Board of Governors

 I have been governor of the College since 1999, initially as a parent governor and now as a foundation governor.I am the Chairperson of the Admissions Committee and a member of the Curriculum Committee.
My son attended the college from Year 8 – Year 14 and is now attending University of Ulster at Jordanstown undertaking a BA Hons in Interactive Multimedia Design.I work in voluntary organisations in particular Lupus, Scouts and working with the elderly.My hobbies are gardening, music, reading and going to the theatre.I strongly support integrated education and admire the mutual respect which is being fostered at Hazelwood College between teachers and parents.

I have been Chair of the B of G since 1999, having been one of the original parents involved in establishing the Hazelwood integrated education initiative in 1985. My wife Sheila was also closely involved in the development of Hazelwood Integrated Primary school and the maintenance of the ’special relationship’ between the two schools has remained one of my long-term goals. Our three children have each progressed through the college into third level education. The element of continuity has always been an important factor in my commitment to Hazelwood, not least because it ensures that the vision of the original parents, who were sticking their heads above the educational and indeed political parapet at a time (the mid- 1980s in the wake of the hunger strike and the Anglo--Irish Agreement) when conditions could not have been more difficult, is being carried on.

Hazelwood has made a tremendous impact for the better not just on the lives and careers of my family but on hundreds of others, all of whom have benefited from the quality of education and the recognition of the value of mutual respect that are at the heart of the college’s ethos. The prospect of keeping up this wonderful tradition is what makes me get up from my TV dinner and attend those often interminable (but not as bad as was the case at the start!) meetings.

In my life outside Hazelwood I am Keeper of History at the Ulster Museum. I enjoy playing tennis, doing crosswords, living part of the year in France and ... being baby Riain’s grandfather.