GUEST SPEAKER - Sir Desmond Lorimer

Speech Day was held on Friday, 27 June 1997 and the Guests of Honour were Sir Desmond Lorimer, Chairman of the Northern Bank and Lady Lorimer. We hope they enjoyed their time with us as much as we appreciated having them.

Chairman, Headmaster, Pupils, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It was a great honour to receive from the Headmaster and the Board of Governors the invitation to my wife Pat and me to be Guests of Honour at your Speech Day and we thank them for inviting us.

The implication of Speech Day, is, of course, that there are speeches, but strangely it is never difficult to accept the task to speak when the event itself is some six months ahead. It is only as the date draws near that one begins to worry about a theme that you feel will be of interest to your audience, that won't sound pompous or personally gratifying and certainly not patronising.

However that period of concern is behind me now and we are both delighted to be with you on this another very special day in this great school's history. I regard it as a great achievement to be on the platform on a prize-giving day - I certainly never made it in my own schooldays - never having won a prize.

As pupils you have been most fortunate to have had the opportunity to be educated to your present level at Campbell College - a school with a great heritage and with a tradition of superior education. You have also been fortunate that up to now you have probably been shielded from the rigours of life, both by your parents and by the school. The school itself, one could say, has not changed greatly in the past century in that its objectives have remained constant and whilst its methods and equipment have advanced with technological change, these progressions have been gradual rather than sudden and massive. The school has of course always responded to the challenges of change down through its history.

We all have memories of our schooldays and one of my most abiding memories of my own schooldays which, on reflection weren't terribly successful, not being a great achiever, was the comment of my French Master who told me I spoke French like a Spanish Cow. His comment devastated me at the time, but probably gave me a resilience that has stood me in good stead in later years.

When the Headmaster approached me to speak, he suggested that I address the main part of my speech to the leavers giving them the benefit of my own experience of life. I have therefore chosen to address you on "Change, Challenge and Opportunity" - factors which have been very important in my life and, looking ahead in a rapidly changing world, we can be sure that the challenges you will meet will provide many many opportunities waiting to be grasped.

In the modern world change is endemic and is constantly picking up speed - but what causes it and how does it come about? I believe that there are three things spurring it on.

Firstly People - the population of the Earth is now over 5 billion and some predictors say it will double over the next 50 years. The aspirations, needs and desires of people will in themselves demand changes in the way we live, work and play.

Secondly Technology - it is said that 80% of our technological inventions have occurred in this century, but I think it is fair to say that in the last fifteen years of this century there will have been more technological change than in the first 85 years. For example, I read recently that the Seven Series BMW has 13.5 times more computer power than the Apollo Rocket which took the first astronauts to the moon. Please don't try going to the moon in your father's BMW - he might not be well pleased with the result!

Thirdly Knowledge - information - our fund of information doubles every five years and our access to information and data becomes easier. The more information we have the more change it provokes.

To many people change poses a threat - it is seen as undermining stability and security and therefore a natural re-action is to oppose it and treat it negatively. In the fast changing world in which we live today that type of thinking has no place - if we are to succeed we must be prepared to embrace change and see in it opportunities and challenges through which we as individuals can progress our own careers and fortunes.

What a contrast there is today compared with the times of our fathers and particularly our grandfathers. In yester year things virtually stood still for decades on end - I remember one old friend of mine, long since gone, who took pride in recalling that many of the products he manufactured had remained at the same price for thirty years. However, it must be recognised that so also did the quality of life and with stability there was little opportunity.

As I mentioned earlier, change is now endemic and is constantly picking up speed technology is driving forward and eliminating the drudgery of labour and at the same time creating a highly competitive world where the individual has got to be prepared to change and to meet the challenges. No longer can you as young men expect to find and settle in a job for life.

However, because of the speed of change, greater opportunity is created. For example, mid-life career change would have been looked upon with horror a few years ago, and regarded as a foolish risk, now it is regarded as progressive, stimulating and ambitious.

For my own part I regard myself as having had three careers. The first one as a Chartered Accountant in practice, which I not only enjoyed greatly, but benefitted from as it gave me a great insight into all facets of business. Retiring from that only when my firm joined the then prevalent trend in the profession of mega-mergers which were not to my particular liking as by nature I cherished my independence.

My second was in manufacturing - I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to become involved in a small ailing manufacturing company with a turnover of under £1 M and over a period of twenty years this was built into a company with sales of £120M and around two thousand employees.

