Mark Logan MP (Bolton North East) paid tribute to John Kennedy’s career in Parliament on 14 March 2024. Here is the speech, transcribed in Hansard:
My right hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire Moorlands mentioned the construction industry. There is a gentleman by the name of Dr John Kennedy who lives just outside Greater Manchester in Cheshire. He was born in Mayo.
When he told me this story, it felt a bit like “Angela’s Ashes”. He spoke about how he, one of his siblings and his mother travelled to the United States, but his sibling sadly passed away during that time of hardship. He said that when he returned to Mayo in the 1950s and 1960s, there were no jobs, so he had to make his way to London. When he got there, he had no skills but, on day one, he got up and said, “I’m going to work harder than every single person around me. I’m going to put my head down and make something of myself.”
He started off cleaning and, after a year or two, he set up his own cleaning company. It all snowballed, and he eventually ended up with a construction company that he sold around 20 years ago for roughly £100 million—give or take £20 million; I might be a bit off there, but it was a colossal sum. He was involved in the Good Friday/Belfast agreement in 1998, because his construction company produced a commemorative article for it. I pay testament to him and the hundreds of thousands of others who have contributed so much to British society.
Four would-be entrepreneurs from universities across the North of England will once again face more than 400 academics, managers, guests, and industry leaders as they pitch their new business idea and wait for the audience to decide the winner.
The University Entrepreneurs Grant (UEG) will return on Thursday 18th April 2024 as part of the prestigious Educate North Awards and the winner will walk away with a £1000 prize to write a business plan and the chance to be mentored at the acclaimed Masood Entrepreneurship Centre (MEC) based at the Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester.
The 10th Educate North Awards will be held on Thursday, 18 April 2024 and nominations are open now.
As before, the categories will include a broad range of education establishments, from universities to sixth form, with special awards for teachers and business entrepreneurs.
Founder of the Awards, Rob McLoughlin OBE, said:
“The 10th event is a wonderful achievement.
“Education needs political and public support like never before and this Northern showcase has grown and grown thanks to a unique combination of committed judges from across business and academia, from a wonderful range of commercial sponsors and supporters and partners which cross broadcasting, AI technology and education itself.
“We look forward to celebrating all the nominees in April of 2024.”
The winners of this year’s Educate North Award have been announced. Lancaster University wins the University of the Year Award and Birkenhead Sixth Form College wins Further education College of the Year.
Educate North has unveiled a ‘superb’ shortlist for 2023 Awards in Manchester on 27th April 2023.
A record number of entries has led to a high quality field across a range of categories and from institutions and individuals across the North of England.
Tickets now on sale via www.educatenorth.co.uk and the Awards dinner is held at the Midland Hotel Manchester on 27 April 2023.
The North’s prestigious educational awards are back for 2023 and categories across the University, HE, FE and Sixth Form sectors are now open for entries.
Educate North Awards launched in 2015 with the clear aim of celebrating the world-class success of the North’s education sector and to encourage excellence, achievement, and improvement across 23 special categories.
2023 will see new categories emerge to encourage outstanding performance in the arts, in digital and in student experience and welfare/
The University Entrepreneurs Grant (UEG) will also return as 4 students or graduates with bright business ideas will once again compete on the night for a £1000 prize and the chance to study at The Masood Entrepreneurship Centre at the University of Manchester. The 2020 UEG winner, Dr Mohammad Elhaj, has raised millions of pounds in investment since he walked away with the trophy, and it’s hoped another winner can replicate his superb success.
The Awards are promoted and sponsored by 4 of the most popular radio stations playing to millions of listeners across the North including Smooth North West, Heart Yorkshire, Smooth North East and Manchester’s XS, all part of the Communicorp UK group; The University of Manchester is Patron of the awards along with John Kennedy CBE.
Beebot AI became sponsors in 2022 and will return in 2023 along with CCL Digital and other new sponsors which will be announced shortly.
‘These awards focus attention on the best and most impressive achievements of staff, students and institutions across Northern England at a moment of immense change and pressure’ said Emeritus Professor Phil Harris, Chair of the Judges; ‘The standard of entries gets higher each year and the popular awards event ensures that we recognise the incredible work which so many people are doing despite the complexities of education in the UK currently’.
The Awards Dinner will take place on the evening of Thursday 27th April 2023 at The Midland Hotel in Manchester.
Entrants have till January 20th 2023 to submit their entries which will be judged by academics and business people from across the UK. Entries via www.educatenorth.co.uk
There will also be 3 special awards nominated by listeners to Smooth, Heart and XS in the North.
They are the most prestigious and highly competitive educational awards in the North of England and now they are back and open for entries for 2022.
The Educate North Awards will see the North’s University, Higher Education and Sixth Form sectors compete across a range of specialist categories for the honour of picking up a sought-after trophy and being celebrated by their peers and expert judges drawn from across the region and the UK.
