Chard Town Council is pleased to announce the appointment of Gareth Hughes, the new Town Clerk who is set to join the council from Tuesday 9th May.
Gareth knows Chard well, having been brought up and educated in Chard. He is “excited by the opportunity to work in his home town and being able to work with the Town Councillors and residents of Chard, to help them shape its future.”
He suggests his main challenges will be “the cost of living crisis and the change in the way Somerset is governed with the new single Unitary Authority.”
Gareth has previously worked for over 20 years in the leisure sector, at various sites in Somerset. For 9 years he was the Operations Manager of Filton Town Council, managing its large leisure centre, including two swimming pools, indoor and outdoor sports courts, play areas and soft play. There he also managed 45 team members and worked closely with the Town Clerk.
He later went on to become the Centre Manger of a Community Centre where he is also landlord to 6 businesses on site including a pharmacy, an NHS Somerset Wellbeing Hub and private nursery. Gareth says a big achievement of his is “establishing a community summer fair that now sees up to 5,000 people attend each year.” Furthermore, he has converted unused spaces into conference rooms and established the centre as a successful conference venue in Bridgwater. The centre runs lots of community activities including a weekly youth club, a knit and natter group and a weekly community bingo night. The centre also has a successful community café opening 5 days a week.
Gareth previously played cricket and rugby for Chard for many years. In his spare time, he is a keen rugby supporter of Exeter Chiefs and England Rugby and enjoys running to keep fit.
ENDS