Weekly Meeting 13th March 2018

Members of the Rotary Club of Ossett were delighted to welcome Sir Rodney Walker as guest speaker at their lunchtime meeting. Sir Rodney, who is a well-known celebrity in Wakefield, spoke about his early life growing up in the District and how he left school at 16 with no idea what he wanted to do. Sir Rodney went into the construction business and qualified as a structural engineer. After a progressive career, he eventually led a Management Buy Out and has continued to build many successful businesses ever since.

Sir Rodney, however, is better known for the remarkable number of important positions he has held within the sporting world. These include chairing the funding company for the 2014 Tour de France, Chairman of the London Marathon Charitable Trust and Chair of the British Basketball League, to name but a few. Members were also interested to hear about his past involvement with Wakefield Trinity RFC. Rodney was Knighted for services to sport by the Queen in 1996.

Outside of sport, Sir Rodney has been just as active, holding positions that included Chairman of West Yorkshire Broadcasting plc, Vice Chairman of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, serving as a local Magistrate, Trustee of the National Coal Mining Museum and many more. One achievement that gave Sir Rodney particular satisfaction was leading the campaign to raise £750,000 to enable the re-opening of the Wakefield Theatre Royal and Opera House. He is still very supportive of the Theatre and is helping to raise further funds to extend and improve the theatre.

It was a wonderful account of an amazing career and Rotarian Keith Lister gave a vote of thanks on behalf of club members.