings Greenham Common Airbase into the ownership of our community after three hard years of negotiations, is the first and important step into transforming the area into something of which we can be proud. Benefits to the Newbury community will be seen in many ways, through the commercial development, the new employment generated and excellent use of our environmental resources."

Mrs Mark Edwards

Mrs Mark Edwards has lived and farmed in the Newbury area for the last thirty years. She is on the Board of the Newbury Spring Festival and is Chairman of the Governors of Enborne Church of England Primary School, where she has been governor for 12 years. Her hobbies include tennis, horse riding and horse breeding.

"I believe the Greenham Common Trust is a wonderful opportunity to ensure the Greenham Airbase is returned to the people of Newbury and am delighted that funds will be going back to Newbury and Newbury people through the Trust."

The Earl of Carnarvon

The Earl of Carnarvon has lived at Highclere all his life and has been involved in its change from the private house of his grandfather's time to its public role today. The house has many visitors and holds corporate events, many being associated with charities.

"I was Chairman of the Greenham Common Community Relations Committee durings its last two years of use as a military base, and am very pleased to see it now being returned to constructive use for the community after all this time. It is good to see this facility being used totally in a peacetime role."

Lord Iliffe

Lord Iliffe is Chairman of Yattendon Investment Trust Plc, which publishes a number of regional newspapers and owns the Yattendon Estate. Lord Iliffe has been the Chairman of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and President of Newbury Show. In addition he is currently Warden of Bradfield College. He has lived in the Newbury area all his life and he and his wife have four grown up children.

"I am delighted to be associated with Greenham Common Trust and the many benefits it has already brought, and will continue to bring, to the area."

The Rt Hon the Lord Owen CH

The Rt Hon the Lord Owen CH was a Member of Parliament for Plymouth (Sutton and Devonport) from 1966-1992 during which, under Labour Governments, he was Navy Minister, Health Minister and Foreign Secretary. He was a founder of the Social Democratic Party in 1981 and its leader from 1983-90. From 1992-95 Lord Owen was the EU peace negotiator in the former Yugoslavia.

His current business interests include: Chairman of Global Natural Energy; Deputy Chairman of Europe-Steel.com and a non-executive Director of the US pharmaceutical company, Abbott Laboratories. He was Chairman of Yukos International B.V from 2002-5. He is also Chairman of New Europe; Chancellor of Liverpool University; Director of the Centre for International Health and Cooperation and President of the Enabling Partnership.

Lord Owen has written a number of books including Human Rights (1978), Face the Future (1981), his autobiography Time to Declare (1991), an anthology of poetry Seven Ages (1992) and Balkan Odyssey (1995).

"I have lived in Buttermere, Wiltshire, for the last 34 years. I am also President of the Enabling Partnership at Enham. Now that I no longer have a constituency commitment in Plymouth and sit as an independent Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords, I hope I will have a little more time to devote to the community served by Greenham Common Trust. I have admired greatly the transformation that the Trust has achieved from a controversial military airbase to an extremely valuable asset for the community as a whole. I hope I will be able to help that very worthwhile process continue into the future."

Mr David Bailey

Mr Bailey has lived in the Newbury area since 1972 and for sixteen years commuted daily to London where he was a partner of stockbrokers Phillips and Drew, now part of the Union Bank of Switzerland. He resigned from UBS in 1988 to break from commuting. Since then he has been involved in a number of activites, including venture capital advisory work, fund management and consultancy on capital market development. Mr Bailey is a non-executive Director of a number of companies, including Appleyard Group Plc who own Rivervale of Reading and Clover Leaf Cars, Finsbury Asset Management Ltd, a manager of investment trusts, and Sutherlands (Holdings) Ltd, a stockbroking operation with offices in London and Edinburgh. He is also Chairman of Hay Robertson Plc, a licensed branded leisure and sports related clothing company.

"The acquisition of Greenham Common by this innovative combination of private and public expertise promises to provide substantial benefit to the community over the longer term."

Dr Paul Bryant

Paul was born in Weston-Super-Mare in 1938, and spent 6 years at Southampton University studying mathematics. He has recently retired from a career at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, dealing with computers, computer networks and telephone exchanges.

Paul is a past member of Shaw-cum-Donnington parish council and is currently West Berkshire Councillor for the Speen ward, his principle interests being planning and the environment. He is an executive member of the Newbury Society and his other interests are genealogy, gliding and gardening.

