Queen Alexandra College
Court Oak Road
Harborne
Birmingham
B17 9TG
Tel: 0121 428 5050 (main switchboard)
Fax 0121 428 5048
Arrange an informal visit: 0121 428 5041
Check progress of your application: 0121 428 5015
Fundraising: 0121 428 5064
Advance2work: 0800 234 6859
E-mail: enquiries@qac.ac.uk
QAC's Governors - click here to read pen portraits of QAC's Governors
QAC Senior Management Team
Principal
Hugh J Williams
T. 0121 428 5016
Email: hwilliams@qac.ac.uk
Vice Principal
Beverley Jessop
T. 0121 428 5012
Email: bjessop@qac.ac.uk
Senior Learning Manager
Hazel Hall
T. 0121 428
5034
Email: hhall@qac.ac.uk
Director of Supported and Community Living
(Independence Plus)
Alan Hamer
T. 0121 428 5025
EMail: ahamer@qac.ac.uk
Director of Human Resources and Estates
Angela Litchfield
T. 0121 428 5014
Email: alitchfield@qac.ac.uk
Director of Finance and Resources
Graham Woodhouse
T. 0121 428 5033
Email: gwoodhouse@qac.ac.uk
Director of Business Development, QAC Sight Village
Ray Piggott
T. 0121 428 5041
Email: ray@qac.ac.uk
Director of Residential Services
Andy Dennehy
T. 0121 428 5029
Email: adennehy@qac.ac.uk
Other contacts:
Admissions Officer
Rachel Wright
T. 0121 428 5015
Email: rwright@qac.ac.uk
Transition
Heather Darby
hdarby@qac.ac.uk
College Healthcare Team
T. 0121 428 5080/5081
College Houses:
Ashwood – 0121 428 5065
Hambland – 0121 428 5066
Mary Badger House – 0121 428 5067
TSB – 0121 428 5068
Winfield – 0121 428 5044
Woodville – 0121 428 5069
The number 24 bus stop is right outside the College, this can be caught from Colmore Row in Birmingham City Centre
Those coming by train from outside Birmingham will need to get a taxi from New Street Railway Station.
The nearest Railway station is Five-Ways from there you can catch the number 21, 22, 23 or 24 buses to Queen Alexandra College, check train times at RailTrack.
Alternatively go to the Multimap.com website.
QAC's Governor Pen Portraits
Professor John Hilbourne (Chair of Governors)
Naeem Arif
Chris Bradshaw
David Corney
Elizabeth Chapman OBE
Sandeep K. Dosanjh
Colin Fowler
Dave Heeley
Bill Houle
Steve McCall
Anne Mitchell
Dr David C Mitchell
John Penny
Dr Madhava Rao
Ameeta Sharma
Clerk to the Governors
Alison Lydon
T. 0121 428 5022
Email. alydon@qac.ac.uk
Chair of Governors
Professor John Hilbourne
John Hilbourne is partially sighted and latterly dyslexic. He has a slight hearing impairment. He was educated at Worcester College for the Blind and the London School of Economics where he studied sociology. He taught in a number of universities holding a number of senior academic posts. Between 1985 and 1993 he was HMI for further and higher education. Latterly he was an Assistant Director for the Higher Education Quality Council from which he retired in 1996. Between 1996 and 2008 he worked as a Review Chair for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education and has an honorary Associate Professorship at Brunel University and a Visiting Professorship at Leeds Metropolitan University. He has been Chairman of a Community Health Council and a Health Authority member. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and language Therapists, and has an honorary DSc from the University of Brighton. He has been a registered Ofsted team member and a member of the national Low Vision Services working party. He has also served as a JP.
John is currently a trustee for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, chairs its research committee, has lead responsibility for volunteering and is a member of its Change Management Group.
John is the author of several reports on quality enhancement issues in higher education and quality assurance in health care and the relationship between further and higher education in England and Scotland.
John is married and has one daughter working in the catering industry. He is a Rotarian, a member of the Lunar Society and President Elect of the Birmingham and Edgbaston Debating Society. Hobbies include music, particularly opera, reading, talking, good food and travel.
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Naeem Arif
Naeem Arif is Executive Director ofIdeal for All(IFA) which is managed and controlled by disabled people themselves and provides a range of social and health care services to support disabled people, carers and disadvantaged groups, to learn new skills and live as independently as possible.
He is also Governor at Queen Alexandra College and is currently working in partnership with academics and leading professionals on disability in Germany, Austriaand Poland, sharing best practice and learning from mutual experiences on the promotion of equality and rights for disabled people.
