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University to award Millennium honours to local people

Posted on 11 November 1999

The University will honour local people for their contributions to Yorkshire and to the University in a special Millennium Honorary Degree ceremony on 26 February 2000. The Chancellor, Dame Janet Baker, will confer on each the degree of Doctor of the University.

Raymond Burton is a well-known Yorkshire businessman, who lives and farms near York and who has had a long association with the University. His charitable trust has supported numerous causes, including the Jewish Museum in London. He has been a patron of the University concert series for many years. He has recently pledged generous support to the new Humanities Research Library. He is a collector of books, mostly about Yorkshire in the eighteenth century.

Raymond Furnell has been Dean of York Minster since 1994. He has developed several links between York Minster and the University, including a joint appointment between the music department and the Minster choir, a joint archaeology appointment, and links between the libraries. He is an ex officio member of the University Court, Chairman of the Board of the Theatre Royal in York and Chairman of the York Millennium Mystery Plays.

June Hargreaves, a Chartered Town Planner, was enormously influential in establishing the principles of conservation planning in York. She is a long-standing lay member of the University's Estates and Buildings Committee and a prominent member of the York Civic Trust. She is also a distinguished author on conservation matters.

Delma Tomlin is Administrative Director of the annual York Early Music Festival (with which the University's Music Department is closely involved) and the York Early Music Foundation (which is to create the National Centre for Early Music in St Margaret's Church, Walmgate with funds from the National Lottery). She is also the Chief Executive of the York Millennium Mystery Plays.

Sir Marcus Worsley served North Yorkshire as its Lord Lieutenant from 1987 to 1999. He was MP for Keighley from 1959 to 1964 and for Chelsea from 1966 to 1974. He has lived all his life on his family estate at Hovingham, which he managed for many years. An expert on forestry, he was President of the Royal Forestry Society of England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1980 to 1982. He has been a member of the University's Court since 1987 and has supported a wide range of University activities.

Notes to editors:

  • The Millennium Honorary Degrees Ceremony will be at 2.15pm in Central Hall on Saturday 26th February 2000. Over 1,000 people, including staff, students, and those in York and North Yorkshire who have connections with the University, are to be invited to the ceremony.
  • Presentation speeches about each honorary graduate will be made by members of the University prior to the conferment of their degree by the Chancellor, Dame Janet Baker. Copies of presentation speeches will be available from the Press Office on 26th February.
  • There will be three musical interludes between the presentation of degrees, with the University Chamber Orchestra playing music by Mozart and Beethoven. This will include the last movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto in B flat and Beethoven's 8th Symphony. The Chamber Orchestra will be conducted by Professor David Blake.
  • Press tickets to the ceremony are available from Hilary Layton. Please contact her for further information (tel 01904 432029, email hrl@york.ac.uk).

Contact details

David Garner
Senior Press Officer

Tel: +44 (0)1904 322153