Chairman of Council

Epping Forest District Council, like many District Councils, has a Chairman rather than a Mayor. The Chairman is elected by their fellow Councilors each year in May and serves for a term of one year. The Chairman is the First Citizen of the District.

History of the Coat of Arms

Chairman Ken Angold-Stephens

Ken became the Chairman of Epping Forest District on Tuesday 24 May 2011. Councillor Angold-Stephens has represented the residents of the Roding Ward for seven years.

He holds distinction of being a former Mayor of Loughton and acted as Vice-Chairman of Epping Forest District Council previously.

His Chairman charities during his year of office are Epping Forest Home Start and St Clare Hospice. Councillor Angold-Stephens provides some background on his earlier life below.

Councillor Ken Angold-Stephens

Loughton Residents association for Loughton Roding Ward

About Me

I joined the BBC as a graduate engineer in 1962 after achieving an honours degree in Electrical Engineering. Marriage to my wife Jill followed a year later and we moved to a modest maisonette in Avondale Close in Loughton. We have moved twice within Loughton and now live in a town house just outside Roding Ward. We have been there for over 30 years, altogether about 47 years in Loughton. We have 2 children, a daughter who lives in Loughton and a son in the USA, where he has a successful career in electronic systems management with Ford in Detroit. My daughter is a neurological physiotherapist and has 4 children all in local schools, whilst maintaining her career part time, and her husband, by coincidence, works for the BBC as a sports cameraman. My son has 2 children and our families usually manage to get together at least once a year either in the USA or in Loughton. My daughter- in- law has already applied for her tickets for the 2012 Olympic games!

My career with the BBC started at Lime Grove in Shepherd’s Bush where I was a studio engineer working on many memorable productions such as ‘Tonight’ and ‘That was the Week That Was’. Two notable occasions were working on the day President Kennedy was shot, when our studio became the centre for all the tributes. I shall never forget the huge professionalism shown by the presenters that day when the planned scripts were torn up and they ‘winged’ tremendously moving tributes spoken almost totally off the cuff. The second was the very first Dr.Who. When I asked how long the series was going to last ‘forever’ was the reply! It seems he was right!

I was later drafted into the colour television ‘experimental’ studio - television was still black and white in those days - and we did test broadcasts late into the night on BBC2 with cameras which weighed about 60kgs, were as big as a small coffin, and a challenge to control! The colour televisions of the day gave out so much radiation that for a while we had to wear radiation badges! By the mid-sixties both BBC2 and colour television became established and it was a very exciting time to be in such a fast developing industry.

A change of direction came in 1966 with the commissioning of a new training facility for overseas and later, BBC students. There, I went on to become an Instructor in TV lighting, sound and camera operations in particular, and later the Senior Instructor responsible for training overseas broadcasters (in those days the BBC was considered to be the premier organisation where broadcasters all over the world wanted to be trained). In this capacity I travelled extensively, running training courses for the host broadcasters as well as courses back in Shepherds Bush. Interestingly, domestic courses involved training some of our contemporary politicians on how to appear on camera!

I was later promoted to Manager (Resources) for the South-East Region of the BBC. This was a period of huge change and my responsibilities changed dramatically several times. For a while I was responsible for all Regional broadcasting in the South-East of England, including television operations at Elstree, Norwich and some smaller outposts, as well as 12 local radio stations. An odd quirk of being based at Elstree was that I also became responsible for editing Top of the Pops and EastEnders; however this was not to last and I decided it was time to move on.

Appointed the UK Assistant General Manager of an electronics company in 1997 I became General Manager 2 years later. By 2002 it was time to retire but then joined the Thomson Foundation, again working all over the world as an Instructor and Consultant, a return to my earlier days in the BBC, the difference this time being that I was freelance and could choose which projects I wished to accept. Whilst feeling very privileged to have had these opportunities to see the world, some of these assignments were very challenging, including Zimbabwe just after independence where local politicians were very hostile. Being held at gunpoint in Harare taught me to be calm in a crisis! Fortunately our local politicians have not so far resorted to those tactics! In Sierra Leone just after the civil war the biggest challenge was the devastation the war had brought on the country and the heartbreaking number of people maimed, often deliberately, by the extreme cruelty that took place. Nevertheless they were so friendly that I really warmed to the local people.

In 2006 I stood as a Councillor for Roding Ward in Loughton and was amazed when I won the election for both the Town and the District. Both have kept me on my toes ever since, taking part in various committees over the years, and pursuing the issues that our residents and I feel strongly about. In 2006 I also became a Governor of Staples Road Junior School, becoming Chair of Governors in 2008. A new hall was commissioned in 2009 to replace old wartime buildings and a link constructed between the Junior and Infants Schools which led to a decision to amalgamate the Junior and Infants Schools into a new Primary School. This has been very challenging but we are almost there with the new school opening in September 2011 whilst the current schools have continued to improve over their previous high standards. As vice-chairman of the new Primary School governing body I hope to continue the worthwhile relationship for a while longer before handing over to a younger successor.

My wife is also a school governor, at Roding Valley High School and a Town Councillor, and has various roles at Loughton Methodist Church. She is currently on the Church Council and is managing a major building project at the rear of the Church. She has also been a volunteer in Girl Guiding for over 40 years.

Meanwhile I have continued my interest in engineering as a Science Ambassador within Setnet, a government sponsored agency that works with schools to promote engineering and science in primary and secondary schools. We hold science events (the most recent being at the Excel Centre attended by about 27,000 children), help promote projects in schools, and hold career workshops.

I am a member of the Experience Corps, a group of industry executives brought in by the Government to take a candid look at the way Government Departments are run and to suggest ways of driving up efficiencies. Understandably the group has not been commissioned to do anything for some time, not least because departments are in a state of flux!

Surprisingly perhaps, my wife and I do like to relax occasionally and are keen travellers. This year we are touring Iceland in an off-road vehicle which should be interesting. With what other spare time I manage to glean I try to play occasional golf and swim once or twice a week. I also take part in fundraising events when I can. I shook a tin for Marie Curie Cancer Care this year, took part in a 6-mile walk for St. Clare Hospice, and ran the Loughton Mayor’s fun run in aid of a charity which provides treats for children with terminal conditions.

I am also chairman of the Brook Project, a scheme to improve the landscape and wildlife environment around The Brook as it passes through Loughton, partly through school grounds. This stop-start project has been plagued with one set-back after another but we are bouncing back into life again with a much reduced project scale which may be more attractive to potential grant funding agencies.

I expect my term of office as Chairman of the Council to be as busy as my predecessors and I have a real determination to support all the great voluntary organisations we have in the District, some of whom will need all the support they can get during this time of financial constraint. This, together with what will be a difficult time for Council and voluntary organisation alike, will ensure that I am fully engaged in the coming year I am sure. I am committed to do all I can to help all our communities weather the storm.

Vice-Chairman

Councillor Brian Rolfe became the new Vice-Chairman of Epping Forest District Council at its annual meeting on Tuesday 24 May 2011.

Chairman's Charity

The Chairman selects a charity or good cause to support during their year of office.

• View the Chairman's Charities

Chairman's Diary

The Chairman attends a considerable number of events in the District during her term of office.

• View the Chairman's diary

Inviting the Chairman

The Chairman attends functions and events in the District.

• Invite the Chairman to an event

Past Chairman of Council

From 1974 to presesnt there have been 34 past Chairman of Council.

• Past Chairmen of Council

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