Honorands

Ceremony 1 - Ross Davenport

Ross Davenport - HonMUniv

Ross Davenport started swimming, aged three, at Belper Marlins and has been swimming competitively since the age of six.  Since making his first senior international debut at the 2003 Barcelona World Championships he has competed in three Olympic Games (Athens, Beijing and London 2012), five World Championships, two Commonwealth Games and five European Championships.    At his first Olympics, Athens in 2004, he was a member of the 4x200m Freestyle relay team who set a new British record.  He won relay silver at the 2006 European Championships and Gold at the same event in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where he also took individual 200m gold.  During his career he has broken over 50 English, British or European records.   In October 2012 he cycled across Zambia to raise funds for Sport in Action.

Ceremony 2 - Roy Wooldridge

Roy Wooldridge - HonDUniv

Roy Wooldridge was born in South Wales in 1919, attended a local grammar school and became a Mathematics graduate of Aberystwyth University College in 1940. During wartime service with the Royal Engineers he was awarded the Military Cross for outstanding bravery in 1942, after leading a team clearing a North African minefield by night. In 1944, in a further night mission assessing mines on French beaches before the D-Day landings, the then Lieutenant Wooldridge was captured by a German torpedo boat and interrogated by the Gestapo - and by 'the Desert Fox', Field Marshal Erwin Rommel - before becoming a prisoner of war. He was released in April 1945, in time to celebrate his first wedding anniversary with wife Phyllis, and receive a second Military Cross.

After the Second World War he taught at Brighton Technical College, Wolverhampton College and Lanchester College, Coventry, before becoming Vice-Principal of Derby College of Technology in 1967, then later Principal. In 1970 the separate Colleges of Technology and of Art, on their shared Derby campus at Kedleston Road, merged to become Derby College of Art and Technology and Mr Wooldridge was named Principal.

In 1977 the college merged again, this time with Bishop Lonsdale College of Education, to become Derby Lonsdale College of Higher Education; a predecessor of the University of Derby (founded 1992). Mr Wooldridge retired from the College in 1982, having set the institution on course to be the major provider of further and higher education that it is today.

Ceremony 3 - Valerie Todd

Valerie Todd - HonDUniv

Valerie Todd (who will become an Honorary Doctor of the University or HonDUniv) works as a Director at Crossrail Ltd. The £15bn rail way engineering project, the largest in Europe, is set to connect 37 rail stations in the capital from 2018, speeding public transport through the capital and beyond. Outside of her Crossrail  work Ms Todd is the founding president of The Women's Transportation Seminar London, a Commissioner to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, a former Trustee of London's Transport Museum and a governor/board member at the University of West London.  She was raised in Derby. 

Ceremony 4 - Emmanuel Cooper (Posthumous award)

Emmanuel Cooper - HonDFA - Posthumous Award

Emmanuel Cooper (1938 - 2012) was a distinguished craftsman, writer, teacher broadcaster and gay rights activist. A potter of international standing his work is represented in many public collections. The author of nearly thirty books he was editor of Ceramic Review, visiting Professor at London's Royal College of Art, and a regular broadcaster on television and radio.

Emmanuel Cooper was a founder member of the Gay Left collective and of the Gay History group and art crictic for Gay Time and Tribune. He was awarded an OBE for 'services to art' in the 2002 New Years Honours.  

Ceremony 5 - Maxwell Craven MBE

Maxwell Craven MBE

Maxwell Craven is an historian, conservationist and author who served 25 years with Derby Museum, 18 of them as Keeper of Antiquities, during which time he greatly increased the collections relating to the Derby Enlightenment, and began writing books about local architecture, history, biography and related topics. He has also contributed to magazines and learned journals, presented 10 Inside Out BBCTV films and has served voluntarily on numerous local bodies. Made redundant in 1998, he has since worked part time for auctioneers Bamfords, written a column for the Derby Telegraph, as well as numerous historic building assessments for planning applications and continues to write books, mainly private commissions.  He was awarded an honorary master's degree by Derby University in 1996, made MBE three years later and elected FSA.

Ceremony 6 - Colin Walton

Colin Walton - HonDUniv Colin

Walton is the former Chairman of Bombardier Transportation UK and Ireland, responsible for all the company's legal entities. Within this role he was the senior executive contact, responsible for liaising with senior customer executives and the government at both local and national levels. Colin was also Chair of the region's first Local Enterprise Partnership. As a former British Rail apprentice, Colin attended college and later university to become an Electronics Design Engineer with the British Rail Technical and Research Centre before obtaining his Diploma in Management Studies and Masters Degree in Marketing and Management. He retired from Bombardier at the end of March 2012 and has gone on to form CS Walton Consulting Ltd a consultancy specialising in strategic direction, particularly in the transport, local government sectors and supporting SME manufacturing companies. In October 2012 Colin concluded his role as Chairman of the Railway Industry Association for the UK. Alongside this work, Colin is Chairman of the Derby and Derbyshire Railway Forum (the latest cluster of railway companies in the world) as well as being Chair of the 'The Prince's Trust' for the East Midlands and sitting on its national council. This fits well with Colin's background and commitment to see young people in employment and dovetails well with his position on the Board of the National Rail Skills Academy. In 2011 Colin was made a Freeman of the City of London for services to the industry.