DIRECTOR'S PROFILES

 

 

Grant Ramsay – Chairperson

Grant was appointed Chairperson for Pulteneytown People’s Project in 2008.  He worked for 18 years in industry as an engineer, and was also a department manager during this time. He is currently a teacher at Wick High School, involved with the Princes trust Excel and Duke of Edinburgh Awards, working in conjunction with Pulteneytown People’s Project in this role.  Grant is always actively involved in the project’s fund raising events.

 

James Cormack – Vice chairperson

James was appointed Chairperson for the project in 2008 and he is a local resident who works as a sales person for a national stationery company.  His children are service users, attending the project’s after school and holiday clubs.  James is very supportive of the project and regularly assists at our fund raising events.

 

Yvonne Hendry - Director

Yvonne works as development officer for Caithness Voluntary Group, and was one of the first employees of Pulteneytown People’s Project, where she held the role of Funding/Finance Manager.  She has been a volunteer advisor for Caithness Citizens Advice Bureau for 8 years and is also involved in other local voluntary committees.

 

Margaret Ross – Director

Margaret has lived in Wick for around 18 years, having been originally employed by AEA at Dounreay when she relocated to the area from Ayrshire. She has been a Director for Pulteneytown People’s Project for just over a year. Margaret is employed by Local Government within the Housing and Property Service as a Housing Officer and covers the majority of East Caithness. As such she has a wide experience of the housing issues in the area. Much of her work is centred within the Pulteney area and she has a keen interest in the general regeneration of the area.  Margaret has also made use of our childcare facilities for several years.     

 

Nancy O’Brien - Director

Nancy qualified in Residential Childcare and previously worked in List D schools in the Glasgow area.   Since moving to Wick in 1977 she has worked a voluntary basis at the local Adult Training Centre and the Samaritans.  After retiring from her position as practice manager for a Medical Centre Nancy, as a Justice of the Peace, was appointed a court justice and sat on the bench at the District Court in Wick until December 2007.

 

Anne Belton – Director

Anne is a local resident who has years of experience on committees.  She is actively involved in and helps to manage the ‘ladies groups’ that the project has up and running.  She too has experience and knowledge that has been most helpful in her role as a Director and she regularly helps out at our fund raising events.

 

Eric Farquhar – Director

Eric has many years of experience as a secondary school teacher, a further education officer and head teacher.  Now retired, he continues to provide Support for Learning at Wick High School and is also a board member for Wick Players, a local drama organisation.  Eric has been instrumental in raising the profile of Pulteneytown People’s Project, actively promoting the project by giving presentations to numerous community groups.

 

Reverend John Nugent BD (honours) - Director

John is a minister with Wick St Fergus Church of Scotland. He was previously a member of the board of management of South Lanarkshire Samaritans, a member of the Scottish Religious Advisory Committee of the BBC and also member of the board of management of the Glasgow-based charity Loaves and Fishes working primarily with the homeless as well as people involved in the sex industry of the Anderston area of the city. A former youth worker for Dumfries and Galloway Council he has extensive experience in youth justice, substance misuse issues and has also previously chaired the Annandale and Eskdale Alcohol and Drug Forum. He is also a former member of Dumfries and Galloway Alcohol and Drug Action Team and also ADAT's communities sub-group.

 

John Sinclair - Director

John is a respected and accomplished businessman, with a wealth of management experience.  He has run his own very successful company, Sinclair Windows, for the last 15 years.  Prior to this he worked as a manager for Solaglas in Thurso and also for the Job Centre initially in Wick and then Inverness.

 

Tom Allan - Director

Tom is a retired local resident who was previously Assistant Head at Wick High School.  He was also in charge of the Highland-wide Technical Vocational Education Initiative, which was brought about to equip all school and college students in the 14-18 age group with the knowledge and skills required for success in adult working life.  In this role he has a proven track record of successfully applying for funding.  Tom has also had written work published as well as editing books for Oxford University Press.

 

Neil Bain - Director

Neil is a retired local resident with over 40 years experience in the building and infrastructure industry.  He worked for 30 years as a foreman for John Laing & Sons Ltd (a developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects) in England, France and Germany.   On his return to Wick he was the Clerk of Works for the construction of Caithness General Hospital in Wick and latterly was in charge of the construction of the pier at Scrabster Harbour in Thurso. 

 

Alister Traill – Adviser

Alister has worked in large secondary schools for nearly 40 years and recently retired from his post as Head Teacher of Wick High School, which works in partnership with Pulteneytown People’s Project.Alister acted as Secretary of the Francis Street Club, a limited company, for 14 years.  He has also been actively involved in various capacities in a number of groups and committees.

 

Pat Bowers – Adviser

Pat is the head of the local primary school, Wick South and has over 25 years in Primary Education.  She has taken an active role in Pulteneytown People’s Project right from the start.  The project currently runs its breakfast and after school club in the school and Pat took a very active role in initiating this project.  Pat’s experience of staff management, experience of dealing with parents, and addressing the needs of the young people has been invaluable to the project.

 

Alex McManus – Adviser

Alex is currently an advisor to the Board and is very up to date with local issues.   He worked for Clydesdale Bank for 30 years, throughout the Highlands, rural Aberdeenshire and Orkney, and has been living in Wick since 1994. In early 2002 Alex started working for Highland Council Social Work Department at a centre for adults with learning difficulties. When the centre closed he joined the Social Work team in Thurso as a Community Care Assessor for the elderly. He then took up a new position with the Chief Executives Service of Highland Council as a professional assistant to the Wards Manager.

 

 

Stewart Henderson – Adviser to Project Board, Community Centre Build

Stewart is Project Manager for National Nuclear Archive who has 40 years experience as an architect (20 years working for local government, including 10 years as City Architect in Edinburgh),

 

Colin Doull – Adviser to Project Board, Community Centre Build

Colin is deputy for the Head of Commercial, Dounreay.   He has an honours degree in Construction Management, and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS). He has experience managing contractor selection processes on contracts up to £10M.

 

David Sutherland – Adviser to Project Board, Community Centre Build

David works as Wick Ward Manager for Highland Council.   David also acted as an adviser to the project for the tender for the design stage.