2024 Alumni of the Year Award Programme

BOLTON SCHOOL

After a successful career as a corporate lawyer with Slaughter and May, working in the UK, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Habibunnisha took some time to reflect on her career and consider where her work could take her to fulfil her lifelong motivation of working towards achieving greater equity and justice.

Spending some time volunteering for Islamic Relief Worldwide was the springboard to her move into the not-for-profit sector. Habi went on to spend a decade in non-governmental international aid and development organisations that serve to protect fundamental human rights and freedoms. During that time, Habi worked across organisations focusing on international aid, girls’ education and promoting and protecting childrens’ rights, including Islamic Relief Worldwide, Plan International and most recently at Save the Children UK as their most senior lawyer.

She also served as a Board Trustee of Muslim Aid, an international NGO, and is an alumni of the Senior Faith in Leadership Programme that aims to facilitate meaningful encounters between individuals serving faith communities.

Habi is currently nearly two years into her role as General Counsel at Cancer Research UK whose mission is to beat cancer together for everyone, a Board Trustee for the World Humanitarian Action Forum, been named in this year’s The Lawyer’s 2024 ‘Hot 100’ Lawyers and she is a regular contributor to Radio 2’s ‘Pause for Thought’ segment.

Habibunnisha writes: "I'm honoured and thrilled to be nominated. It means a huge amount being nominated for this award by the school, a place I will always think fondly of, that played a significant role during a formative part of my life, where I made lifelong dear friends and had a rich education with the full support of my family.

The nomination is a humbling reminder of the value enshrined in the school prayer to give to others what we can as generously as we can.

Thank you for the generous nomination."

Qualifying as a Doctor in 1957, Frank opted to undertake National Service in Nigeria, with the goal of gaining surgical experience. Between 1958 and 1962, he worked in basic and challenging conditions in some of the most remote parts of Nigeria; travelling in a battered jeep or on horseback and covering an area the size of Britain. At base, he radically reformed the hospital and converted the mortuary into a useful laboratory. He was amongst the first to treat Trachoma, saving the sight of hundreds of locals. Many of his other patients had life threatening diseases because they were in advanced stages from being untreated and they required complex surgery, such as hemicolectomy, maxillofacial reconstruction and amputation. On occasion, he made prosthetic limbs following amputations. In those days, he administered anaesthetic by covering the face with a cloth soaked in chloroform. He says that one of his most difficult surgeries, removing a retained placenta, was to save the life of his wife, Doris Frank returned to the UK to join a small GP practice in Adlington. During 33 years of serving the NHS, he developed and modernised the practice; introducing an appointment system and designing a new health centre in Granville Street, which is still in use today. He took the lead role in obstetrics, supervising the delivery of 2,000 babies. His dedication and his support of the families in his care through their life events, earned him great respect as a family doctor.

Frank writes: "I feel immensely proud at being nominated for an award at 91 years old.

I’m glad that my experiences in Nigeria might be inspirational to current pupils at Bolton School. It was my education and involvement in sports and Scouts that gave me the confidence to face challenge with 100% effort.

Throughout my career, I have striven to improve myself and working conditions for the benefit of my patients. Life in Nigeria in the 1950s was fascinating for me but very hard on my young family. I’m incredibly grateful for the unwavering support of my wife."

Throughout her professional career, Karen has been dedicated to improving the lives of those around her: working as a speech and language therapist and tutor before taking on the leadership of the youth work at a local church.

Karen has worked with others to establish a project to support the wider community. Serving as a Trustee of ‘Hidden Treasure Trust’; Karen has worked with the team to develop a pay-what-you-can play centre, to ensure that all families are able to access the facilities, groups, support and services available regardless of income.

Alongside this, the charity also runs ‘The Hope Centre’: a community hub offering a food pantry, advice and advocacy for members the local community. Karen's main role with the charity has been developing support for young people who are struggling to access school, including developing and dedicated space for these students within The Hideaway.

Karen writes: "It feels an honour and somewhat of surprise to be nominated for this award as I wouldn't identify myself as a “typical” Bolton School girl.

