Club Chairman:                Giles Clarke (new, C.V. attached)
Deputy Chairman (Corporate):  Andrew Nash (new, C.V. attached)
Vice-Chairman:                Robert Appleyard (existing)

The appointments of Giles Clarke and Andrew Nash will assist the Club to grow its sponsorship base thereby increasing the income levels of the Club year on year.

Robert Appleyard will continue to oversee Club matters in the areas of membership, constitution and ground.

Giles Clarke said, "Although my prime area of responsibility is in the corporate field, I wish to be an active Chairman and take on all the areas of responsibility which this important position requires. I shall work closely with Robert Appleyard who is well versed in the matter of running the Club".

Andrew Nash said, "Giles Clarke is very well known in the corporate world and I am looking forward very much to assisting him in securing Somerset's financial future. I am fanatical about Somerset cricket and Giles is worse than me – so the drive to succeed will be there".

GILES CLARKE was brought up in North Somerset and played his early cricket at Flax Bourton, on the ground where his Robinson ancestors family team played against the village, and which they gave to the National Playing Fields Association. He played junior cricket for Stragglers teams. Giles has various relations who played for Somerset, including Theodore Robinson who played in the match at Taunton in 1895 when A.C.McLaren of Lancashire made 424, the highest first-class score made by an Englishman. Theo lived long enough to tell Giles the tale!

Educated at Rugby School and Oriel College, Oxford. He started Majestic Wine in 1981, which he built into a chain of 21 stores and sold in 1989 for £15 million. Co-founded Pet

City, which he was Chief Executive of and built into a national chain with 94 stores, which he took public in 1995 and sold for £150 million in 1996. In 1998 he co-founded Safestore PLC and is its Chairman, the third largest UK self-storage company with 22 properties.

He is currently Chairman and majority owner of ATL Telecom, the only UK manufacturer of telephones, and a major manufacturer of access transmission equipment and Fosters Rooms, the largest independent event caterer in the West Country.

Aged 49, is a National Council member of the Learning and Skills Council, the largest quango in the UK and was Deputy Chairman of the European Union Task Force on Skills and Mobility, whose report he presented to the European Parliament in 2001. He was awarded West Businessman of the Year in 1987 and Rising Star Retailer in 1995. He is a member of the Advisory Council of Bath University and a Patron of Changing Faces, the charity supporting facially disfigured and disabled people.

He is a Life Member of Somerset County Cricket Club and lives in North Somerset.

ANDY NASH is married with four children and has lived in Cheddon Fitzpaine since 1987.

He began his career at Cadbury Schweppes and thereafter became Marketing Director of Sterling Health Ltd. In 1987 he joined Taunton Cider as Commercial Director with responsibility for Marketing, Sales and New Product Development. During his time there the marketing strategies were radically changed causing sales and profits to increase substantially. In 1996, in recognition of the success of the marketing initiatives, he was a Finalist in the `Marketer of the Year' awards.

He was a principal of the successful MBO of the company in 1991. The company was successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1992. As an independent company Taunton Cider was a committed and enthusiastic sponsor of Somerset County Cricket Club.

Since 1997, as a portfolio Chairman, he has been involved with several other MBO's and MBI's in sectors as diverse as drug discovery, food, homewares and horticulture. In 1998 he led a corporate rescue and re-financing of Merrydown plc and remains as its Chairman. He is also Chairman of Photo-Scan plc. He is a non-executive director of City Law firm Nicholson Graham & Jones, Bland Bankart plc and Ashford Colour Press Ltd.

He is an active fund-raiser and trustee for charity. As Chairman of Trustees he led the fundraising of £300,000 which enabled the Cheddon Fitzpaine Memorial hall to be replaced by a new facility. It opened in July this year.

Aged 47, he is a Somerset Member and has played tennis to County standard.

© Somerset CCC