Governors

Philip Owen

Mr Owen became Chair of Governors in September 2019. He was educated at Arnold between 1970-81 and has always lived and worked on the Fylde Coast.

Mr Owen worked for Barclays Bank for 36 years latterly being their Corporate Relationship Director for the Fylde Coast. He currently holds a number of non-executive and consultancy roles with local businesses as well as serving on several charitable boards.

David Stanhope

David was educated at Fleetwood Grammar School and has lived almost all of his life on the Fylde Coast. Having initially trained at a local accountancy firm, David is a fully qualified accountant and served ten years as Financial Director of the local convenience store chain, Healds Day and Nite, from 1990-2000, before becoming CEO of Voiteq, a multinational technology business headquartered in Blackpool.

David retired from full time employment in 2021 but is now involved in various organisations in a non-exec capacity, including being the Chair of a local charity providing support to people with learning difficulties in the community. David is married with three children, the youngest of whom attended our Senior School.

Lucie Grant

Lucie was educated at Norwich High School for Girls and Arnold School, Blackpool and subsequently read Law at King’s College, London. Following a period of travel and living abroad, Lucie qualified as a solicitor with Cobbetts Solicitors in Manchester and then moved into in house legal roles with United Utilities and BAE Systems Saudi Arabia, specializing in infrastructure outsourcing and anti-corruption compliance.

Lucie is currently Vice President and General Counsel, Dura-Line, Part of the Orbia Group.

StJohn Crean

Professor Crean was appointed as Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise in December 2019, having been Pro Vice-Chancellor for Clinical, Health and Research since July 2017.  

He is also an Honorary Consultant at East Lancashire Hospital Trust and the University of Morecambe Bay Hospitals Foundation Trust. He is currently the Robert Bradlaw advisor in the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and Editor-in-Chief of the Faculty Dental Journal (FDJ). He has held the posts of President of the North West Branch of the British Dental Association and Chairman of the Fylde Section. 

Catherine Dineley

Catherine attended St Bede’s School, Lytham and Arnold School, Blackpool prior to studying English at Manchester Metropolitan University. Catherine moved to London and worked at PWC as a management consultant specialising in Oil and Gas. She moved from consultancy to industry and worked at BP until 2016.

During this time Catherine worked across the BP group, in multiple locations across the globe and from 2010 led a significant part of the cultural transformation of BP following the Gulf of Mexico spill. Catherine moved industries in 2016 into financial services and is currently the Head of Group Culture at Lloyd’s Banking Group.

John Duthie

Mr Duthie grew up in Hong Kong and studied Medicine at the University of Liverpool as an undergraduate, won the Augusta Lipkin Prize in Biochemistry and graduated as a doctor.

He specialised in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists by examination and a Fellow by election. Currently, Mr Duthie works for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is an Examiner for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and teaches voluntarily in other countries that want to emulate the National Health Service and British values in healthcare.

Zoe Fleming

Mrs Fleming was educated at Queen Mary School, Lytham. She subsequently read Law at the University of Manchester and completed the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in Chester followed by a training contract with Halliwells Solicitors in Manchester. After the birth of her daughter, Zoe accepted a post locally and has practiced in Lytham ever since . She specialises in private client work and is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

She has a keen interest in furthering the education and safe practice amongst practitioners and sits on the Lancashire Committee of Solicitors for the Elderly. Zoe is a specialist advisor to Age UK Lancashire and sits on their marketing committee. She is Partner and Head of Private Client at KBL Solicitors, and is active in a number of local charities and networking groups.

Anthony Hoskisson

Anthony was born on the Fylde coast and attended both Arnold Junior and Senior School. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Old Arnoldians for over 15 years, having been President in 2000 - 2001 and is currently Chairman.

Anthony has worked in the Financial Services sector for the last 25 years and is currently the Managing Director of Questa Chartered.

He lives locally and he is married to Amanda, who is also an Old Arnoldian. Their children have attended Arnold and AKS. Anthony is currently the President of Fylde RFC having been a member for over 50 years, he has also been a loyal supporter and member of Lytham Cricket Club for the past 40 years, as well as being a member of Fairhaven Golf Club. 

