Tony Hird (14 Dec 1934 - 30 Mar 2016)

Retired youth worker Tony Hird died last week in Aintree Hospital after a long illness. Tony who was born and raised in Waterloo dedicated his professional and voluntary life to the service of children and young people both in Liverpool and across the UK. Educated at The Waterloo Grammar School where he was Head Boy, Tony remained active in their old boys association for many years; he was President of the association in 1996, edited their magazine and latterly became their archivist. Following his qualification as a youth worker and a Fulbright Scholarship to the United States in the 1960s, Tony was for more than 20 years regional officer for the National Association of Youth Clubs (NAYC) before leaving to help develop the work of ‘The Weston Spirit’, he was Chief Executive of the young people’s charity established in Liverpool by the Falkland’s War veteran Simon Weston. For over 50 years Tony was a very active leader in the local Scout movement. For much of that time he was the Group Scout Leader of the 28th Sefton West Troop which met at Moor Lane Methodist Church in Crosby, generations of children and parents will remember him at the weekly meetings and many Scout camps. For nearly 30 years Tony has been a school governor in Sefton, serving for more than 20 years at Chesterfield High School where he helped to oversee the closure of the old Waterloo Park Annex and the building of the enlarged school on the Chesterfield Road site. For the last 15 years he has been a governor at Netherton Moss Primary School where his son David is a member of staff. Tony was a regular visitor to the school, known affectionately by the children as Mr Hird Senior, he would hear children read, help them with their work and at Christmas time would make repeated appearances as Santa at the many seasonal events. For much of his adult life Tony was an active member at Moor Lane Methodist Church in Crosby where he and his late wife Helen were married in 1971. A service of celebration and thanksgiving for his life will be held at the church this Friday 8th April at 10:30am.