XBC committee members
Huw Griffith (Chair) has lived in Jávea and then in Jesús Pobre since 1998, and has been a member of the Book Circle since its days at Pedro’s.
Alison Tain (Secretary)
Having retired from the theatrical profession at the height of her career, with an appearance on "Vic Oliver Presents" in 1957, Alison then devoted 42 years to Art, being married to a painter. She now spends her days at home in Jesús Pobre endeavouring to prevent Nature from reclaiming the garden she created nearly 40 years ago, sallying forth only for important events such as Book Circle meetings.
Erica Meltzer
(Communicatons Officer) originally hails from New York, lived in France for most of the past 25 years and now calls Jesús Pobre home. A writer, editor and translator, she spent some of the more interesting years of her career with the United Nations.
Tim Upton (Treasurer), originally from Leicester in the East Midlands, has been living in Xàbia since 2002. In the dim and distant past he worked as a bar manager, a postman, a milkman and a magistrate. Tim joined the Book Circle soon after arriving here and has been an enthusiastic member ever since. He much enjoys reading thrillers, biographies and poetry, and loves music (particularly traditional jazz and Beethoven), cooking, cricket and cats.
Christopher North is a retired Chartered Surveyor since 2002, when he and his Alicantina wife, Marisa, moved to Spain to facilitate creative writing retreats and courses at their home, Almassera Vella, in Relleu, Alicante (www.oldolivepress.com).
A published poet, his first collection, ‘A Mesh of Wires’ (Smith Doorstop), was short-listed for the UK’s ‘Forward Prize’ in 1999. He has published five full collections since; his latest, ‘The Topiary of Passchendaele’, was a winner in the UK Poetry Business competition 2018 and launched at the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere, Cumbria. He chairs the UK Poetry Society Stanza Alacant in Benissa, Spain, which is now in its 13th year. He is currently working on a monograph exploring his diary entries from a long connection with the Way With Words Literary Festival in Dartington, Devon, England.
Jean Hilder has been in Spain and living in Jesús Pobre for more than 20 years. Formerly a physicist, she has always loved books.
Rod Davis (Webmaster)
After winning a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art, Rod started his creative company which won many awards over the years in the UK, Europe and the USA. In 1996 he upped sticks and made his home in Javeá and joined the Book Circle a few years later. He now lives happily with his Brazilian wife in the centro histórico, where he enjoys his loves of cooking, painting and scribbling a few words.