Mr Graham Mather

Graham Mather is president of the European Policy Forum and previously represented Newbury in the European Parliament from 1994-99. He is a lawyer, has experience in local, national and international economic policy, advises an international investment bank and is a member of the Competition Commission. He lives at Donnington and is involved with a number of local business interests.

Mr Malcolm Morris

Mr Morris qualified as a Certified Accountant in 1965 and was a partner in a local firm of accountants until 1982, since when he has been working in the Newbury area as a financial consultant. He holds a number of non-executive directorships on local and national companies including Classic FM Plc, Donnington Valley Group Plc, Highcross Group Ltd, and was for many years a director of Newbury Weekly News Ltd. Mr Morris lives in Donnington and his interests include music, publishing, property and golf.

Mr Penrhyn Pockney

A retired stockbroker and chartered accountant, Mr Pockney was, until 1995, a Director of Warburg Securities. He is currently a non executive Director of Hiscox Select Insurance Fund.

Mr John Robertson

John Robertson is deputy chairman of Newbury Weekly News and its parent company, Blacket Turner and Company Limited, having semi-retired in 2002 from his previous position of Group Managing Director of Blacket Turner and Chairman of Newbury Weekly News. He has spent a lifetime working in the regional and local press and is Immediate Past President of the Newspaper Society. He has been a member of the Society’s Council since 1985 and currently chairs the Society’s influential Independent Publishers’ Forum. He has lived and worked in Newbury for the last 20 years.

Mr Peter Gubb

Mr Gubb has lived in Newbury for over 17 years and took over the running of the Highcross Group, of which he is Managing Director, in 1990. Following his graduation in Estate Management from Reading University he worked in London and subsequently for Buckell Ballard Estate Agents. Over the last few years Highcross has acquired a substantial property in Scotland and is now the largest industrial landlord North of the border. Peter's interests include most sports including golf, rugby and fly fishing.

"It is now some five or six years since the initial idea of the joint public / private sector purchase of Greenham was discussed. I am convinced that in the future Greenham Common will be looked upon as a major asset to the local communityy, both from an economic and a recreational point of view."

Mr Allan Kennerley

A Chartered Surveyor, Allan Kennerley started his career in the North East in Sunderland. His career in the South of England began with six years in Reading for a commercial firm and he has been for twenty five years with Dreweatt Neate, rising to become a Partner with responsibility for the Commercial division. His work is now concentrated in Southern Central England where in particular he looks after new development and investments.

"Our involvement with the Trust started in its early stages and I am fully supportive of the principals behind its objectives, of any surplus profit being distributed to good causes in the community. I believe it is an excellent way of combining the skills of the local business community with the Local Authority and together creating a charitable Trust whose sole objectives are to ensure that the real benefits come back to the community. The prospects for Greenham Common are exciting, with over 130 tenants on the site producing an income of nearly £2 million. There are great opportunities here for producing improved income, improved buildings and generating new construction for the creation of a modern commercial business park for the District."

Mr Tom Rossiter

Mr Rossiter trained as a solicitor in London and qualified in 1979. He joined Penningtons Solicitors (then Ward Bowie) in 1984 and was made a partner in 1985. Mr Rossiter specialises in all types of commercial property and the Newbury Commercial Property team is unusually strong for a provincial office. It is this capacity that has enabled Penningtons to be involved with this large and complex project.

"It is very exciting to be involved in such an innovative project from the outset and to see it move from an idea to reality. Although there are costs involved it seems to be a unique 'win - win' scenario."

Mr Stuart Tagg

Mr Tagg qualified as a Solicitor in 1983 and was awarded the degree of Master of Business Administration (Henley) in 1995. He has worked for a number of local authorities around England, including the former Newbury District Council, where he was Head of Legal and Administrative Services before leaving to become the Trust's Chief Executive in November 1997.

"I have been involved in the Greenham Project since the closure of the airbase. The project has developed over the years and is now poised to become an exciting and innovative model for business in the next millennium. It harnesses the best that the private, public and voluntary sectors have to offer and turns their joint efforts to the good of the community. If the model works, and I think it will, it can be repeated in a wide range of different situations. Over the next few years we will also see the restoration and ecological improvements of the open areas of the Common and their return to community use. It will be a major challenge, but one worth rising to."