Cllr Bates

I have lived in Minster all my life (other than as a student) and can trace eight generations of ancestors via one family line who lived in the village before me, as well as being descended via two lines from the famous Kentish bell-making Norton family.

I hold a degree in Applied Chemistry and am a long-standing Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and was previously a Member of the Institute of Food Science & Technology when working in the food industry.

My working life has been varied and has included The Laboratory of the Government Chemist (Special Services & Research Department) when it was in central London (part of what was the Department of Trade & Industry); The Assistant Chemist at Thor Chemicals at Margate; Quality Control Manager at GG Baxter Ltd (the food manufacturers who were at Sarre); and was a Senior Scientist upon my retirement from Pfizer Ltd.  My position at Pfizer in Sandwich was within Pharmaceutical Sciences’ Drug Product Design Materials Science Group but had other responsibilities across the site.  I was part of the team that designed and fitted out the last major building that Pfizer built at Sandwich and the move of own staff from three buildings/two sites into it.

In the past I have been heavily involved in village organisations, including Minster Cricket Club (as a player for over thirty years, Secretary, Fixture Secretary and Treasurer, Minster Football Club (Secretary), a founder of the Minster – Armbouts-Cappel Friendly Link Association (the fore-runner to the Minster Twinning Association) and its Assistant Secretary.  I am also a Life Vice-President of the Isle of Thanet Table Tennis Association, having played in the league for about forty years and a past Secretary; I also created and managed a website for the association for about eight years, alongside other websites for two cricket clubs I played for.

My wife, Alison, is also retired after having worked for twenty-two years for Kent Police and then 20 years for the NHS. We also have one daughter who coincidentally shares the same alma mater as me (albeit 30+ years later).

Interests these days include, amongst other things, genealogy (and historical aspects of Minster), building/repairing computers and pottering around the garden as best I can.

I was previously a Minster Parish Councillor for twelve years after being first elected in 1976 and a committee chairman in that time. Having seen much change since then both within the Parish as well as across Thanet, I am delighted to be given the opportunity to help try and maintain the precious local character of our ancient Parish.

Protection of our green fields for the growing of food crops and the environment is important to me rather than unsympathetic inappropriate development targeting the countryside on an industrial scale.  Hopefully, I can encourage parishioners to make their voices heard when they actually have the opportunity to regarding any planning application rather than turn to social media after the event and they are too late to do so.