Prior to these Naeem worked for over 10 years in Local Government and National Health Service at senior management levels.
At the IFA Naeem successfully pioneered a radical user-led governance model which was recognised as a best practice in the UK by the Houses of Parliament in their 1997 White Paper on the promotion of independent living.
Naeem has been highly successful in developing the voice of and engaging disabled people in the redesigning of local public services to be more responsive within the fields of health and social care. His particular interests include the promotion of public health agenda through close collaboration with the Director of Public Health for Sandwell.
Naeem is married with 3 boys and spends his spare time with his boys in the pool, play grounds or helping them with their schools work.
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Chris Bradshaw
Chris Bradshaw is 58 years old and lives near Solihull. He is Director of Finance & Performance and Deputy Chief executive of George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust. He was Interim Chief Executive from January to March 2011. He is married with two adult children. His youngest child has an autistic spectrum disorder and was a student at the college and completed a BTEC National Diploma in Art & Design.
Chris is a Chartered Management Accountant and joined the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust in December 2006. During his time at the trust it achieved a surplus for four consecutive years and break even in the most recent year.
His NHS career began in 1993 when he was appointed Director of Finance and Contracting for Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Trust where he was part of the management team responsible for the relocation of the hospital in 1998. He was Acting Chief Executive of the trust during 2001.
Prior to joining George Eliot Hospitals NHS Trust he was Director of Finance, ICT and Performance for Sandwell PCTs where he was also the Public Sector Director for Sandwell LIFT Company - a joint venture with the private sector, which he led to financial close in 2004.
Before joining the NHS he worked in the automotive components industry for Automotive Products plc, the aerospace and defence industry for Smiths Group plc and as a management consultant for Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) where major clients included Rolls Royce, Guinness, Hawker Siddeley and the Bank of England.
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David Corney
Born in Handsworth, Birmingham in 1939, David was educated at King Edwards School, Birmingham and worked all his life in the City.
Articled at Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG), he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1963. He joined another leading Birmingham firm which became (in 1990) Coopers and Lybrand. He specialised in audit and accountancy work and was also a licensed Insolvency Practitioner acting as Liquidator and/or Receiver of hundreds of companies as well as dealing with Bankruptcy and Voluntary Arrangements for individuals. He retired from practice in 1995.
David has been involved with charity work for many years, in addition to being a Governor of Brib and Queen Alexandra College he is a Trustee of the local village Charity where he lives and Almshouse Charity (both as Chairman).
In his spare time David is involved in field sports, watching rugby, football and sailing - both racing and cruising.
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Elizabeth Chapman OBE
After leaving school Elizabeth obtained secretarial qualifications and became Secretary to a Hospital Matron in Leicester, undertaking voluntary Red Cross Nursing and studying English Literature and Language at evening classes.
Attending university gained an Honours Degree in English and qualified for teaching with a Diploma in Education at Leeds. Teaching English at Howells School and becoming a Housemistress at this highly academic school for girls was a rigorous learning experience in education! From there moved into special education becoming Vice Principal of the Royal National College for the Blind for some years. Qualified through the College of Teachers of the Blind, receiving the Arthur Pearson Award, feeling that this training was limited accepted a post at the University of Birmingham as tutor for the specialist training courses for teachers of visually impaired pupils and students. Was able to increase the size and status of this course from a Supplementary Certificate to Degree level, and in time, to develop a distance mode of training attracting students nationally. Obtaining an M.Ed and publishing a standard text on the education of visually impaired pupils and students led to further publications and research co-operation with Professor Tobin on a project for young children with low vision (Look and Think). Overseas work increased and in vacations and after retirement from the university became extensive. This included projects for UNESCO in Greece and Portugal, an extensive programme for the British Red Cross in Romania and courses for the British Council in Tanzania and Turkey. Work for the International Council for the Education of the Visually Impaired included courses in Cyprus, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Bulgaria, Germany, France and Madeira. Some of this developed into work with the governments of these countries and she became Chairman of the European Region of ICEVI for five years.
Elizabeth became founding Chairman of OPSIS and was awarded the OBE for services to education in 1988. The National Federation for the Blind gave her the Louis Braille Award in 1998.
She has served on the RNIB Overseas and Education Committee and as a member of their Executive Council, a Councillor of the Royal London Society for the Blind and a Governor of St Vincents School, Liverpool and Vice President of Royal National College for the Blind.
Elizabeth has retired from the Board of Governors of New College Worcester, Exhall Grange Coventry and Royal National College for the Blind. She continues her membership of the Board of Governors of Queen Alexandra College and is particularly interested in the work of the Curriculum Committee. She enjoys the contact this brings with staff and students.
