FULL TRIBUTE TO BRIGG EDUCATIONALIST ROY O'NEILL

Here's David Brittain's full tribute to Roy O'Neill - delivered at St John's Church, Brigg, during the thanksgiving service held in memory of the former chairman of governors at Sir John Nelthorpe School and ex-president of the Briggensians' Association.
Brigg Blog extends its thanks to David, retired Headteacher of SJN, for permission to reproduce his tribute for the benefit of those unable to make the service last Friday afternoon.

ROY O'NEILL

I would like to tell you about Roy’s contribution to the education of local children and students.
His love of and appreciation for Brigg Grammar School and the Sir John Nelthorpe School remained steadfast for 75 years and he dedicated almost unbroken service in its management over those years.
His like will not be seen again.
Roy started his senior school life as a fee-paying Prep-School boy in 1936 under Headmaster J T Daughton before passing the entrance exams and becoming a Brigg Grammar School boy in 1938.
I’m not sure what sort of special courses Roy studied but Cliff Padley tells me that each week he used to buy a copy of Hansard from Jack Clark’s newsagents opposite the Grammar School ~ that’s decidedly not school boy top shelf material and of little value as a conversation piece with the ladies!
If Roy was to read the lesson in school assembly in the original schoolroom, JT would say on his arrival, “Right we can begin now that father O’Neill has arrived”. Surely a mark of affection.
Roy was an accomplished sportsman as well as a fine academic student.
The Briggensian Magazine from the year he left in 1945/6 records him taking part in a Past vs. Present athletics meeting:
I quote:
“The meeting opened with the 100 yards sprint. TRD O’Neill was first with Harrington hot on his heels. Time 11.1 seconds.”
…….. and later in the same report: “ There was a surprise result in the long jump when TRD O’Neill beat his brother into 1st place by starting with an opening jump of 18ft 9ins.”
After completing school and his exams Roy was commissioned into the Navy from 1946 to 1948, but returned to Brigg to train and work as a Chartered Accountant; he then become Clerk to the Governors in 1959.
Roy was Foundation Clerk under Col. Roger Nelthorpe and his father Oliver Nelthorpe and his knowledge of the school’s Foundation Trust matters was quite unrivalled.
For those not familiar with this concept: the Nelthorpe Trust was the original mechanism by which money was managed to support a ‘free school’ for all children in Brigg, you could say it was a very early Comprehensive School.
Tenant farms and land had been provided as a bequest from Sir John Nelthorpe when he died in 1669. The income gained from land-rents was used to build the school and to pay the masters.
Over the years the Trust adjusted its focus to move from providing tools for apprentices to more modern needs in support for those students who required help beyond that which the Local Education Authority would provide.
Getting some requests past Roy’s regulatory eye was quite a challenge.
Roy O’Neill knew all the regulations and had guided Heads through their complexities for decades and continued to do so right until his passing.
In 1977 Roy was appointed a full Trust governor and I remember him saying, at the start of a trust meeting in 2000 when I had just announced the death of Col. Nelthorpe, that being Chairman was ‘a job for life’.
He was subsequently appointed Chairman and has fulfilled his own prophesy.
Roy was a lifelong member of the original Old Boys’ Association and, as President of the expanded and renamed Briggensian Association; he has moulded and guided it to develop into the organisation many hold dear today. He carried on the ethos and tradition laid down by the Nelthorpes; what an apprenticeship that was!
Roy cared about the association and believed strongly in its value.
Many Briggensians have emailed from around the world to pay tribute to their President Roy and comment that ‘he had the school in his blood’.
Financial devolution brought changes and altered responsibilities placed on the school, governors and the trustees. The school property and land is owned by the trust but dedicated for educational purposes. Who knew the intricacies of these responsibilities better than Roy O’Neill, nobody.
T R D O’Neill also became a Sir John Nelthorpe School governor and when the health of Colonel Roger Nelthorpe deteriorated he was appointed Chairman in 1993.
I know he regarded this as a great honour to lead a prestigious school steeped in history
and he became the first non Sutton-Nelthorpe to hold that position in the past 340 years.
This was a mark of the esteem in which Roy was held.
I served under Roy O’Neill’s Chairmanship for many years. You wanted to work for him and there could not be a more dedicated servant of the school, its students and staff than him; he gave unstintingly of his time and energy regardless of his many other commitments and latterly his deteriorating health.
He certainly didn’t shrink from his duty to challenge the Local Education Authority when they neglected the school that he believed was one of their greatest assets or forgot that we were a Voluntary Controlled School and had a grade 1 listed building to manage.
He was a hoarder of documents, letters, notes and governors’ papers -  he could have started his own archive - but all were valuable references for Roy. I’m not certain his wife, Margaret, always saw it that way as the piles of folders and trunks of papers grew ever higher and invaded their home and garage.
I personally came under the close scrutiny of ‘Roy’s lens’ and you needed to deliver on time, have high expectations and keep the accounts straight, to the last penny.
However, he always gave you space in which to manage, trust and great support when needed.
The role of governor and particularly Chair carries a vast workload and onerous responsibility and he had my utmost respect for the care and consideration he brought to that role and for the quality of decisions that he made.
As I said at the beginning, the like of Roy O’Neill will not be seen again.
Long may he watch over us.

Our picture above shows a proud moment for Roy O'Neill (centre) as he cut the tape to officially open the Brigg Sixth Form Centre at Sir John Nelthorpe School in the converted former boarding house. David Brittain, then Headteacher of Sir John Nelthorpe School, is on the right, while Nick Grafton, Director of Sixth Form Studies, is on the left.




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