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December 2021 – Scarborough College OSA
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OSA Alumni Award 2020 – Malcolm Grimston

Alumni Award 2020.

At the 2021 Prize Giving, the Guest Speaker was  former student, Malcolm Grimston who gave a meaningful, insightful and inspiring speech to all present, reinforcing both the necessity and benefits of working hard, but also for being brave and strong to grasp any opportunity that presents itself in the future, as when these doors are opened, you never know quite where it may lead.

Malcolm was also honoured as the 2020 OSA Alumni Award winner which was announced last year when the College held a Virtual Prize Giving. This Award, which was introduced in 2013, is given to recognise the achievements of a member of the OSA in the hope that it will inspire the next generation of Scarborough College students to go out into the world and be the best they can be.

Malcolm was at College from 1969 to 1976, under the headmastership of Denys Crews and Richard Wilkinson. He was a member of Lodge House and focussed on science and music. After A levels in Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Music and General Studies (all Grade A) he went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge to read Natural Sciences, specialising in Psychology in his third year.

He sang with the Cambridge University Music Society chorus and was a member of the Standing Committee of the Cambridge Union (debating) Society. He was also a Choral Exhibitioner, taking part in the Sunday service each week in the College Chapel under the expert guidance of the Organ Scholar, Tim Kirkup – later to be Headmaster of Scarborough College.

Graduating in 1979, he spent an extra year taking a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, which led to a seven-year career as a chemistry teacher, first at Stowe near Buckingham, then at Millfield in Somerset. At both schools he kept up his interest in music, producing and conducting a staff-school joint production of Britten’s Little Sweep at Stowe and taking various roles with the Strode opera Company in Somerset.

His life took a dramatic and unexpected turn in 1986, when he spoke from the floor in a debate on nuclear power while visiting a friend at the University of Birmingham. He got into a protected correspondence with the late John Collier, the Chairman-designate of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, which led to a post being created for him at the UKAEA doing something in the public understanding and presentation sphere – neither Malcolm nor John had a terribly clear idea what precisely this would involve – and he moved to London in 1987 to take up the position.

After 8 years with the UKAEA, writing, researching and speaking on the wider issues of energy and nuclear power (three of which were on secondment to the trade body, now called the Nuclear Industry Association) Malcolm was appointed a Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College in 1995 (he is still a Honorary Fellow at the Imperial Centre for Energy Policy and does a few lectures a year); four years later he started a spell in a similar position with the Royal institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).

Always a prolific writer on energy issues, while at Chatham House he wrote his first two books, with the late Peter Beck: Civil Nuclear Power – Fuel of the Future or Relic of the Past? and Double or Quits – the Global Future of Civil Nuclear Energy.

Meanwhile, in 1994 he was elected as a Councillor to serve West Hill Ward in the London Borough of Wandsworth, in which role he was to have front bench responsibility for Housing, for Education and for Environment & Leisure and was for a time the Conservative spokesman on education for London local government.

However, energy and nuclear power remained his main focus and he became a regular media contributor, notably after the earthquake and tsunami which engulfed the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan in 2011. In 2016 he published his magnum opus, Paralysis at the Heart of Energy Decision-Making, and continues to take part in conferences and presentations on the wider energy debate. He resigned the Conservative Whip in 2014 and has sat as an Independent Councillor since, winning the highest number of votes of any candidate in London (4,002) in the 2018 Council elections. His 2017 book, West Hill and Wimbledon Park Side – story of a Council Ward has sold nearly 1000 copies locally. In 2006 the local orchestra performed his Wandsworth Symphony. Since 2012 he has been in a blissful civil partnership with his Cuban partner Carlos.

Malcolm looks back on his time at College with great affection and is still in contact with many of his friends such as Paul Artley, Jamil Hamed, Rod King and Russ Pressney. When Tim Kirkup invited him to give the Founders’ Day lecture in 2004 it was wonderful to see such long-retired figures as Denys Crews, Peter Burton and John Alderson – and Colin Brooke, who had joined the Physics Department during Malcolm’s time at the College and was still there!

