John Kirkman
| John Alfred Kirkman | |
|---|---|
| Education | Boston Grammar School (1950-58) |
John Alfred Kirkman was educated at Boston Grammar School (1950-58).
John Alfred Kirkman was born in Boston in December 1939 but left the town in 1961. After several moves associated with his work, John and family finally moved to Bourne thirty one years ago.
After leaving BGS in 1958, he worked as a Ministry of Defence Civil Servant in the Meteorological Office and apart from a five year spell at a rocket research and testing station on the West coast of Wales, worked exclusively with the Royal Air Force, serving at several stations both in the UK and Germany. During his career, he was fortunate enough to have had passenger flights in Hunter, Harrier and Tornado fast jet aircraft. In December 1999, at the age of 60, he retired as Senior Meteorological officer at RAF Cottesmore, near Oakham in Rutland.
John became involved in Bourne's local political scene by being first elected to Bourne Town council in 1979. He has represented Bourne as an Independent at various local authority levels for more than 20 years. On 28th April 2005 he was elected as Chairman of South Kesteven District Council.
He is also a member of Bourne Town Council (since 1979), serving as Mayor of Bourne on two occasions, from 1985-86 and again from 2000-01. In May 2005, he stood down as the County Council member for Bourne Abbey Division after having served on the County Council for 16 years.
John is married to his wife Jean, who was also born in Boston. They have two married daughters, a grandson and a granddaughter.
John's public work is extensive, notably with the Lincolnshire Police Authority and Lincolnshire Probation Board. He has also served as chairman of the governors of the Abbey Primary School in Bourne, the first Primary School in the Country to achieve Grant Maintained Status and has also served as a governor at the Robert Manning Technology College, Bourne.
John has also been a trustee of Bourne United Charities and the Willoughby Memorial Trust and a long standing committee member of the Bourne and Spalding Branch of Leukaemia Research Fund.
His main recreational interest is golf.