THE new headmaster of the Ribble Valley's most famous school certainly means business.

Mr Adrian Aylward will bring with him a background of proven achievement in not only education but also the city and industry when he takes up his new position at Stonyhurst College in September

Mr Aylward, 38, the father of two children, made an unusual career change just a few years ago.

He took what he wryly calls "financially unsound" decisions to follow the profession to which he felt he was increasingly being called - that of headmaster.

After reading the Greats at Oxford, Mr Aylward spent the first nine years of his career in the business world of the city and industry.

Then, after studying religion at London University and training at the Royal Grammar School in Guildford, he moved to Downside School in Bath.

In four years, he has had what can only be termed a meteoric rise to his present position as headmaster's deputy.

Mr Aylward will take up his position at Stonyhurst when Dr Giles Mercer moves on to become head of Prior Park College in Bath in September.

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