Each evening of Down & Dromore’s Bible week included a guest Bible reader. They were Baroness Blood, Sir Nige Hamilton, Dr Bryan Gregory and Bishop John McAreavey
Pen portraits of each of the readers follow:
Baroness Blood
May Blood, Baroness Blood of Blackwatertown MBE is a Labour member of the House of Lords.
She was born and raised in Belfast and worked in a linen mill from 1952-90 where she soon became an active member of the trade union and a shop steward. She was involved in creating the women’s committee in the Trade Union and promoting equality for women at work. Later she worked as a manager of Cairn Martin Wood Products from 1991-94.
Since 1994, Baroness Blood has been an Information Officer of the Greater Shankill Partnership and is a founding member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition. In 1998, she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Ulster and was awarded a life peerage as Baroness Blood, of Blackwatertown in the County of Armagh in 1999. She was the first woman in Northern Ireland to be given a life peerage.
She also received an honorary DUniv from the Queen’s University of Belfast in 2000 and the Open University in 2001. In 2007, she published her autobiography, ‘Watch my Lips, I’m Speaking’.
Baroness Blood is Chairman of Barnado’s (Northern Ireland) and a Trustee of Barnado’s (UK).
She is Campaign Chair of the Integrated Education Fund, Chair of Greater Shankill “Sure Start” Project and Chair of Impact Training.
Sir Nigel Hamilton KCB
Sir Nigel Hamilton is a Psychology graduate from Queen’s University , Belfast. He joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1970 and spent much of his working career on policy issues on the physical infrastructure, including regional planning, transportation, and housing and urban development. He worked closely with local politicians on local government and latterly on community relations and community division.
He was Permanent Secretary in the Department of Education between 1998 and 2000 and then Permanent Secretary in the Department of Regional Development between 2000and 2002.
Sir Nigel became Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 2002, and also Head of the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister and Secretary to the Northern Ireland Executive, working directly with all Ministers, particularly the DUP and Sinn Fein .
On his retirement in 2008, he was appointed Chairman of the N I Council of The Prince’s Trust and Chairman of the Bryson Charitable Group. He is a Non-executive Director of the Ulster Bank and of Belfast City Airport.
Sir Nigel is the Vice Lord Lieutenant of the City and County of Belfast.
He is President of the Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union in the season 2010/2011.
Dr Bryan Gregory
Bryan is a Chartered Civil Engineer, educated at Queens University Belfast, and has worked both throughout the British Isles, and internationally, including South Africa, Europe and the Caribbean.
He is an Advisor to the Strategic Investment Board, which provides support to government in the delivery of key infrastructure projects. He is also the acting Chief Executive for Titanic Foundation Ltd, the charitable body established to deliver ‘Titanic Belfast’ the iconic new visitor attraction currently taking shape in Titanic Quarter, on the site of the former Harland & Wolff Shipyards.
Prior to joining the Strategic Investment Board (SIB), Bryan was a Partner in Kirk McClure Morton, and a Director with the RPS Group in Ireland, where he was responsible for the management of multi–disciplinary teams working in the areas of resource management and regeneration.
Bryan involvement on a number of other bodies has included:
• Victoria College Belfast – Chairman, Board of Governors (current)
• Member Review Team, NI Assembly All Party Group on International Development
• UK Representative, EFCA Taskforce on International Development
• Member NI Sustainable Development Strategy Task Force and Stakeholder Group
• CBI NI Council and Business Committee; and IBEC–CBI Joint Business Council
He is married to Linda, with two daughters, Rebecca and Charlotte.
Bishop John McAreavey
Dr John McAreavey, Bishop of the Diocese of Dromore, was born at Drumnagally, Banbridge, and received his secondary education at St Colman’s College, Newry. In September 1966 he entered St Patrick’s College, Maynooth where in 1969 he finished a degree in modern languages and in 1972 a degree in Divinity.
Dr John was ordained as priest for the diocese of Dromore in 1973 and returned to Maynooth after his ordination to complete a licentiate in Theology in 1974. He was a post–graduate student of Canon Law at the Gregorian University of Rome from 1974–1978 when he graduated with a doctorate in Canon Law.
From 1978–1979 Dr McAreavey was on the teaching staff of St Colman’s College Newry. In 1988 he was appointed Professor of Canon Law in the Pontifical University of Maynooth.
While there he wrote widely on Church Law, publishing in 1997 The Canon Law of Marriage and the Family. He had served on the Editorial Board of the Irish Theological Quarterly from 1998. He is also a member of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland and the Canon Law Society of America. In 1994 he became secretary of the Greenhills Ecumenical Conference Committee.
Dr John McAreavey was ordained as Bishop of Dromore on 19 September 1999. He chose as the motto for his coat–of–arms, ‘sicut qui ministrat’, which translates as ‘one who serves’.
See also Musical Director – in Music section of this site.