Our Governors

Alex Thursby holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Kuring-Gai College (now UTS) and is a senior global banking executive with strengths in transformational and strategic leadership, end-to-end technical banking and risk knowledge, regulatory policy and approach, broad-based emerging market experience across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Alex has significant relationships across the globe, with senior executives in major financial institutions, western and emerging markets corporates and regulators. He is currently the Chairman of Rank Group plc, having previously held senior positions with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and Standard Chartered Bank.

Rod Waldie is an Old Giggleswickian (Nowell 1986) and former Head of School. After reading History at Manchester University, he qualified as a Solicitor and joined Weightmans, Solicitors in Liverpool. He was also a Partner at Halliwell Landau before joining Gateleys Solicitors where he is now CEO. He lives in Cheshire.

Andrew Brocklehurst was educated as a day pupil at Catteral Hall, (now Giggleswick Junior School), and at Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow, where he obtained an MA in Economics and Politics. He also took an MBA from the Open University Business School. He has been an independent consultant for high growth start up businesses, having spent much of his career advising and running companies in this sector. He is qualified as a Chartered Director. He has been a Governor since 2005.

Ian Cornelius is Commercial Director of Skipton Building Society as well as being a member of the Group Board, Executive, Retail Credit and Asset & Liability Committees, and Chairman of the Skipton International Limited Board. He was previously Commercial Director of Homeloan Management Limited, and held senior roles at Virgin Money, Bradford & Bingley, Capital One and Boots. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Incommunities Group Ltd. He lives in North Yorkshire and his children attended Giggleswick School. He was appointed a Governor in 2017.

Mark Corner was educated at Southmoor Technical School Sunderland and The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology where he read Chemical Engineering. He also has an MBA from Manchester Business School. He retired from Royal Dutch Shell plc in 2009 after 30 years working in a variety of roles including Chemicals, Corporate and Government Affairs, and global Exploration and Production. He has been resident and worked in the UK, Argentina, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Holland. He has lived with his family in Langcliffe since 2009, acquiring a home there several years before when the first of his four children started attending Giggleswick School.

Tom Coxon is an Old Giggleswickian (Paley 2009) and has an Architectural Bachelors from Central Saint Martin’s where he was elected College President at the time of a major campus reconfiguration and amalgamation. He then studied for a masters degree in Production Design for Film and TV at the Royal College of Art, before going on to a successful career in TV and film, working for organisations such as the BBC and Disney.

Nick Dodd is a Partner and Head of Debt Advisory at KPMG in the UK. He has over 20 years’ of experience of advising clients in respect of their financing requirements and has worked extensively across a Corporate and Private Equity client base both in the UK and overseas. In addition to time with KPMG in the US and Ireland, Nick was also the CEO of a UK-based leisure business. He currently lives in Cumbria with his family and was appointed as a Governor in 2019.

Andrew Jarman was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School and read Mathematics at Hertford College, Oxford. This was followed by a PGCE and a career in teaching across the country, including nine years as the Director of Studies at Cheltenham College and latterly eleven years as the Headmaster of Lancaster Royal Grammar School. In the latter part of his career he returned to the classroom, teaching part-time in a comprehensive academy near his home in Lancaster, and is now retired. He is married with three children.

Tracy is a former Headmistress at Abbey Gate College, and an experienced leader with a strong collaborative style. She is a Governor at two independent schools in the Cheshire area. Tracy served as a member of the Curriculum Committee for The Society of Heads. Tracy is married with two sons. Tracy loves anything to do with the outdoors and spends as much time as possible in the Lake District, walking and cycling. She is a passionate reader and enjoys live theatre and watching dance productions. Tracy became a Governor in 2022.

Mrs Rebekah Ramsden is an Old Giggleswickian (1990-2000) and was the Principal of the Ruth Gorse Academy Leeds from 2014-2019 where she grew and oversaw the physical construction of a school which now hosts 1,100 students and was graded as Outstanding by Ofsted in 2017.  She has been an Ofsted inspector since 2016. She lives in Wakefield with her partner and two children and enjoys the theatre and music.

Mr Chris Ringrose read Mathematics and completed a doctorate at The Queen’s College Oxford before qualifying as an actuary and joining Duncan C Fraser in Leeds. He was also a Regional Actuary at Alexander Clay before joining PwC where he was a senior partner for almost 20 years leading the regional HR consulting business before retiring in 2016. He lives near Grassington and is a keen cyclist.  Chris was appointed as a Governor in 2022.

Dr Helen Watson is a Social Anthropologist, involved in teaching and research as Fellow of St John’s College in the University of Cambridge.  Dr Watson is the nominated representative of St John’s College Cambridge and became a Governor in 2021.

Sarah Crombie is an Honorary Old Giggleswickian having chaired the Giggleswick School Parents’ Association for 8 years. She is Operations Director for a furniture import and wholesale business she founded with her husband 20 years ago. Outside work Sarah gives some of her time to assisting local charities, and enjoys walking and country sports with her family and labrador Ruby.

Sue is the Associate Priest for Kirkby-in-Malhamdale (she also covers the parishes of Gargrave, and Coniston Cold) and is well connected with local churches due to her role as Bowland and Ewecross Deanery Secretary, and also across the wider Yorkshire Dales area through various diocesan roles. She worked in the Leeds and Bradford area before moving to Kirkby Malham in 2021. She has a particular interest in rural affairs, and visitor engagement, particularly in Malhamdale.

Sue originally qualified in medicine and worked as a doctor for 12 years, becoming a GP partner for some years in a rural dispensing practice near York. She started training for ministry in the Church of England in 2013 and was ordained in 2016. She is married to Paul, who is a keen mountaineer and caver, and has two grown up children.

Sue has considerable experience of working with church schools and has a desire to see children and staff flourish and grow. She is also a Governor for a local Federation of Primary Schools.

In her free time, Sue enjoys walking in the Dales, singing, live music, and spending time with family and friends.