Rodney Bickerstaffe

Rodney Kevan Bickerstaffe (born 6 April 1945) has been president of the UK National Pensioners Convention and was leader of Britain's second largest trade union, UNISON until 2001.

Early life and education

Bickerstaffe's mother was unmarried at a time when it was considered shameful to be a single mother. He lived for three years with his mother in east London in a home for unmarried mothers. He then moved to Doncaster among his extended family. He was educated at Doncaster Grammar School and in sociology at Rutherford College of Technology.

Career

Bickerstaffe became an organiser for the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) in 1966 in Yorkshire, rising through the ranks to be divisional officer of the northern division. He then became national officer responsible for members working in local government, universities and the water industry and in 1981 was appointed NUPE general secretary. When NUPE, COHSE and NALGO merged to create UNISON in July 1993, Bickerstaffe became associate general secretary. He was elected general secretary in November 1995, taking office on 28 February 1996.

Bickerstaffe

Coordinates: 53°32′02″N 2°50′17″W / 53.534°N 2.838°W / 53.534; -2.838

Bickerstaffe is a village and civil parish in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 Census the population of the civil parish was 1,196, reducing to 1180 at the 2011 census, although the population of the electoral ward, which includes Lathom South, was slightly greater at 2,013, reducing to 1,988 at the 2011 census. The village is near junction 3 of the M58 motorway, and is about four miles west of Skelmersdale.

Its name may come from Anglo-Saxon bïcera stæþ = "the beekeepers' landing-place".

In the seventeenth century, Bickerstaffe was an important local centre of the Quakers in West Lancashire.

The parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

Public houses and restaurants in the area include The Stanley Gate, The Sandpipers and Quattros.

The grounds of Bickerstaffe AFC are at Hall Lane next to Bickerstaffe C.E school.

An annual music festival, Bickerstock, takes place in the summer season, featuring local and international artists, and drawing in increasingly large crowds.