COUNCILLOR NICK SKEENS

Nick Skeens speaking at a local wedding. Picture by Nigel Wade.

Nick Skeens, who holds a BA in English, has had a varied career as a secondary school teacher, a freelance journalist, a national television news editor and a PR consultant. He works now as an author and a foster carer.

Nick spent his formative youth in Burnham and Croydon before moving to the middle east and returning, in 1988, to live in Chapel Road. He now lives on a houseboat on West Quay, which he and his ex-wife built as a family home in 1997.

He has three grown-up boys who live abroad.

He was a founder, director and (paid) Programme Director of Saint FM, Maldon District’s community radio station based in Burnham, now Radio Caroline Community Radio. On Saint FM he presented a twice-weekly topical news show called The Purple Programme.

His volunteering has included working as Chair of the Friends of the Riverside Park, during which time he led a team of local school children in the creation of the three shelters in Riverside Park, this in cooperation with Maldon District Council, and as a committee member of RiverFest – Nick was the initiator of Water Music, where local bands played to the town from a floating pontoon towed by a barge.

He is also a trustee of the local charity, the Vanguard Restoration Foundation (VRF), which he formed with other locals after he successfully helped rescue Vanguard, a local Dunkirk Little Ship which, in May 1940, helped rescue 600 soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. Vanguard was being vandalised on Canvey Island. She is now at Wick Farm, pending new efforts by the VRF to raise the money for her full restoration.

He was a Town Councillor from 2017-21 and a Maldon District Councillor from 2019-2023. In May 2023, he decided not to stand for re-election to MDC and was elected back onto the Town Council.

Nick has always stood as an independent candidate.

CONTACT

CllrNickSkeens@burnhamoncrouchtowncouncil.gov.uk