Malcolm received his award, albeit a year late, from former member of staff and OS John Precious.

Photograph:

Photo credits to Keith Meatheringham

https://www.facebook.com/keith.meatheringham.7

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OSA Alumni Award 2021 – Jason Liversidge

This was awarded to Jason Liversidge who was unable to attend the ceremony but joined the school community in the evening at The OSA Ball, with over 350 guests, to receive his award in person from OSA President Miles Cartwright.  His Award was recognised at the Prize Giving and the following was read out at this occasion.

Jason attended both Lisvane & Scarborough College from 1984 until 1992.

After leaving school Jason trained and worked as a mechanic for 9 years. He joined the family business before opening his own business in 2003. In addition to working hard he continued to enjoy an adrenaline filled lifestyle including skiing, grass tracking, motor biking and fast cars.

Jason met his wife Liz in 2009 and after a whirlwind romance, they married less than a year later and soon became proud parents to Lilly and Poppy.

In 2012 Jason’s life began to change. He started experiencing symptoms including weakness and muscle loss in his right hand, tingling down the left side of his body and slurred speech.  He was eventually diagnosed with Fabry Disease in November 2012. Fabry Disease is an extremely rare, life limiting condition, which causes toxins to build up in the body leading to global organ damage, including kidney failure, heart failure and eventually death.

If this wasn’t enough for Jason and his family to deal with and accept, his symptoms continued to progress.  He was subsequently diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in August 2013, at the age of 37.

MND is a rare, rapidly progressive illness that strikes without warning and can kill within months. It damages the nervous system leading to weakness, muscle wasting, severe disability, paralysis and death. The victim is unable to move, speak, swallow and eventually unable to breathe.  Professor Stephen Hawkings, former Rugby Union international Doddie Weir and Leeds Rhinos Rob Burrow have all been diagnosed with MND.

As a family they were devastated.  With two daughters aged 22 and 4 months old they didn’t know how they would cope or what the future would hold for them. Their plan was simple – Live every day like it was their last.

Since his diagnosis, Jason has achieved some amazing things and raised much needed money and awareness of MND through some amazing challenges and continued to enjoy life.

They were acutely aware that Jason would eventually need to use a wheelchair and as a result would need to adapt their home. This is where Jason first featured on our TV screens, through BBC 1’s DIY SOS. It was an old school friend and OS Catherine Brennand who suggested they should apply for DIY SOS and helped with the whole project, which as a result has been a godsend.

Jason also had a bespoke voice (complete with a Yorkshire accent) created for him, again with the help and samples of his Scarborough College school friends.

Since his diagnosis and failing health, Jason has raised thousands of pounds for charity by undertaking some incredible challenges including;

  • Conquering the Longest Zip Wire in Europe and the Fastest in the World.
  • He became the first person to summit Mount Snowdon in an Electric Wheelchair*
  • He has abseiled off the Humber Bridge (whilst paralysed) and he has abseiled into Lancaster Hole, a 100 feet deep pot hole, which is part of the largest caving system in Britain
  • In 2020 he set a Guinness World Record for the Fastest Electric Wheelchair achieving a whopping speed of 66.826mph. *

As a family they have supported charitable organisations such as Dove House, Marie Curie, the Motor Neurone Association and Fire Fighters Charity.  He has also raised money for the Bendrigg Trust an organisation that provides out of bound activities for severely disabled and disadvantaged children.

Jason has two terminal illnesses, he is paralysed from the neck down and he is unable to speak, eat or breathe on his own. He needs round the clock care and everyday is a challenge, but he will never give up and still hopes that one day there will be a cure.

Many people call him inspirational, although Jason doesn’t like the word and believes that he is just an ordinary man making the most of the time he has.

Jason is an example to others. He has highlighted what can be achieved with a positive ‘can do’ attitude and true Yorkshire Grit, even in the face of extreme adversity.

*featured on  the news pages of the website

Photo credits Richard Ponter