Board of trustees
The team at Ochil Tower School is committed to creating a nurturing and supportive environment for the children and young people on our campus.
Our staff carry out a wide variety of roles (outlined in more detail below) but share a common commitment to realising our pupils’ potential.
Margaret Orr (Chair)
“I’ve been on the board of Ochil Tower School since 2015. I’ve had a long association with the school in the context of my previous career in Additional Support Needs with Glasgow City Council and my involvement at a national level on policy development. Most recently I’ve supported the school as an independent consultant.
I’m particularly pleased to be a board member at such a developmental stage in Ochil Tower’s history.
My personal interests include travel, reading, horse riding and the theatre.”
Laurence Alfred
I have been a co-worker in a Camphill Community for over 40 years. Until my retirement in 2018, I was the Executive Director of Camphill School Aberdeen, a community which has traditionally worked with social pedagogy as a central part of its ethos. Prior to this I was involved in house parenting for 25 years with my wife Vibeke, living and working in an extended family setting with our three children and up to 20 children and young people with a variety of different needs.
Alongside the above, my professional journey has involved me in organisational restructuring, strategic planning, support, supervision and mentoring and training, in particular, team working, non-violent communication and working with adolescents and young adults.
I see my role as a Trustee to support the management team develop and maintain a first class Camphill Community where high quality of service is the norm and where everyone can lead a life full of meaning while unfolding their potential.
Geoff Hewitt
Setting out, in the dim and distant past, with a Business and Accounting degree, I’ve spent most of my career providing financial, business and management support to a diverse and inspiring range of organisations within the charity sector. These have included award-winning conservation projects, purpose-built arts venues and a workers’ cooperative dedicated to cross-cultural conflict resolution. Whatever the setting, I take the approach of keeping things compliant, transparent, straightforward and on track.
When not at the work desk, I can be found out and about appreciating the spectacular landscapes of rural Scotland (always accompanied by Sabbie the enthusiastic Labrador), still striving to play the acoustic guitar after all these years or visiting friends and family for some quality enjoyment time.
Martin Hodson
After a first career as a production manager in the textile industry, working with garment manufacturer Kangol Ltd, I then became a Baptist minister and served churches in Scotland and England. I became increasingly involved in strategic leadership and mentoring younger leaders, taking responsibility for the continuing professional development of ministers in Scotland for a number of years. I am now the CEO of the Baptist Union of Scotland, a network of over 150 churches serving communities across the country. I have degrees from Oxford University and a doctorate from Glasgow University. I’m married with three grown-up children and when not working I can often be found playing the fiddle or walking in the hills.
Shaun Rands
From a project, risk and change management background, Shaun believes that his knowledge and experience can assist Ochil Tower School’s various challenges in moving to 52-week provision, as well as the problems continually faced by a school providing long-term residential care to children and young people with complex learning needs. Keen to point out that he is neither an educator nor social worker, he believes that is not a barrier to being able to help govern the school and assist in any way he can, and in many ways having a fresh pair of eyes looking and challenging, helps any organisation develop and improve.
Shaun recently moved to Auchterarder and is a keen hillwalker and runner. He has recently taken up open-water swimming, but is still coming to terms with the cold.
Laura Wray
I qualified as a solicitor in Scotland in 1987 and in English law in 1992. I was Litigation Partner and latterly Senior Partner with L&L Lawrence Solicitors running their Glasgow and Edinburgh offices, and then a Consultant to Drummond Miller Solicitors from 1998-2002.
I was called to the Bar in 2003. As an Advocate I’ve appeared in the Court of Session, High Court, Sheriff Courts, Employment tribunals and social security tribunals. I specialise in personal injury and medical negligence. I also have experience of employment law, contractual disputes, fatal accident inquiries and I’ve been involved in criminal defence and prosecution work.
I’ve been regularly been rated in the Legal 500 and Chambers Bar Directories for Personal Injury. I was junior counsel for the pursuer (Granville Cooper) in the lead case in the Vioxx group litigation against drug manufacturer Merck, Sharp and Dome which successfully concluded in Scotland in 2003. My son Frankie is a former pupil of Ochil Tower School.
