Leicestershire

I have lived in Leicestershire all my life, and have been closely involved with local communities and a number of charities. After working in London for The Field magazine, I married Andrew Thompson FRICS, Agent to the Duke of Rutland’s Belvoir and Haddon Estates in 1977. I subsequently set up a Cookery Business using my Tante Marie qualification, which successfully ran until 1982 when my first child was born.

Having always had a particular interest in small children and child development, I then trained as a Montessori Teacher and started my own Montessori Nursery School at Croxton Kerrial. It later become the first Pre-School in the area to receive Outstanding Ofsted status which it held continuously until my retirement 25 years later. My latest project is a new Cookery School based at Branston.

I have worked with various local charities including the Peter le Marchant Trust, the fundraising committee for a children’s scanner at Queen’s Medical Centre and the Red Cross. I was also District Commissioner for the Belvoir Pony Club and a member of the under 8s Forum for Children in Leicestershire. I have just retired as Chairman of the Parish Council for Croxton Kerrial and Branston.

I was widowed in 2009. My children Laetitia and Ben are both married and work in London as a Head Hunter and Corporate lawyer, respectively.

I love my dogs, horses and all country pursuits and have always been a life time supporter of Leicester Tigers.
I feel immensely honoured to take over this historic role in a County that I have lived in all my life, and love so much.

An enormous amount of excellent work is done by the voluntary sector in Leicestershire, and I hope to meet and support as many charities as possible in my year of office. My particular interest, due to the close involvement of my work with children and child development, is those organisations who are working with children and young people who have become disengaged, and sometimes excluded from the education system. Leicestershire is a truly diverse county and I look forward to learning a huge amount about our communities in the year ahead, while also continuing to support the rural heritage and way of life that is so vital to the make-up of our county.

Emery Johnson Astills
3&5 Welford Road, Leicester LE1 1QW

Revd Kevin Ashby was licensed as Team Rector of Melton Mowbray Team Parish in 2009, consisting of St Mary’s Church, Melton Mowbray, and five village churches in Thorpe Arnold, Burton Lazars, Welby, Sysonby and Freeby. In recent years he has been involved in a £2 million project for the re-ordering of St Mary’s, the outstanding cathedral-size church in Melton Mowbray.  He leads a very keen and able team of clergy and lay people who are responsible for outreach, mission and service to the communities of which the churches are a part.

Kevin is Leicester born-and-bred, having attended Wyggeston Boys’ School before achieving a Theology degree at Jesus College, Oxford University, and then training for the ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He served his curacy at St Dionysius, Market Harborough, and was a part of the rapid growth taking place in that market town congregation.

At St Elizabeth’s, Horwich, in Manchester diocese he lead the Church into a team ministry with the building (not personally!) of a Church Hall and new vicarage. This was followed by Great and Little Billing in Northampton: two Churches intended for closure, but saved and enlivened during his time there. Then, before moving back to Leicestershire, rector of St Peter and St Paul’s Church (with six villages!) in the centre of Buckingham, where again he oversaw building expansion.

Kevin has also been Area Dean in three very diverse deaneries and is fully involved in the civic life of Melton Borough, as well as such events as the National Pie Awards and the famous Christmas Tree Festival which take place in the Church.

Kevin’s interests include reading, archaeology, exploring National Trust and English Heritage properties and leading groups to various locations such as the Holy Land. He is married to Alyson, with three daughters and five grandchildren.