Ian Hackney

Ian is an outstanding and amazingly caring maths teacher, grandfather of 5, father of 5, son and friend. Born in Singapore while his dad worked in the royal navy Ian always had itchy feet, so in 1984 he moved to Malawi with his wife and 3rd born child. While there he gave up alot of his time and energy volunteering and raising money for local charities. One such project involved his help in the setting up of Malawi`s first hospital immunization clinic. This project has changed the lives of hundreds of people and has been built upon and still expands today. His passion and dedication is contagious and though he moved back to Northern Ireland in 1997, he takes yearly school trips out to South Africa (10-15 students at a time) to continue his charity work. These trips raise thousands of pounds each year for charities in South Africa. One such project is `Lulekani` - a school for orphaned and poverty stricken childen (aged 1-5yrs) that provides free education and one meal a day for each child (a meal these children would not be getting otherwise). As well as all this, he has recently been nominated for a local `Excellence in the community` award for his teaching, and this reflects his great ability to make Maths fun and understandable to all his students. I feel that he is a perfect choice as a London 2012 Olympic torch bearer, and as Ian is an avid sports fan I can think of no better way of repaying him for everything that he does for others.