She is on the Board of Directors of Pinner Court and enjoys her interests and continuing involvement with the education of visually impaired pupils and students at QAC.
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Sandeep K. Dosanjh
Sandeep Dosanjh is 26 years old and lives near Walsall. She is a qualified chartered accountant and also a Manager at PwC within the Risk Assurance part of the practice.
Sandi has five years experience in business process reviews including controls assurance, process and project reviews. She has strong controls experience in both external and internal audit and has been involved in assisting a number of programme assurance engagements.
Sandi leads the PwC National Sikh Network and thus is involved in numerous marketing events throughout the year. She has also been selected by the PwC leadership to assist in improving working practices with the firm, in particular work life balance and diversity.
She has been married for almost a year and enjoys playing football and keeping fit in her spare time.
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Colin Fowler
Colin has been a member of staff at Aston University for thirty six years, and is now semi-retired as an Academic Support Officer in Optometry. Prior to this he was in private practice as an optician in Luton, and also spent a year working at Oxford Eye Hospital. His particular interests are spectacle lens performance and also the optical management of low vision.
Besides being a sometime member of both the Senate and Council at Aston, Colin has a number of external interests including being the Chairman of the Birmingham Low Vision Services Committee, the 2002-2003 Chairman of the Heads of UK Optometry Departments Committee (BUCO), a member of the BSI Committee on sunglasses, and a member of the Secretary of State for Transport’s Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on vision and driving.
His hobbies include reading, photography, skiing (badly) and dinghy sailing (very badly). He has two children – Philip a Research Bio-Physicist and Claire a Veterinary Surgeon.
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Dave Heeley
Dave was born 24th November 1957, but any one asking him, on his next birthday he will be 39 and 156 months. He is married to wife Debbie whom he whisked off to Gretna Green (a romantic at heart). They have a hat trick of girls whom he is very proud of; also an important member of the family is guide dog Wicksie.
He was always known as a clumsy kid, never a day passed without cuts, bruises or a broken pair of glasses, until at around ten years of age all was revealed, he was diagnosed with an eye complaint called Retinitas Pigmentosa, just a slight problem, it meant he was going blind. When first diagnosed he was quite a celebrity at school, “Wow Dave’s going blind”, no one else was so it was a case of “ I’ve got some thing you haven’t got”. He attended mainstream schools, Greets Green Junior and George Salter High School, his only claim to fame; he was the town champion at 1500 metres for five years.
The realisation of his eye complaint hit him with some force at the age of seventeen, his career in the army shattered and with all his friends taking driving tests made him realise the true implications of going blind, it was at this point he inwardly started feeling sorry for himself, “Why me”, but in life there are two paths to tread, negative or positive and as he will tell you he took the positive route.
Regardless of his sight problem, he’s had a varied working career, mainly office bound, other than his short stint on a fork lift truck, he admits he wasn’t always honest about his sight problem, he had his own company for around seven years, distributing suspended ceilings, partitions, dry lining and joinery, he loved the buying and selling but with bad luck, bad debt and bad eye sight, all good things come to an end. After spending three years at the Queen Alexandra College for the Blind where he achieved skills in Braille, computers, carpentry and wood turning, it’s now easy for him to lose himself in his workshop where he loves to design and make all kinds of furniture. He now even has a weekly radio slot on Insight radio called DIY with Blind Dave and still no fingers missing!
Dave tried hard over the years to conceal his blindness but with his eyesight gradually declining the accidents kept increasing until he had to admit defeat and resort to using the white stick, which made him feel incapable, vulnerable and extremely frustrated
Suddenly overnight Dave’s life was changed when he was introduced to Peter his first Guide Dog. No longer the hunched figure trawling the footpath, but full of confidence, standing and walking tall, feeling very proud, striding out with a sure footed four legged friend, mobility assured, as for independence, the perfect recipe for adventure, with a social life, second to none, his only regret is not having a Guide Dog sooner.
For fun he’s up for most challenges, he’s had a go at most things, ski-ing, water ski-ing, horse riding, cliff jumping in Corfu, drove around Brands Hatch, rode motor bikes, drove a tank in the Highlands of Scotland, abseiled, was let loose in a speed boat, completed the Go Ape course in Grisedale forest, an Aerial assault course in the trees and he certainly enjoys his running. Competing in many half marathons, including the Great North and South runs along with the New York marathon and to date completing his 7th consecutive London marathon. Oh! And of course completing 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents the ultimate challenge! Not forgetting he is now also the first blind person in the world to achieve this.
