Committee

Nicholas Soames is the Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex.

He is a former Defence and Agriculture Minister and has wide experience of commerce and industry.

He founded, with others, the Burgess Hill Business Parks Association and the Haywards Heath & District Businesses Association.

He is a staunch supporter of local business.

Stuart is a retired company executive from the paper, print and packaging industry who moved to East Grinstead in December 1987 – immediately after the “Great Storm”. He is married with a wife working in East Grinstead and two grown up daughters. With his business background, both national and international, Stuart brings to the association a blend of business experience, pragmatism, enthusiasm and a strong ambition to see our town thrive. He likes to “think out of the box” and is keen to build for the future.

Kate is our new Business Manager and is responsible for liaising with existing members and bringing in new members.  She has lived in the East Grinstead area for nearly twenty five years and is married with two grown up children.  She comes from a business background having been a managing partner in her own business and has a wealth of experience in marketing and networking.

Roger Martell Managing Director of Martell's of Sutton Ltd.

Born 1943 Educated at Ardingly College, Roger joined the family company in 1960. Roger was responsible for Martell's purchasing their Queens Road premises from the old established East Grinstead family business George Read. Roger married Margaret in 1968 who has worked alongside him ever since. In 1974 Roger with Margaret's help expanded the retail area of Martell's in East Grinstead by converting the first section of the Queens Road premises into retail. Roger and Margaret have two children Elizabeth and Charlie (Charlie is now a director of the company).

Martell's rejoined the East Grinstead Chamber of Commerce in 1992 and Roger was elected to the executive committee shortly after. As a representative of the Chamber, he has been involved with the steering group set up to appoint a short term town centre manager for East Grinstead, has represented the Chamber on the Mid Sussex North Area Forum. When it was in existence the North Area Transport Forum and more recently the East Grinstead Community Partnership Committee.

Roger is Treasurer to the East Grinstead Promotion Committee who is responsible for both the Summer and Christmas shopping events in the town and he is also the British Association of Removers' Sussex area representative on the BAR National Council.

Roger and Margaret both enjoy dancing and are regularly at the Meridian Hall dancing with the 75 Modern Sequence Club.

Caroll is the Administrator for the EGBA. She is also MD of Everest Events Ltd and runs conferences, and seminars for the aviation industry and also organises conferences and exhibitions for other organisations. She has a background in marketing, personnel and administration. She is resident in East Grinstead and is a volunteer at the Chequer Mead theatre and the EG Talking News.

Born in India, Charmaine has lived in East Grinstead since the age of 5 when she attended St Peter's primary school. Her roots and ties in the community span four decades, through family and friends, from childhood to youth, to adult. The Hallmark family children also both attended local primary and secondary schools and her husband John was well known for his Chartered Accountancy in the High Street, but now fully occupied at Hallmark travel.

Charmaine is an active number of Meridian BNI a local business-networking group, and is a keen supporter of local charities, fundraising and events.

James McLaren-Rowe was born in South London in 1963, and was educated at a private school and went on to achieve a degree in 3D design before entering the world of Corporate Sales.

Establishing Amadeus in 1994 (named because of the love of Opera), James has organically grown the Company which is now based in Lingfield with a broad and varied base of customers from commercial and educational sectors, supplying office products from pens to furniture.

James was the President of East Grinstead Chamber of Commerce from 2002-2005, and recognises the needs and demands that the smaller of business needs on a day to day basis.

Hobbies include being a qualified (ARDS) motor racing instructor and the Arts.

He lives with his partner Avril in Crawley Down, and has a son at University and a son at Sackville in the 6th form.

Bob has over 40 years experience working in the refrigeration, building services and construction sectors with a background in mechanical engineering. Working for a major food retailer until a carreer change gave the opportunity to set up the IQ Group

Since starting the IQ group with his wife Jacquie in at the end of the last millennium the business has developed in different fields with sustainability as the overriding theme. We have now been designing and installing PV Solar systems to many houses in this region bringing good returns on investment for our many clients in addition to providing a substantial quantity of power back into the national grid.

Bob was born in South London and moved to the East Grinstead region in 1980, now living in Cowden with Jacquie and five children three of which attend local schools and the other two work locally.

Bob is a member of the “Sustainable Sussex group” which looks to promote sustainable solutions within

Matthew Cole is a Partner in Cole's Estate Agents located on the picturesque East Grinstead High Street. Although Cole's is a fairly newly established agency Matthew has a long and proven record in the industry and is pleased to be working again in the town. His family have lived and worked in East Grinstead for generations and after growing up here himself, he is a strong supporter of local businesses and is enthusiastic about the growth and development of the town.

Matthew is married and has a young daughter. He is also member of the BNI - a local business networking group.

Richard is a Director of circlesquare - a digital marketing agency helping businesses with all aspects of online promotion and advertising as well as being web development and programming specialists, working for local and national brands.

Richard grew up on the Sussex coast and has now settled in East Grinstead with his family.