Trevor Rogers
I have lived in Thornford for twenty-four years, having moved here in 1983 from Manchester to work for the County Council. I subsequently worked for Bournemouth Borough Council’s Education Directorate as their Security and Risk Management specialist, from 1997 until 2005. I currently work part-time for Age Concern Somerset as a Support Worker on a project to establish Active Living Centres targeted at the over-50s in the South Somerset area.
I am Chairman of Thornford Twinning Association and was instrumental in starting the twinning link in 1995 with our twin village, Hudimesnil, near Granville, in the SW corner of the Cherbourg peninsula. I have arranged many group visits to France, including walking tours, football matches, an onion-growing competition and student exchanges. I am currently working with a small group of parents and children from Thornford Church School to visit the primary school in Hudimesnil in the summer. I also lead the annual Easter village walk from Thornford to Bradford Abbas and return.
I am a bell-ringer at St Mary Magdalene’s in Thornford, practising regularly and ringing for weddings, family services, and at Easter, Christmas and New Year.
I am a volunteer Adviser at the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in Sherborne on two mornings a week, covering such issues as consumer problems, debt, benefits and relationship breakdown.
I am a volunteer at Yeovil Night Shelter and do one weekday evening a month and the occasional weekend evening, where I produce an evening meal for the dozen or so men and women who need the service.
I left school at age sixteen and joined the Royal Navy. I served in frigates in Portland and East of Suez, in the Royal Navy Wireless Station on Portland, and in mobile Fleet Maintenance Groups in Singapore and Portsmouth, from where I worked on ships in Hong Kong, Bahrain, Malta, Bermuda and Trinidad and Rosyth.
I left the navy in 1974 and went to college, qualifying to teach with a Certificate in Education in 1977. I then worked for GEC Machines in Bradford, West Yorkshire, and Manchester before taking a job with Greater Manchester Council, as an Emergency Planning Officer, in 1981.
I am a graduate of the Open University.
My wife Jane is a Pharmacist, and works at Yeovil District Hospital. We have three children, all students at The Gryphon School, Sherborne. I have been a Parent-Governor at the Gryphon since 2001. Jane is Chair of Thornhackett Parish Council and I have helped her in this role, particularly in setting up and running the recent Parish Plan Open days in Thornford and Beer Hackett.