After completing the epic challenge, which took him on a running journey around the world, as stated previously, running 7 marathons, in 7 days, over 7 continents, which began on 7th April 2008 in the Falkland Islands (Antarctica), Rio, Brazil, (South America),
Los Angeles, (North America), Sydney, (Australasia), Dubai, (Asia), Tunisia, (Africa), with the challenge ending in the Flora London marathon, (Europe), on 13th April 2008.
The challenge launched Dave into a new career as a “Motivational Speaker” with a diverse audience i.e. After Dinner, Corporate, Colleges, Schools, Special needs etc.
A fitting end to 2008 was Blind Dave and his running guide being acknowledged at the BBC Midlands Sports Awards as the winners of the “Outstanding sporting achievement of 2008.
2009 sees Dave becoming the Physical Activities Champion for Sandwell Council and an Ambassador for the Birmingham Half Marathon. He was also acknowledged with an award by the High Sheriff of the West Midlands. Since the challenge he has been involved with many charities, including running the first Birmingham half marathon for the Kidney Kids appeal with “Team Blind Dave” and the last Flora London Marathon with a personal best time of 3 hours and 24 minutes.
In recognition of Dave’s charity work over the years he was invited to Buckingham Palace for a Christmas reception with the Queen and also to a function at the House of Lords. What ever is coming next?
Please take a moment to have a look on his website
www.blinddaveheeley.co.uk
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Bill Houle
Bill Houle was born 20 July 1953 in Hertfordshire UK. He was educated at Christ College, Brecon. He achieved professional qualifications as an Associate of the RICS in 1979 and is now a Fellow of the Institution.
Bill has an extensive property background and as a former director of Phoenix Beard managed departments in Agency (industrial, office and leisure), Professional and Corporate Client. He has acted as expert witness and undertaken a number of consultancy roles in both the public and private sectors. He formed partnership development company Trigram Properties in 2001 and has been developing and investment managing over 1 million sq ft of commercial, industrial and residential property. Part of his current work is in the education sector.
Bill is a Trustee of the Birmingham Conservation Trust, treasurer of the Birmingham Design Initiative and a member of the Lunar Society. His interests and hobbies include old performance cars, sailing and reading science fiction. He has two grown up children and three grandchildren.
He lives with his wife on a farm at Wolverley near Kidderminster with 3 dogs, 6 cats, 4 geese and 4 horses.
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Steve McCall
Steve is a Senior Lecturer in Education (Visual Impairment) at the School of Education, University of Birmingham. He is a Co-Director of the Visual Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR) and joint editor of the British Journal of Visual Impairment (BJVI). Prior to joining the University in 1986 he taught for six years in the Primary Department at St Vincent's School for the Visually Impaired in Liverpool and spent seven years on the Isle of Wight as a peripatetic teacher of blind and partially sighted children in integrated settings.
He is currently heading research on the inclusion of children with visual impairment in developing countries for Sightsavers International. He has completed a number of funded research projects including investigations of the Moon Code as a route to literacy for blind children with additional learning difficulties, literature reviews on best practice for the RNIB and the Irish Government, and has published widely in academic journals.
Steve is programme tutor for the mandatory training programmes in teaching children with visual impairment and also manages the 1 year training programme for lecturers in FE ‘Supporting Learners with Visual Impairment in Further Education’. His publications include ‘Visual Impairment – access to education for children and young people’, ‘Learning Through Touch’ and 'The Birmingham Braille Course': He was World Vice President of the International Council for the Education of the Visually Impaired (ICEVI) from 2002 - 2006.
His research interests include:
Steve has 3 grown children and to keep in shape plays football and enjoys gardening.
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Anne Mitchell
Born in London, the last of nine children formed from the union of two families and with one brother and a number of wonderful half siblings. Attended a comprehensive school and further education college to complete A levels followed by a degree in philosophy and English at the University of Kent.
After graduating undertook a professional social work qualification and practised as a social worker in London and the West Midlands before leaving social work to begin a new career within further education. Qualified as a teacher in 1990 and has undertaken many roles within F.E. including over 15 years as a senior manager.
In addition, she has several years’ experience as an additional inspector for the learning and skills remit.
Currently Deputy Principal of a general further education college with around 2000 students aged 14-19 and approximately 10,000 adult students, including a high number of young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties, and over 500 students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
Has served as a member of the Standards Committee of the Corporation of an adult education college for around 3 years and joined the Board of Governors of QAC in 2008.