The awards dinner will be live again and will feature special guests and music and will be staged at The Midland Hotel in Manchester on Thursday 7th April 2022.
Edge Hill University in West Lancashire was named University of the Year at a special online presentation in April this year before being named ‘Modern University of the Year’ by The Sunday Times.
Other winners included The University of Bradford, Newcastle University, Preston’s College, University of Manchester and institutions in Leeds and Chester.
The special Radio Awards, chosen by the listeners of Smooth (North West), Smooth (North East) and Heart (Yorkshire) will also return and continue to acknowledge outstanding contributions during the covid crisis.
‘The Educate North Awards are exceptionally competitive and cover the entire region celebrating resilience, improvement, achievement and excellence’ said Emeritus Professor Phil Harris, the Head of Judges; ’Now with radio listeners to 3 of the top stations in the country participating the profile and excitement around the competition and event is intensifying and growing’.
In the coming weeks more details about the Radio Awards, the entrepreneur competitions and the special live guests will be announced.
Educate North Awards were founded by the broadcaster Rob McLoughlin OBE and are sponsored by The Masood Entrepreneurship Centre at the University of Manchester, The Pilot Group, CCL Digital, IT Capital, Heart Yorkshire, Smooth North West, Smooth North East, CommunicorpUK and John Kennedy CBE.
They are run in association with Why Events, Don’t Panics and have been supported by Prolific North.
To mark the sacrifices by the education sector, students, lecturers and academic staff during the Covid crisis, Educate North teamed up with listeners to three popular radio stations Smooth North West, Heart Yorkshire and Smooth North East.
Listeners inundated the stations with nominations for outstanding individuals or organisations in 3 new categories. The results saw one teacher dance and jig in his classroom as he became a winner.
Professor Tony Young, Head of Clinical Innovation for NHS England also announced 3 nominations for a special Health Award. This was won by The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine along with its partners at The University of Liverpool and NHS Hospitals Trust.
The University was awarded the coveted top prize for the exceptional progress it has made to deliver investment and innovation over the past 12 months and its dedication to placing students at the heart of everything it does.
The Festival is a celebration of wellbeing and offers help and support to all through its array of workshops including gardening, mindfulness, yoga and creative arts. There is also an art festival, talks, and a ‘marketplace’ of local charities, organisations and institutions.
Raising funds for local charities, the festival’s patron is Wigton-born author, broadcaster and peer Melvyn Bragg, who is an honorary fellow of the university and a past president of the national charity Mind.
Coinciding with World Mental Health Day every October, the Festival of Mental Health strengthens the University of Cumbria’s role as a leading training provider of nursing and other health professionals across the region and beyond.
The college has been shortlisted once again for the UK Sixth Form College of the Year by TES Awards, formerly the Times Education Supplement.
It won the award just three years ago and this year’s shortlisting cements their place as a national leader in Further Education.
Although the Educate North Awards ceremony was honouring 2020 winners, with last year’s celebration being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, circumstances of the last year and more have brought into stark light the qualities of leadership required to deal with young people’s education and the deficits that they have endured during various lockdowns.
Both staff and students at the College have benefitted from what they called Mr Kilbride’s ‘strong, passionate and thoughtful’ leadership, and his communication with all parties about the direction he was steering the College through the pandemic has been highly praised by parents, with one saying it was ‘first class’.
Accepting the UK Leadership Award, Mike Kilbride said: “It’s obviously personally very gratifying to be recognised for the work that you’ve done over many years, but you can’t have success as a leader without a fantastic team behind you.”
The Educate North Awards are organised by Carm Productions in conjunction with partners John Kennedy CBE, CCL Digital, the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre, The Pilot Group, Communicorp UK, Heart Yorkshire, Smooth North West and Smooth North East. You can view the streamed ceremony below.
The winner of the University Entrepreneurs Grant, as chosen by Dr Jacob Salder and Phil Hodari, was revealed on March 4th. The University Entrepreneurs Grant is part of the Educate North Awards, the regional awards ceremony for FE and HE institutions.
The finalists are the University of Chester’s Jade Rice, two entrants from Manchester – Dr Mohammad El Hajj and Riddi Varshitaa Viswanathan – plus the University of York’s Nihad Cehic.
The announcement was made via three northern radio stations– Heart Yorkshire, Smooth North West and Smooth North East -and an online video. The usual ceremony was moved online because of the current pandemic.
Rob McLoughlin, broadcaster and organiser of Educate North and the UEG, said: “The competitors have worked hard during lockdown to make their pitches and to try and grab the attention of the judges. Normally the contestants have to face the live audience at the fabulous awards ceremony but because of restrictions we’ve taken it online and the standard is high and the judging tense. The competitors are impressive and the scale of the ideas tremendous.”
For more details and the video announcement of the winner, visit the Prolific North page.
