Our People

 

 

President
Jim Gunter

Originally from Bristol, but has lived in Wiltshire for most of his life.  Married with one son.

A one-time member of the Labour Party, Jim saw the light and joined WR in 1991.   Formerly the party’s Treasurer he was elected President of WR in January 2018; has been a (non-political) Parish Councillor since 2014 and stood in the 2017 General Election for the Devizes constituency where he lives.  His aim is to use his period as President to pioneer green community politics.

His first career was in Royal Mail which included managing all Royal Mail services in the Bath, Salisbury and Swindon postcode areas, later heading RM’s property project division developing new mail centres in Bournemouth, Bristol, Exeter and Swindon, and then Parcelforces’s national and international sort centres.    

After leaving RM Jim went to Bristol University reading for a BA and MA in Archaeology.  Since 2005 he has been a self-employed commercial archaeologist working on sites right across Wessex but most frequently in the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site area. 


 

 

 

Secretary-General
Nick Xylas

Currently working as a full-time family carer, Nick has previously worked for both the UK civil service and, during a period living in the US, the state government of South Carolina

A former member of the Green Party who had been interested in Wessex since learning Anglo-Saxon history at school, Nick joined the Wessex Regionalists after someone fortuitously left an issue of The Regionalist magazine, which focused on the party, lying around at a Green Party conference. He has since stood for election to Bristol City Council, in the Eastville ward.


 

 

 

Treasurer
David Robins

David joined the party at its formal establishment in 1980 and contested the Woodspring constituency in the 1983 general election. Before becoming Treasurer, he served for many years as Secretary-General.

David joined the party at its formal establishment in 1980 and contested the Woodspring constituency in the 1983 general election. Before becoming Treasurer, he served for many years as Secretary-General.

His past contributions extend to regionalism generally in the UK and across Europe, as Secretary to the Regionalist Seminar in the 1980s and 1990s, as editor of The Regionalist magazine in the early 1990s, and as an active member of movements in Mercia and Northumbria. He was also a committee member of Common Wealth. A retired town planner with 35 years’ experience in local government, he has lived in Somerset since 2001.


 

 

 

Communications Officer
Rick Heyse

Rick was born in Kent and has lived in Torbay, Devon since 1989. He is a former Torbay councillor and trade union activist, and was one of the organisers of the march to try and save Paignton Hospital. He rejoined the Wessex Regionalists as a full member in 2021 stating, “If you believe in fighting for green issues, for local communities and for regional government, the only choice in southern and western England is the Wessex Regionalists”.

Rick also served as co-chair of his local community association whilst living in Paignton, where he campaigned on a number of issues affecting local residents from parking to protecting the neighbourhood’s park.

Now living in Brixham, he is currently employed as an Estates Supervisor with a local housing association. In addition to supporting home rule for Wessex, Rick is passionate about social, economic and environmental justice and animal welfare.