Hobbies include reading, walking, travelling, and spending time with family which includes a son, a daughter, 2 step daughters and two grandchildren.
Continues to undertake voluntary work in her local community whenever time permits.
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Dr David C Mitchell
Upon leaving full time education with “O” and “H” qualifications I joined BP as a laboratory assistant leaving after two years to read for a B.Sc at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland joining the Courtaulds Textile Group upon graduation. During this time my interests focused on the medical applications of engineering and textiles. This interest prompted me to return to study for a Ph.D. in Bio-engineering at the Wolfson Centre University of Strathclyde. I spent part of this study seconded to the NHS monitoring the clinical use of the developed product, a device for the rapid reduction of toxic substances circulating in the blood stream. The output product of this research became a commercial product with IP rights sold to a medical company.
After graduation I joined The University of Newcastle upon Tyne as a Research Associate a post from which I was head hunted by a major medical company in 1978, transferring to The Coats/Maersk Medical group in 1980 reaching board level as Director of Research, Development and International Regulatory Affairs. I took early retirement in 2003 after loosing my sight as a result of major bilateral retinal detachment. I continued to act in a consultation capacity for the company for a further two years.
Since retiring I have been active as a Fundraiser, Speaker, Centre Guide and Trustee (for three years) for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. My hobbies include music, mainly classical with occasional periods of jazz, walking (country and coastal) and assistive technology as applied to blind and partially sighted users.
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John Penny
After serving an industrial apprenticeship with the English Electric Co, John was a member of staff at Aston University for over forty years and was sometime Head of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Dept and later Director of Research in the School of Engineering. He is now retired and is an Emeritus Professor. His professional interests were, and still are, structural and rotor dynamics. He has written and continues to write books on dynamics and mathematics.
His hobbies include reading, walking, railway history and technology, and astronomy. He frequently gives talks and presentations on aspects of astronomy and is a member of the management committees of the City of Birmingham Group of the Ramblers and the Birmingham Astronomical Society.
He is a Trustee of Extend Exercise Training, a charity that promotes health and independence for those over-sixty and for less able people of all ages.
John is married with three children and five grandchildren.
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Dr Madhava Rao
Madhava is a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist working for the Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. He has been in this field since the last 13 years and is currently also the Chair of the Clent Group which is the largest peer group of Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists in the country.
The main part of his job is in assessing and helping children and young people with mental health and learning difficulties.
His medical training and postgraduate MD in Psychiatry were from NIMHANS, Bangalore in India. He came to the UK in 1998 for further training and continued to specialize in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in which he now holds a specialist degree.
He is married to Jyoti Ahuja and most of his free time is consumed by running around his two children, Siddharth who is 8 years old and his sister Nandita who is three. When he has any energy left he tries to climb walkable mountains and has had peaks of Kilimanjaro and Toubkal under his hiking shoes.
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Mrs Ameeta Sharma
Ameeta was born in Dar-Es-Salaam, East Africa and moved to England with her family in the early 1970s. The experience of her parents instilled in her a strong work ethic and this together with their strong family values have guided her adult life.
Ameeta studied in London and qualified as a dentist, moving to Birmingham to practice in the early 1990s.
Ameeta is married and has 2 children.
Her interests include gardening and going for long walks.
Ameeta set up her own business and feels that this experience has taught her much that will be of relevance in being a governor of the college. As a small business owner she has had to deal with the planning authorities, the local health authority, the health and safety executive and various regulatory bodies. In setting up her business she had to carry out detailed market research, develop an appropriate strategy, find suitable premises, interview and select staff, equip and furbish the surgery and of course at the same time devote her energies to providing the best possible care to her patients.
Ameeta enjoys her role as a governor at QAC and likes to get involved with the college activities when possible.
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Would you like to become more involved in the community and play a key role in helping to shape the character, strategic direction and mission of Queen Alexandra College.
The College is a charity and specialist provider of education, training and independence skills for people with vision impairment and other disabilities.
The Trustees are looking for motivated and dynamic volunteers to complement their current Board of Governors. Of particular interest will be those with expertise and skills in the following areas:
Applications from women and members of minority ethnic communities are particularly welcomed as the Board is under-represented in these areas.
For an informal chat about the role of governors at QAC, please contact Alison Lydon, Clerk to Governors on 0121 428 5022 or alydon@qac.ac.uk. Further information about the College is available at www.qac.ac.uk.
Applications in writing to demonstrate the above should be made to Alison Lydon, Clerk to Governors, Queen Alexandra College, Court Oak Road, Harborne, Birmingham B17 9TG.
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