Board Members
Bill Holroyd
Bill was elected to the Board of BLGC in 2006 and appointed Chairman in November of that year. Bill has extensive business and property interested in the UK and Australia. His first business, Holroyd Meek, was developed in Oldham. The development of OnSide stemmed from Bill’s determination to “do something positive for Oldham” and he had the idea of replicating a BLGC in Oldham. From this idea, OnSide was developed with the aim of attempting to build five new “state of the art” centres for young people across the North West over five years.
OnSide North West was established in early 2007 and the following people were elected to the Board:
Nick Hopkinson MBE
Nick Hopkinson is joint Managing Director of Mark Two, a Bolton firm which employs over 300 people. He has been the chief fundraiser at Bolton Lads & Girls Club for 15 years. He is the driving force behind the unique relationship which BLGC has with the business sector in Bolton. (Currently they invest over £600k per in the Club).
Nick played a major role in the development of the new BLGC between 1997 and 2002. He was awarded the MBE for services to young people in 2007.
William Lees-Jones
William is managing director of JW Lees (Brewers) Limited, a family firm with a long history of brewing, based in Middleton with outlets across the North West. He has agreed to chair the board of directors for the proposed Oldham Youth Facility.
William has extensive contacts in the area, in the last six months, he has launched the “Oldham Club”, recruited a President and Board of Directors and received guarantees of over £450,000 in future revenue funding for the new Club.
Margaret Preston
Margaret has worked as a teacher in both primary and secondary education. In 2006, she gained a graduate diploma in counselling and now has a private practice as well as working as a counsellor in a Macmillan Cancer Centre. She has also had a significant involvement with young people as a scout leader for over ten years.
Margaret's husband, Anthony, founded and developed Pets at Home which gave Margaret useful links and valuable insight into the business sector. Margaret led a successful private sector launch in Blackburn and with the new chairman, Andrew Graham, has recruited an embryo Board for the new club.
Chris Oglesby
Chris was appointed Chief Executive of Bruntwood Estates in 1999. Bruntwood’s success is inextricably linked with the success of the cities in which it operates. Aligned with this, Chris has become an expert in Local Area Partnerships. He sits on the boards of CityCo (Manchester’s City Centre Management Company), The Piccadilly Partnership, City South (the area including the universities and hospitals), The Irwell City Park in Manchester and is currently working on establishing a group for the City’s Financial Core. In Liverpool and Leeds, he has taken best practice and worked with local Directors to get The Liverpool Commercial District and The West End Partnerships established.
Chris is a Trustee of The Oglesby Charitable Trust which works with more than 40 community based charities a year.
Ross Warburton MBE
Ross is Chairman of Warburtons and is also Chairman of a number of major companies in the food industry. The family firm is the biggest employer in Bolton and has been a core supporter of the Club for many years. Ross become president of the Bolton Lads and Girls Club in 1998 and has taken a keen and active role ever since.
Having seen the impact that a modern well run youth centre can have on the whole community, Ross is determined to share the skills and experiences developed in Bolton, across the North West.
Ross was awarded the MBE for services to the food industry in 2004.
Virginia Halliwell
Virginia has lived and worked in the North West since graduating from Manchester University in the late 1970s with a Law Degree. She is a Chartered Accountant and worked in Investment Banking, latterly with Merrill Lynch. In the late 1990s she and her late partner established, then sold, Telinco plc a telecommunications business based in the North West.
Virginia has specific responsibility for fundraising at OnSide including the establishment of a Patrons Society.
Karen Griffiths
Karen Griffiths is a former Chairman of Bolton Lads and Girls Club and holds the Human Relations portfolio on the OnSide board. She has wide experience at board level in the private and public sectors as well in the voluntary sector.
As an executive director and major shareholder of the Mikar Group she held responsibility for HR, Marketing, and Design and Development in its specialist clothing manufacturing subsidiaries and was a founder and non-exec director of training company, SITU.
She served on the Community Health Council, is a Governor and former Chairman of a Bolton primary school and volunteers as a mentor through the Bolton Lads and Girls Club.
Jim Smith
Jim is Managing Director of Clear Marketing Communications, established in November 2000. Clear is now one of the fastest growing independent agency groups outside London. Jim has served as a non-executive Director for a number of companies, is a regular contributor to the BBC GMR business programmes and is a member of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO/WPO).
Jim is also a Director on the Manchester (Harpurhey) Youth Zone Board.
Bill Ainscough
Bill is the Chairman of Wainhomes Ltd and Chairman of Langtree Group Plc. Lancashire-born, Bill is a prominent North West businessman who currently resides in Wigan and is one of the key sponsors of the Wigan Boys and Girls Club. He has extensive experience in the development and construction industry which will be a huge asset to the board.
Bill is also non-executive member of Lancashire County Cricket Club's Business Committee.