Jon Capes
I was fortunate to move to Hilton in 1999 and live here with my wife and two children, who attend schools locally. Hilton is a wonderful place to raise a family and recent events have shown us the real benefits of being part of such a community, located in such a beautiful setting.
Having recently retired, I feel I now have the time to be able to repay the benefits I have received from living in our village, and look forward to representing the views and wishes of the community in my role as a Parish Councillor.
Heather Chambers
I joined the Parish Council in May 2020 having lived in Hilton for 18 years. I’m married to Dave and we have 2 grown up children who both attended Swavesey Village College. I was Vice Principal at Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge and retired in 2018. I am actively involved in a church in Cambridge, enjoy walking and cycling, boating on the River Ouse and looking after our young grandson one day a week. I enjoy gardening and entered the Hilton produce show for the first time in 2019. I was delighted to win 3 cups! I am very keen to listen to parishioners views and to work on improving life in the village for all villagers.
Rob Dulstone
My family moved to Hilton in early 2021, however my daughter has been a volunteer at Monach Farm stables for many years, so I have been a frequent visitor to our beautiful village. Having quickly settled in, I’ve been impressed by the thriving friendly community and have been spending time working on the wonderful Community Garden, assisting with the games evenings on the Green and participating in the local speedwatch team.
In my professional life, I worked in the financial sector, managing technology systems, and building and managing technology teams. I have travelled extensively, and lived in Chicago, Italy and Poland. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to retire early, so I am enjoying spending time helping within the community.
Ettore McCarthy
I joined the Parish Council in 2021 for my second term, having served nearly 5 years during my first. My wife, Fiona, and I moved to Hilton in 2007 with our son Tom. Very soon after, our daughter Francesca was born. I have always been village focussed, previously having been on the Hilton Feast Week & Hilton Ball committees for several years.
My professional life is in aviation, working for easyJet as a Captain on the Airbus fleet. In my spare time, I am a keen cyclist and love skiing when the chance permits. I look forward to hearing from parishioners on their views, ideas or concerns. Hilton is a great village and I look forward to being part of a team that continues to keep it flourishing.
Richard Norton
My wife, Lynn, and I have lived in Hilton for nearly 30 years, having acquired Hilton House as a “project” in 1993.
I was a partner in professional services firm, Deloitte, for over 35 years, running various of their businesses and serving on the Board for 10 years, as well as serving clients. Since I retired from Deloitte, I have been deeply involved with two local disability charities – Papworth Trust as Honorary Treasurer and Varrier-Jones Foundation as Trustee and, latterly, Chairman. My terms of office at the charities recently came to an end and I now have capacity to contribute to the Parish Council.
I have a number of outside interests including cycling and skiing, and you may have heard me playing guitar at Feast Week! I am also a keen traveller.
I love living in our unique village and am keen to help it flourish whilst preserving its rural environment.
Tel: 01480 830289
Email:
Nina Sage
Originally from Yorkshire where I taught Biology to A level for a number of years, I moved to Cambridgeshire to work as Conservation Scientist for Anglian Water in 1986. My work involved liaising with environmental bodies to ensure capital projects such as pipelines had minimal environmental impact, landscaping new and existing works and habitat creation on our nature reserves and treatment works. I met my husband Richard at Anglian Water and we moved to Hilton in 1999 where we have raised our two children. After taking redundancy I retrained as a printmaker in 2007 and now work from home specialising in linocuts inspired by the natural world.
I love village life and have enjoyed being involved in community events from Feast week, where I worked backstage on Entertainment night for 11 years and also commentated Sports Day; the Dog Show where I enjoyed commentating the classes to decorating the Ball as the longest serving member of the Ball committee. We are very fortunate to have a vibrant community here in Hilton and I am hoping my environmental background and creative skills will come in handy with future village projects.
Claire Sarkies
My husband, Nick, and I arrived in Hilton with two very small boys in 1988.
In retirement, after a career in education, I have been involved in U3A (Cambridge); chaired the Huntingdonshire branch of The Arts Society, organised the village Produce Show, contributed regularly to Spectrum and been involved this year in the exciting development of the Community Garden.
I have joined the Parish Council in the hope of preserving our special village atmosphere and beautiful environment, as well as embracing new initiatives.
Sarah Suckling
My husband and I moved to Fen Drayton in 2000 and then took the leap across the A14 to Hilton in 2009 when we bought a derelict property on Graveley Way. We spent 12 months renovating before moving in and have lived there ever since.
I started my career in the Health and Fitness industry managing corporate health clubs in London. I then stopped to raise my two children who are now teenagers. I was heavily involved in their primary school in Fen Drayton and was on the board of governors for several years with the last two years as Chair. I am now a project manager for a small development company.
I am pleased to join the Parish Council to preserve the uniqueness of the village but to also bring about change where it is needed for the future.
Councillors Attendance Register
The Role of Parish Councillors
Councillors are collectively responsible for making Council policy, for which they are accountable to the electorate.
They are recognised nationally as the level of local government closest to people.
Councillors are not directly involved in the day-to-day provision of services to the public. This does not of course mean that there should be no contact between Councillors and the Clerk on such matters and, indeed, Councillors may often find that they are asked by electors to pursue matters on their behalf. However, Councillors have no executive authority, and will need to deal with all matters either through a properly constituted meeting or in liaison with the Clerk concerning, say, a Parish opportunity or problem.
It therefore follows that there are no circumstances where an individual Councillor can issue an instruction to the Clerk or a Contractor. Likewise, a Councillor must never act “on behalf of the Council” in the organisation of any function or service. Particular care should be taken in all types of communication, especially via comments to ensure understanding you speak as a “Parish Councillor” and not on behalf of the Council as a whole. Generally, the Clerk issues all correspondence on behalf of the Council .
Comments from the community should be addressed to the whole of the Council and not to any one Councillor as the Council is collectively responsible.
All Councillors will attend the Council meeting, held on the first Monday of each month except January and August. In addition, Councillors become members of Committees or Working Groups established in different service areas.
Councillors take decisions on matters of major policy at monthly meetings of the Council, after having considered the recommendations of any Committee or Working Group. A Councillor is voted to act as Chair by the collective Councillors on each Committee.
Copies of Parish Council Standing Orders are issued to each Councillor to ensure all procedural methods are understood and acted upon.
Statutory Powers and Duties
The Council derives its powers from statute. A few of these are mandatory (i.e. the Council must carry them out) but most are discretionary (i.e. the Council can carry them out if it wishes). In all cases, both Councillors and Clerk must work within the law.
