Thomas George Ellis Gillanders (1945 - 2024)

Born 7 Jun 1945 in Limavady, Northern ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 24 Feb 2024 at age 78 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom

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Tom was born in Limavady while his mother (Kathleen) and brother (John)lived with her parents in Bovally as her husband (George) was away serving with the Royal Artillery in WW2. The family moved back to the family home in Browning Drive, Londonderry after George's discharge where Tom's brothers (Donald and Richard) were born. He attended Ebrington Primary School and then on to Foyle College where his father was Vice-Principal and Head of Mathematics. He joined the boy scouts becoming a Queen's Scout in 1962. Never a competent sportsman, Tom did enjoy walking and hill-climbing; completing the 52 mile Ballymena to Derry challenge in under 12 hours. Tom always had an interest in the miltary life and joined the Army Cadet Force while at school. Although he considered a Regular Army career he decided to read electrical engineering at the Queen's University of Belfast before making a final decision. While there he joined the OTC - where he met Edwina McCavana, who was later to become his wife. This military interest resulted in a Territorial Army Commission into the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in 1968. He retired from the active TA list in 2000 in the rank of Colonel. Graduating from QUB in 1968 he spent some time working in an engineeering factory before joining the civil service as an Inspector of Factories. Finding industrial safety and health issues much more to his taste, rather than pure engineering, he took on a full-time MSc degree in Safety and Hygiene at the University of Aston in Birmingham in 1974. By this time his two sons, Charles (1970) and David (1973), had been born. Following a job offer, as an occupational hygienist, from the University of Dundee the family moved there in September 1974 into a house which Edwina had bought and Tom had never seen. Over the following eight years Tom became Chief Occupational Hygienist and Senior Lecturer in the University. In 1983 the family moved to Hexham where Tom became Chief Occupational Hygienist with British Shipbuilders based in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1990 he formed, with two former colleagues, his own consultancy company and this business was sold to the RPS Group in 1997. In 2001 he parted company with RPS, setting up another consultancy - where he remained until retirement. He has been President of both the British Instiute of Occupational Hygienists (1988) and the International Occupational Hygiene Association (1996).

Outside of his work Tom took an interest in local politics in his home town of Hexham, serving for many years on the local council before taking up first the position of deputy mayor before becoming mayor in 2017 with the unanimous support of his fellow councillors.

Tom passed in February 2024, following a stroke.

Hexham Courant - Town pays tribute to former Hexham Mayor, Tom Gillanders