Mr Nigel Atkinson, Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire has been appointed the new Sparsholt College President taking over the role from Lord Selborne who, together with the former President and more latterly Vice President, Lord Malmesbury, had diligently served the college collectively for over 30 years.
The Lord-Lieutenant is Her Majesty (HM) The Queen’s personal representative in the county. He is responsible for the organisation of all official Royal visits to Hampshire and at royal engagements he escorts the Royal visitor around the various locations. Nigel Atkinson, HM’s Lord-Lieutenant, was born in London and educated at Haileybury & Imperial Service College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Following six years with the Royal Green Jackets, he joined the Brewing industry and now has a portfolio of Non-Executive positions. He was Master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers in the City of London in 2010 and was appointed a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John in 2015.* (see further notes to Editors)
The Lord-Lieutenant said: “I am hugely honoured to have been appointed the Sparsholt College President. Having lived in and around the Winchester area for 40 plus years, I have followed the progress of the College with much interest and now look forward to learning more about its activities and helping the team achieve the College’s Mission and Values.”
The Lord-Lieutenant joins Sparsholt College incorporating Andover College and University Centre Sparsholt (UCS) at an exciting time. New Principal and CEO, Julie Milburn and her Strategic Leadership Team have overseen a successful autumn term which saw students returning to campus for a blended learning approach of practical, face-to-face and online lessons. Sparsholt College and UCS are also in the process of developing their £2.5 million Animal Health and Welfare Research Centre, including Hydrotherapy pool, on campus to help house over 1200 animals such as the Red Panda, black lemurs and gundi that call Sparsholt their home.
UCS Equine lecturers have also recently been awarded the highly coveted Lecturer Bursary from the British Horse Foundation (BHF), to advance education, training and research in animal husbandry and allied subjects. Academic Research will continue benefitting from the use of the Rider Performance Studio which houses Sparsholt’s Racewood Simulator.
Sparsholt College Principal, Julie Milburn commented: “We are honoured to have Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson, accept the role of College President. We would like to thank Lord Selborne and Lord Malmesbury for serving in this role, and that of Vice President, so successfully and are looking forward to working with the Lord-Lieutenant and introducing him to our thriving community during such an exciting time for Sparsholt College Group.”