My Christian faith has always driven me to work, whether paid or voluntary, that helps people to recognise their own worth and enables them to step into their potential without feeling held back by their background, life experiences or the expectations of others.

I'm delighted that Bolton School are keen to acknowledge and celebrate that achievement in life can take a wide variety of forms."

Avid supporters since their School days, Tom, Matthew and Harry became local heroes as they resurrected their local football club, Bury FC, buying the ground and assets from administration, and working with the community to bring the club under control of the official supporters’ society.

In 2019, after watching Bury FC be thrown out of the English Football League after accumulating millions of pounds worth of debt, with no team to play and supporters divided as to the best way forward, the brothers believed there was an opportunity to try something new.

They established the ‘Est. 1885’ Group and, with the support of several benefactors and countless fans, their hard work has now begun to pay off: the team played its first competitive game in July 2023, and the future looks bright in Bury once more!

Tom, Matthew and Harry write: "We are humbled and honoured to be nominated for this award. As a family, Bury FC has been a constant in our lives, and we had to do all we could to bring it back!

Bolton School was a joyful and rewarding experience, we received an excellent all-round education that has been essential to not only our working lives, but in teaching us valuable life skills.

We had the benefit of knowledgeable and caring teachers, and met lifelong friends! We’d love to welcome you all to Gigg, where you can see the club back on its feet."

Described as a ‘serial entrepreneur, connector and catalyst with a passion for start-up and scaling businesses and an advocate for diversity and inclusion’. Ann’s professional career has seen the founding and exit of two businesses; a recruitment business, founded when she was 27 and sold within 5 years to a global management services company and a boutique headhunting firm working primarily with Technology companies, leading to an MBO exit to the existing management team.

Ann was a pioneer in the UK’s Technology headhunting ecosystem spending two decades supporting the growth of some of the UK’s most innovative businesses; including DNA sequencing, AI, VR, autonomous vehicles along with an extensive list of other disruptive technologies.

Ann’s passion for equality and inclusion in business has led to her founding a UK wide network for female entrepreneurs, investors and leaders – initially launching Women4Technology in Cambridge which then spread to London and Manchester. Speakers have included the likes of Dame Martha Lane Fox; all inspiring leaders in their own fields of Technology, at venues including the House of Lords.

Charity and Community are two keywords Ann learned at Bolton School where she was involved with raising funds for her chosen charities. She has continued with this as part of her professional career. Ann was a committee member of the Arthur Rank Hospice and is more recently a Board Member of the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, which will become a world leading hospital.

Ann writes: "I am incredibly proud to be a Bolton School Old Girl and especially to have been nominated and shortlisted for the Alumni award. This made me reflect positively on my school days. The school emblem has always resonated with me throughout my career. The easy route or the difficult route?

Bolton School taught me much more than academia in the classroom. I subconsciously started my entrepreneurial journey in the Junior School.

My passion is encouraging and supporting women and I hope that I can at least inspire one girl to believe in herself and to continue on her own personal entrepreneurial journey."

In 2021, Michael visited Tanzania with intentions of volunteering and travelling around the country but it was immediately clear to him how many of the children he encountered were football mad.

Having worked as a football coach for over a decade, he began coaching in the villages he visited. Realising that his expertise and their passion could develop into a sustainable academy, Michael established Route One Soccer and began fundraising for malaria treatments, food supplies and a water tank, alongside coaching football for the children of Madale.

Now, with seven competing teams, a girls squad, and players trying out for professional clubs, Route One is working to ensure the wider community has the support of the charity – aiming to provide clean, running water and electricity – through the transformative power of football.

In addition to football, Michael and some the older players have renovated a local nursery and provide books, educational aids, and assistance for the teacher. Route One houses over 20 vulnerable young people as we look to use football as a tool for empowerment and change.

Michael writes: "Huge thanks for this nomination, I have lasting memories of Bolton School so I am delighted to be considered for this. The work that we do in Tanzania is both challenging and rewarding, and we are only just getting started."