O’Connor, Rick – A founder of Radio Witham

Rick O’Connor (1958-2013)

Richard John O’Connor  was born in Grantham, the son of Jean O’Connor and the former cycle shop owner, Jack O’Connor.

He was a member of Witham Wheelers cycling club until the age of 15, winning numerous trophies and breaking several time trial records.

In 1973 he met his future wife, Gail, and they were married in June 1978.

Rick was a popular local DJ in the 1970s and ‘80s, starting off with Sounds Around, before branching out on his own, taking his mobile disco to many local venues and further afield, often supporting popular bands of the time such as Hot Chocolate.

In the mid-1970s he, along with other local music enthusiasts, started Grantham Hospital Radio – Radio Witham – broadcasting service for patients, where they would broadcast patients’ requests from a tiny room on the hospital roof.

At the age of 36 he achieved a BTEC 2 with distinction, and a BTEC 3 in Micro Electronics.

With this knowledge he began to build control units for disco lighting effects, rather than going ‘out on the road’ himself.

He was also a nightclub doorman for a while and co-managed a local nightclub for a brief time, before dabbling with local radio at Gravity FM for a few years.

He also had a love of American cars, once owning a Ford Mustang Mach 1.

He trained with Ron Kettle as a welder after leaving school, before going into plastering, then on to A. Eatch and Sons as a general builder.

He  worked at Read/American Can circa 1977 though, then left in 1986 to start his own building company, RJ Building Services.

In 1992 his career changed direction completely, when he joined St Hugh’s School, Grantham, as a technician.

This role soon evolved and he became the first school site manager in Lincolnshire, the model for which has now spread across the county.

He moved around various Lincolnshire schools as site manager over a 12-year period, before being recruited as a facilities advisor by HBS, providing advice and support to Lincolnshire schools, a job he really enjoyed and excelled at.

At St Hugh’s School he was also part of a team who annually set the Schools Technology Challenge.

In 2011 he set up his own facilities management company, Phoenix, with the help of some former colleagues, providing support services for many schools across the county.