My third career was Banking, running for a time concurrently with my manufacturing career, although this time somewhat less "hands on" being nonexecutive.

I regard myself as both lucky and fortunate to have been able to get both enjoyment and fun out of my working life - and still do.

There is an old cliché which says some people "live to work" others "work to live", but the more important thing, to my mind, is that you should enjoy your work. If you resent what you are doing, and the same applies to your school days, you will never be a success. My advice is to seek a career to which you can relate and which will give you both pleasure and satisfaction. You are going to spend the greater part of your life at work and to do so in a job that you dislike can only be de-motivating and depressing.

I would also suggest that in everything you do, strive to do it well and accept every challenge that comes along. Every challenge that you accept provides an opportunity - an opportunity to prove yourself and in my own case I do not believe I ever willingly passed up a challenge - (except perhaps the one to speak French properly) - indeed at a late stage in my career and when I decided the time had come to give myself a little space, I accepted the challenge to privatise Northern Ireland Electricity - it was an interesting task, and I have taken great satisfaction from its success and also had fun doing it.

I would suspect that most if not all, of the Sixth Form are now looking forward to the challenge of University life. Many will be joining Universities in England and Scotland and may indeed never return permanently to this Province. I would urge you not to forget Northern Ireland - there is a great dearth of good business management here, and the Province suffers for it. I would suggest, therefore, that you benefit from your experience outside Northern Ireland, but do not forget that opportunity does exist here and the quality of life is good.

You start your adult life with a great advantage if at this stage you know what you want to do and feel that you have a vocation. I knew I wanted to be a Chartered Accountant - I even knew where I wanted to work, perhaps I was mesmerised by the gilt lettering on the windows, having seen, when passing, the gilt lettering on the windows of Hugh Smylie & Sons in Donegall Square North - a firm long since gone in the changes that have occurred in the accountancy profession over the past twenty-five years. The big task for me was how to get into Smylies and how to get accepted. I cajoled my father - they are very useful at times - and he, poor soul, hadn't a clue about either Smylies or indeed the accountancy profession. To his credit, he got me an interview and thereafter it was up to me - fortunately I succeeded, probably because I wanted to and also because I was enthusiastic about a career that I had chosen for myself. The accountancy profession has served me well, and I owe it much. For me this was certainly a case of doing something that I really enjoyed.

Never, on the other hand, allow failure to divert you. If having set your objectives you fail to achieve them, then don't despair, use the experience gained (because failure is itself a challenge and a great teacher) pick yourself up, dust yourself off, re-assess the situation and keep going. The Americans are past masters at this - they have the ability to drive forward despite setbacks which many of us would consider disasters.

Golfer, Arnold Palmer, a legend in his lifetime, has a lone framed plaque on the wall of his office. I quote: -

If you think you are beaten, you are

If you think you dare not, you don't

If you like to win, but think you can't

It's almost certain that you won't

Life's battles don't always go to the stronger woman or man,

But sooner or later those who win are those who think they can.

 

As an example of this, from my days as a practising accountant here in Northern Ireland, I have always had a great admiration for one of my clients. His business which he had built up from absolutely nothing, failed through no fault of his. He immediately set about retrieving the situation - he now controls an international company of outstanding success, employing several thousand people throughout the world. He certainly learned from his experience and benefitted from it.

Those of you who are leaving this "ancient institution" today can look forward to tough but exciting times ahead, whether at university or in the world of commerce and industry. Fifteen years ago - just 1982 - if you joined Northern Bank for example, your prospect was a transfer from Bangor to Ballyclare - now it is Bangor to Brisbane, Michigan, New Zealand or Beijing. The world will be your oyster but always remember it is a rough, tough competitive world and if you fail to make the effort necessary there is always someone else out there waiting to grab your opportunity.

Good luck to you all and congratulations to the prize winners. To those who are leaving and to those who will be back next year, let me leave you with one simple word and that is "attitude" - to me it is a most powerful word and nowhere has its power been better described than by Charles Swindol, an American Christian writer who said:

"The longer I live, the more I realise the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company - a church - a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past - we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way - we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you - we are in charge of our attitude."

And, in conclusion, no words of mine could give you better advice than those expressed in the chorus of your school song:

When the game of school is over and the game of life begins,

With its chances of hard knocks on head and heart as well as shins

We'll be true to our traditions, and in all our stress and strife

As we played the game at Campbell, so we'll play the game of life.