All Change At The Ulster Orchestra
Issue Date: 1st February 2008
Last week's Annual General Meeting of the Ulster Orchestra Society Ltd. marked the end of an era for four long-standing Board members.
It was with a real sense of sadness that the Society bade farewell to its Chairman Tom Collins OBE, and Board members Dorinda, Lady Dunleath, Harry Coll OBE and Conor MacCarrick.
The Orchestra's Chief Executive, David Byers, said, "Tom Collins, previously the Orchestra's Deputy Chairman, has devoted a considerable amount of his time and energies to the Chairman's role over the past six years and has been a wonderfully pro-active advocate for the Orchestra across the entire range of its work. Dorinda has been a tower of strength in her advocacy for the Orchestra's education work; Harry has been an invaluable legal advisor and Conor has been a great support to the Marketing and Development team. They'll all be missed."
At the AGM, the Society elected four new Board members: Denis Desmond CBE, Lord Lieutenant of County Londonderry and formerly Chairman, Desmond and Sons Limited and Chairman, Altnagelvin HHSS Trust; Ian Hill, arts journalist, travel writer and Ireland representative on the UNESCO-funded International Executive of l'Association Internationale des Critiques de Théâtre; Brenda McLaughlin CBE, Chair of the Civil Service Commission for Northern Ireland, former Senior Pro-Chancellor, Queen's University, former Chair of the South and East Belfast HSS Trust and former member of the BBC Broadcasting Council; and Professor Sir Desmond Rea OBE, Chairman, Northern Ireland Policing Board, Emeritus Professor of Human Resource Management, University of Ulster and Editor, First Trust Bank's quarterly Economic Outlook & Business Review.
At the subsequent Board meeting of the Society, the members unanimously elected Sir Desmond Rea as the new Chairman of the Ulster Orchestra Society Ltd.
After the Orchestra's concert in the Whitla Hall on Friday 1 February, a private reception was held for players and staff of the Society to meet the new Chairman, and make a special presentation to Tom Collins, marking his major contribution to the Society.