Andy Iredale

Andy was educated locally and subsequently obtained a BA (Hons) in Theatre Arts from Bretton Hall (Leeds University). A career in the theatre and teaching led him to creative teams in advertising and PR agencies in London and Leeds where he completed post-graduate marketing qualifications. 

Andy worked in education marketing and teaching for 25-years before forming his own consultancy business.

He now works with the DfE, Local Enterprise Partnerships and Multi-Academy Trusts on a range of projects. He also helps the corporate sector run virtual work experiences and talent pipelines using virtual learning technology.

He remains close to the Fylde Coast agenda, sitting on the management team for the local pupil-referral-unit and helping form a new Apprenticeship provider for the construction sector.

Darren Littler

Darren was born in Wigan and attended Abraham Guest High school in Orrell. He studied at Bolton and Leeds and has worked within the Baking Industry for over 30 years, both in technical and commercial roles in the UK and USA.

Darren sits on the Leadership Board at Warburtons as Innovation and Product Marketing Director and leads 20 global collaboration partnerships. Darren resides in St Annes with his wife Rebecca and two sons Zack and Sam who both attend AKS. He is an active member of the community coaching YMCA under 13s and 15s, a keen supporter of Wigan Athletic FC and Fylde RUFC

Helen Lucking

Helen attended Arnold School Blackpool between 1980 and 1987. She went on to read law at Nottingham University before studying at Chester Law College. On returning to the area she began her training as a solicitor. Helen specialises in family law and was appointed to the Law Society’s Children Panel in 1999.

She works locally for Napthens Solicitors where she became a partner in 2005. At Napthens she also has responsibility for the recruitment of the trainee solicitors to the firm, a job which she finds interesting and very rewarding. She has been appointed as chair of the Education and Welfare Committee and also sits on the Buildings and Facilities sub-committees of the local governing body.

Gary Melling

Gary was born in Blackpool and grew up in Lytham attending firstly Headroomgate Preparatory School, St. Annes before moving on to King Edward VII School between 1986 and 1997. From this he went on to obtain a BSc (Hons) in Building Surveying at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh.

Following University, Gary worked for a number of surveying and property firms in London and Manchester, including becoming a Chartered Building Surveyor at Baily Garner LLP in 2002.

In 2009, Gary co-foundered the firm Jones Melling Ltd. headquartered now in Preston, delivering specialist consultancy services in the fields of Building Surveying, Quantity Surveying, Project Management and Asbestos across all sectors in the UK and Europe from private individuals to multi-national firms.

Gary has two children who both attend AKS and thus occupy a lot of his time outside of the business environment, along with being a coach and team manager within the mini/juniors at Fylde RUFC.

Steve McNicholas

After a successful career in banking and private equity, Steve followed up on his personal passion for capturing and defining the critical components of leadership success and has written two best-selling books on the subject. He has been invited to speak on the ‘success code’ in several countries in recent times and consults to SMEs as well as large corporates in leadership strategy and development.

Steve is now Chief People Officer for a leading UK fintech bank and also holds a number of non-executive advisory roles and has two children at the school.  As well as the Governing Body, he also sits on the Risk Management and the Education and Welfare committees.

Michael Muschamp

Michael was educated at Berkhamsted School, Hertfordshire until his family relocated to Lytham St Anne’s in 1969. Michael then attended KES for two years. After four years training, Michael qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1975 and apart from three years in industry, he has worked in public practice, from 1984 to 31st January 2019 as Partner/Owner Director.

Michael was a Governor of Arnold from 1997 to 2007 and a Trustee of Blackpool Grand Theatre from 2009 to 2016. He is currently a Trustee of three local charities and nonexecutive Chairman of a carpet manufacturing group in Rochdale.

Luke Smith

Luke was educated at King Edward VII School. He attended Loughborough University where he read Human Biology. After completing a Diploma in Physiotherapy from Salford University, he went on to gain an MSc in Sports Physiotherapy from Manchester Metropolitan University. Luke is a Clinical Director of Grant Smith Physiotherapy in Lytham St Annes.

He has attended the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games as HQ physiotherapist for Team GB, as well as the Commonwealth Games in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014. Luke was a volunteer physiotherapist at the London 2012 Olympic Games.