Yorkshire’s Tour de France supremo receives honorary doctorate
Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:55:00 BST
Sir Rodney Walker is delighted to receive his honorary award
A YEAR ago, Sir Rodney Walker was delighted to be asked to take charge of the Tour de France when it came to Yorkshire this summer and he was just as delighted to be offered an honorary award by the current University of the Year, the University of Huddersfield.
Sir Rodney received the honorary award of Honorary Doctorate of the University to go alongside his many other accolades, which include being Yorkshireman of the Year.
Sir Rodney Walker
SIR Rodney Walker has held many key roles in sport administration and the latest is the chairmanship of the company created to organise and oversee the 2014 Tour de France when it made its ‘Grand Depart’ in his native Yorkshire. It was anticipated that the event could contribute as much as £100 million to the region’s economy.
Sir Rodney Walker is pictured with other graduates and his academic chaperone, Head of Health and Wellbeing Kiara Lewis, pior to receiving his award.
It was in 1996 that Sir Rodney – who is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors – received his knighthood, conferred for services to sport.
Between 1986 and 1993, he chaired Wakefield Trinity RLFC, his hometown club, and between 1993 and 2002 he was chairman of the Rugby Football League. Other chairmanships have included GB Sports Council, Sport England, UK Sport, Wembley National Stadium, Leicester City FC, Brands Hatch Leisure PLC, Donington Park Estates and, between 1998 and 2000, the committee of the Manchester Commonwealth Games. He has also been President of the Amateur Athletics Association and was a long-serving governor of Sport Aid.
Sir Rodney has also pursued many sports-related business activities. He was Chairman and then Honorary President of Goals Soccer Centres PLC. In 2011, he became controlling shareholder and chairman of Sport Pathways Ltd, formed to develop sporting-related opportunities in Oman, China and Thailand.
Sir Rodney is also the controlling shareholder of Myerscough Holdings Ltd, involved in property development, management, investment and architecture. With wife, Lady Anne, and his two sons he has formed the Myerscough Charitable Trust, which helps disadvantaged young people.
A Vice-Chairman of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Yorkshire Landscape Trust Ltd, Sir Rodney is Founder and Chairman of the committee responsible for the organisation of the Yorkshire Awards Dinner, at which outstanding Yorkshire people are recognised for their contribution to life in the county. The dinner has raised £250,000 for Yorkshire-based charities. In 2008, Sir Rodney received the Yorkshireman of the Year award and received the Freedom of the City from Wakefield Council in 2013. He is also the recipient of the only Lifetime Achievement Award by First Wakefield in 2007 for services to sport, the community and having led campaigns which have raised an estimated £40 million for charities and good causes.
