We are pleased to announce that the guest speaker for the 2009 Graduation Ceremony will be Sir Rodney Walker.

Sir Rodney was born in 1943 in Wakefield and educated at Thornes House Grammar School.  He is known as one of the UK’s most prominent and successful sports administrators, but this description barely scratches the surface of Sir Rodney’s many and varied interests and achievements.

Sir Rodney’s career to date has spanned the worlds of sport, culture and good causes.  In the world of sport, he is the Chairman of Goals Soccer Centres plc, an expanding network of five-a-side soccer centres, and of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and World Snooker.  A past chairman of Wakefield Trinity RLFC and many important national sports bodies, Sir Rodney holds a clutch of honorary positions and trusteeships with organisations such as the Amateur Athletics Association of England and the London Marathon Charitable Trust.

Beyond the world of sport, Sir Rodney is the Vice Chairman of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and a trustee of the National Mining Museum.  He is also the Honorary Life President and Chairman of the Wakefield Theatre Trust and in this capacity spearheaded the fund-raising campaign that led to the re-opening of Wakefield Theatre Royal and Opera House in 1986.